Happy Birthday! (Celebrate with MORE SNOW!)

One year ago today we posted the first of the GWLT Lodge at Cascading Waters observations.

What a cool year it has been!

Floods, 

Ice Storms,

Snow Storms,

Wind Blasts,

Coyotes,

Deer,

Hawk attack!,

Disappearing Ponds,

No phone,

No electricity,

and that is just the stuff that pops to mind.

Well it has been fun!

The conditions for today as of 9 a.m.:

21.2 degrees F and steady;

73% humidity and rising;

29.53" of Hg and falling;

5.2" in the Cascades Brook;

USFS Fire Danger Class is LOW.

We had only a dusting at 9 a.m., so we waited and measured again at 11 a.m. and had 1/2" at that point.

Since 9 a.m. :

the temperature has fallen to 19.2 degrees F,

the humidity has risen to 80%,

the pressure has fallen to 29.41" Hg,

and the beat goes on!

We were already on track to have a higher than typical precipitation for 2008, and that was BEFORE the storm started adding to the totals!

A final precipitation tally will be made tomorrow for 2008!

Sit tight.

Enjoy the snow.

We are about to fire up the fieldstone fireplace here at the Lodge.

Happy New Years!!

Snow, again

This morning was a pleasant surprise.
Look out over the world wrapped in a white blanket of snow.
Presently it is melting in the sun,
but more is on the way!

The National Weather Service is thinking we might get some 4-6" over the course of tomorrow.

The conditions here at Cascading Waters as of 9:00 a.m. were:

Blue skies, windy;
Pressure of 29.53" and steady;
Humidity of 52% and falling;
Temperature of 36.9 degrees F and rising;
USFS Fire Danger Class of LOW.

There is not so much snow as to prove a hindrance for trail or parking area.
The trails are still in poor shape from the ice storm.

There is a vehicle at the lot right now, and the joggers went through recently.

So hang onto your hat and await the coming snows!

- - - - - - -
UPDATE:

Cascades Brook Depth as of 12:00 p.m. was 6"

More warmth!

The game for today is.... find any sign of snow having recently been here!

Presently the weather conditions at 9:00 a.m. are:

29.85" of Hg and steady;

37.8 degrees F and rising;

63% humidity and falling;

7.2" in the Cascades Brook;

USFS Fire Danger Class is NONE;

Steady breeze, blue skies with high altitude clouds.

The ground is very soft and wet.

The parking area is open.

- - - - - - - -

I did a little back research with the National Weather Service up at the Airport to try and get a sense of just how strong the wind was that took out the tipi covering. The highest recorded wind gust for that period was 54 mph. Now wind speed is a very localized thing, and we aren't the airport, but that gives an order of magnitude as to what likely took it out. I can live with that level of iffy-ness, though the next time I may use a more durable material. 

The Ground!?

That's right!
The Ground!

It is still there, has been all along.

And now we can see it.

Sadly we can also now see all of the branches and storm debris as well.

As of 10 a.m. this morning the conditions were:
37 degrees F and steady;
98% humidity and steady;
30.24" of mercury and steady;
USFS Fire Danger Class is NONE;
raining;
With the Cascades Brook is 6.6" at high pulse as of 1:00 p.m. (was 6.2" at 11:30 a.m.).

The trails are getting hikers.

Presently as of 3:15 p.m. the weather is warmer:
42.4 degrees F and steady;
98% humidity and steady;
30.12" of mercury and falling.

More warmth and melting are in our future.

The Cascades still have some ice formations, and have some water crashing, and it is a nice mix.

Boxing Day Weather

Overcast, wandering between warm and cold with the intermittent sun, with a light breeze.

The conditions as of 10 a.m. are:
31.3 degrees F and rising;
62% humidity and falling;
30.50" of mercury and steady;
USFS Forest Fire Danger Class is LOW;
The Cascades Brook is between 6.6" and 6.8" as the stream flow pulses;

The Cascades Brook is flowing nicely.

The tipi covering was tossed roughly back into place for now.

There is one clear space in the lower lot, and the snow is shallow enough where folks are parking in a covered space down below as well.

