September 3, 2026

Weathering Heights

It’s a bitter and blustery Saturday morning when we arrive at New Haven’s Lighthouse Point Park. Though it’s nearly June, it feels more like March, and the Sound is frosted with whitecaps. Several spectators are huddled around a huge sycamore tree, their heads tilted toward the canopy. Fifty feet up, an arborist is racing against the clock to complete a series of assigned tasks in the face of a relentless wind.