Date: 10/05/2017
Number: 2
At about 10:15 AM today (10/5/2017) — while working on the ramp here at University Park Airport (SCE) in State College, PA — I watched a Monarch butterfly struggling against a 15 mph headwind from the WSW. It made some progress while staying downwind of a de-icing truck, but once it tried to get over the truck, the wind blew it backward over the ramp. Eventually it got very low over the grassy strip between the ramp and the taxiway and again managed to head west. (Perhaps staying low to the ground over the grass reduced the effect of the headwind.) Amazingly, it made it to and across a paved lane (lat 40.8504, long -77.8503) that connects the taxiway to the ramp just ahead of a CRJ coming onto the ramp from the taxiway. I lost sight of it as it continued west along the grassy strip, as I had to turn my attention to marshalling the jet into the gate area.
At the time, it was about 74°F, the dew point was 62.6°F, the humidity was about 67%, the air pressure was 30.18 in, and the sky was mostly cloudy.
Later today, while doing a FOD walk after marshalling out AA flight 4226 at about 1:15 PM, we noticed a Monarch butterfly on the ramp (lat 40.8509, long -77.8502), near where the jet had taxied out. I’m guessing it had gotten hit by the CRJ’s exhaust blast and was probably stunned. But it was alive and otherwise appeared intact; no apparent damage to its wings, body, or antennae. I coaxed it onto my hand, where it held on and flexed its proboscis several times while I carried it to a grassy spot at the west end of the ramp. I placed it in a lower spot (lat 40.85045, long -77.8516) to keep it from being buffeted directly by the wind, now blowing from the west at about 11 mph. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance during the rest of my shift to return to the spot to see if it had taken wing, and continue its journey westward.
Similar to this morning, at this time the sky was mostly cloudy (it began raining about three hours later) with:
State College, PA
Latitude: 40.9 Longitude: -77.9
Observed by: R. Timothy
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