There have been hikers going back and forth, and overall conditions are fairly nice for a walk.

Oh, and as for Boxing Day....
In Great Britain and the Commonwealth Countries the day after Christmas is Boxing Day and is celebrated as a day for gathering.
We here at the Lodge will be enjoying the under-celebrated holiday.

Freezing rain is expected for midnight or thereabouts.
Be forewarned!

The Melt Ends

After a whole day and night of rain and warmth, the snow pack was greatly reduced this morning.

Consequently the Cascades Brook was way up to 9" even.
The second channel of the Cascades Brook was running, though lightly on flow.
The Cascades were running, but subdued.

Then the winds continued all day and took the warmth away bit by bit with them.

Things are definitely refrozen here.

But back to those winds last night late/this morning early....
They weren't exactly persistent so much as they were dramatic.

You could hear them coming a ways off.
They got louder and louder as they approached.
You could hear the trees take the force.
You could feel the Lodge take the force, and feel a stirring of a draft in the old section of the Lodge ever so gently inside.
The sound was real loud for a bit, and then it would pass, as if it were a single event, and all was still again.

This happened a few times that I was awake for.

It also took the covering straight off of the tipi.

Not just ripping out grommets, or pulling away from metal spikes in the ground,
but pulling the very pole (think some 14' and heavy) anchoring the covering up and away from the tipi itself!
You need to know that the tipi was set up with an eastward door opening (wind comes down the hill/cliff from the west typically), has an air space around the bottom to reduce stress on the covering, and possesses an overall inclination to the prevailing wind direction to help it fair better in high plains winds, yet the covering was nearly stripped away.

In defense of the Sioux model, we hadn't hunkered it down and tied off every possible support as we clearly would have were we staying in it as a shelter.

Nevertheless, that was some wind that went through,
and weird in the way that it did.

Weather Conditions as of 9:03 a.m.:
41.4 degrees F and rising;
53% humidity and falling;
29.94" of mercury and rising.

Dripping

It's warmer than it has been for a few days (up over freezing), so the eaves here at the Lodge are dripping. Already yesterday the stream was rising (up to 5.6 last night); a bit more of this and the Cascades will be roaring again.

At 9 am, it is 34 degrees and steady
95% humidity and steady (I suspect that's as much sublimation as anything; it isn't currently raining)
Barometer is falling, currently at 30.18 inches
We've got both a "wet" and a "freeze" warning up
Fire danger continues at NONE

We'll give you a new stream total once we've got one.

The Official Numbers:

National Weather Service says that we got 8" of snow yesterday.

• This is a new record for the day, which was previously 6" in 1954.

This also brings the monthly total up to 24" of snow!

• Another interesting note is that there had been no measurable snow at all this fall until December, so that 24" is all we have for the season as well as the month.
• Finally, the normal snowfall for the month at this point would be 7.4".

Also, last Saturday we set a record as well.
On Saturday the 20th we received 11.6" of snow!

• The previous record was 10" in 1945.

In between these two storms we had two days that each has 2.2" of new snow, which gets you to our number of 24"!
And not a flake of it fell before the 20th of December!


(Finally, the wind gusts are beginning to kick in!)

Snow, postlude

9:08 a.m. here at the Lodge.

Presently it is clear, blue skies, breezy, with occasional strong gusts.

The temperature is 15.8 degrees F and rising,
The barometric pressure is 29.53" of Hg and rising,
The humidity is 56% and steady,
The USFS Forest Danger Class is NONE.

Depths are a trick for us here.

We haven't been scientific enough.

You see, to do this right, we ought to go out every hour and measure a spot, clear it off and repeat.
By measuring total accumulated depth you don't get what actually fell,
you get total overall depth.

Snow compacts, particularly the light fluffy snow we presently have received.
Snow sublimates. Remember high school chemistry where a solid goes to a gas, well snow does that.
Snow drifts, and we have had plenty of wind for that.

Near the roofline of the lodge we have amazing depths well over a foot, and yet out in the glen in front, you can get some fairly shallow readings.

As a result I will go over to the National Weather Service and get the official tally from the airport later.

