On October 27, two days before the remnants of Tropical Storm Philippe drenched New England, toppled trees, and cut power to over 1.1 million customers, a dozen scientists at the USDA Forest Service’s Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in North Woodstock, NH were hard at work. Alerted by meteorologist Eric Kelsey of a potentially historic extreme rain event, they activated a "Water RAT," or a Rapid Assessment Team, to monitor the pending storm.