- - - - - - -

Now, as to all of this amazing snow!!!
Enjoy it please!

You see we have been having fewer days a year with snow cover, more high temperature winter days, and the trend lines show no reason to believe that this trend will halt or reverse.

This is an amazing set of snow events leaving us the sort of snow generally associated with New England.
Bundle up the kids and throw them out into a drift!
Grab the winter sports gear and head outside!
Take photos!
Revel in it!
It won't be the last big deep snow you see, but it is time to shift into a savoring of the moments with deep snows.

(For the troglodytes out there who are convinced there is no climate change....
Well, ignore the decline of the world's glaciers, the breakup of the Antarctic ice shelves, the melting under the Greenland ice sheet, and the whole of modern recorded weather history trend lines (widely available, reported, and verifiable) and buy yourself a beautiful and pricey place out on the coast line. I'll be voting to end FEMA Flood Insurance for you.)

- - - - - - -

SNOW!!!!

The numbers

At 11:30, we've got 5.2 inches of water in the brook, which is flowing merrily between snowy banks.

We're estimating that we've got 8 1/2 inches of snow out there, but it's already drifting. We're measuring as much as 10 inches in places.

Also, it's snowing in several directions: it's not nice out there.

Winter Solstice!

(We don't usually drag the family into here, but we should probably note that we're fighting pneumonia and bronchitis here at the Lodge, so we'll keep posting, but the outdoor stuff is coming a bit harder than usual.)

The shortest day of the year today!

Yes, it is snowing again! The devoted junkos are out there, digging through the snow for any remaining seed. Due to the depth of the snow, this now involves them disappearing entirely like minature miners. They even work together: one goes in, digs for awhile, finds something and hops out, and another one takes his place.

At 10:30 it is 16 degrees and steady.
89% humidity and steady, with very steady snowfall
Fire danger is NONE
Barometer stands at 29.68 inches and falling
The National Weather Service has a winter storm warning in effect:

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON...

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM
EST THIS AFTERNOON. THIS WARNING COVERS WESTERN AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
AND SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE.

STORM TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY THIS EVENING.

Once we venture out to dig out our Sunday paper, we'll give you a snow total.

Snow Log 7 p.m.

Deepest confirmed measurements of 8" out in the glen in front of the Lodge.

The Snow that never ends!

So, if you have been watching the radar map, and on and off we have, there is this blob of cloud cover and precipitation just sitting over Massachusetts all the way out to upstate New York that just doesn't move.

Typically when you see something over that section of New York it is some 3 to 4 hours away from being your future, but time stands still along with the storm and the snow keeps falling.

We also decided that, while up to a week ago the blog image was dead on, right now we are unambiguously in the winter (even if it is shy of the solstice by a day.)

More snow is predicted for tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m. and dropping some 6 - 10" more of the white stuff!

That makes this optimal for snowshoes, cross country skis (poor ski folk had little to work with for much of last winter), and snow mobiles (who also had bum luck last year getting adequate depth.)

Enjoy the winter wonderland, and the arctic air out there that will stay low.

Presently it is 4:16 p.m. and:
15.4 degrees F and steady;
81% humidity and steady;
30.03" of Hg and steady.

We are hunkered down by the fieldstone fireplace and until we know that the mail is here we aren't heading out to measure the present depth.

Stay tuned!

Snowshoes

Well, we just sent the Caretaker at the Lodge out on snowshoes to get the paper, as it is easily the best way of getting down to the road this morning. Great weather for snowshoes! Quite beautiful out, especially if you don't have to go anywhere. We're guessing about six inches here.

At 9:30 am, it is 12 degrees and steady, but feels colder as it is windy
92% humidity and steady, still snowing
Barometer stands at 30.03 inches and steady
Fire danger is LOW
The Cascades are snow covered this morning.
The brook is 5 inches deep

We haven't seen any squirrels this morning, but the junkos are again busy.

UPDATE: The entire trail from Olean to Cataract is now packed for snowshoes. The parking area is closed as it is covered with snow.

Tipi in the snowstorm

Tipi in the snow storm.

Sure Enough.... Snow

Well it sure is and has been falling fast and furious from about 2ish, maybe a little before.

This morning the conditions at 9 a.m. were:
25 degrees F and steady,
85% humidity and falling,
30.15" of mercury and steady,
0.00" on the rain gauge,
5.2" in the Cascades Brook.

There were a pair of cardinals visiting us this morning.

This afternoon it was attack of the junkos as they were tanking up in the early storm before hiding out.

Presently it is 5:22 p.m. and:
22.8 degrees F and steady,
91% humidity and steady,
29.85" of mercury and falling,
and 3 1/2 inches of snow on the ground so far!

More Snow!

There is another 7 to 13 inches of snow predicted over the period of Friday afternoon and night!
That is a real snow storm!
The first snow storm of the year.

Welcome news for folks with power, telephone, and heat,
yet not so welcome news for those still struggling.

This morning's conditions were:
31 degrees F and steady;
95% humidity and steady;
30.21 inches of mercury and steady;
0.00" of precipitation;
USFS fire danger class was low.

Presently it is 8:45 p.m. and:
25.5 degrees F and steady;
91% humidity and steady (amazing how much humidity is present just with snow and ice on the ground!);
30.15" of mercury and steady;
0.04" of precipitation registered (melting of the snow and ice built up on the rain gauge.)

If you were wondering where yesterday's post was.... well....
We lost phone service for the day here at the Lodge.
Why?
Who knows.
It's back.
Why?
Still no clue.
But we are happy to have it back.

Yesterday the conditions at 9:34 a.m. were:
28 degrees F and steady;
92% humidity and steady;
29.92" of mercury and falling;
no registering precipitation (what there was was frozen);
stream depth of 6.2".

And then there is another fox in the hood!
Conscripted Wildlife Ranger and Cooks Pond Statistician Melican spotted the critter in the back yard, and noted that this was a different fox than the previously reported one. His speculation was that there may be a pair and a den nearby. That could possibly spell more foxes this spring!
Stay tuned!

Waiting for snow!

That's right....
1 - 3" tonight before it changes over to sleet tomorrow morning according to the NWS.

Not great news for the folks still without power, or the crews trying to restore it.

Yesterday a fair amount of brawn was exercised to get the Cascades Trail head from Olean to Cataract Street clear. This short section alone took a fair amount of labor!

Presently the Cascades Brook is running at 6.6", and
the Cascades are running!

The present weather conditions as of 9 a.m. are:
Overcast, with a light breeze,
It is 35.6 degrees F and steady,
The barometric pressure is 30.36" and rising (Wow! that is high and rising with a storm front moving in!),
There is a 64% humidity and steady,
The USFS Fire danger class is low,
This morning we received 0.04" of rain,
and last night we received 0.04" of rain.

Things are busy weather-wise.

- - - - - - - -

We also learned something fairly important yesterday about the behavior of Cook's Pond.

The drain pipe is low in the pond,
so in extended periods without precipitation it goes down very low.
The drain pipe is also very small,
so when there is a good sized storm the pond fills up quickly and quite full.

What this means.... is that the ice on the pond can be a shell over a void,
IF the pond surface froze when the pond was full
AND there has been little flow in the brooks.

This is worthy of note for ice fishermen and ice skaters alike.
Do a test hole, and don't just look for thickness, but also voids to the water level in determining safety.

Keep those bugs at home

A reminder:
Worcester remains under USDA quarantine.

Wood and wood products CANNOT BE MOVED from the quarantine zone.

If your brother-in-law from Paxton with a chainsaw wants to come down to Burncoat Street and help you clear your yard, that's great. HE CAN'T TAKE THE WOOD HOME, however!

We really don't need to spread the beetle further. And we haven't yet had a hard enough, long enough frost to be sure they're all dead for the year.

Be smart, people!

Photos of the storm

Here's a few photos from Cascading Waters from the storm:

Here's our view out the front door of the Lodge.

Cataract Street at the Cascades Bridge


Here's the Cascades Brook at the Cataract Street bridge.

The Cascades are never as impressive on camera, but here they are during the storm. Note the trees.

Cascading Waters section is open

Okay, so getting all the way through is going to be the work of more than one day, but we do now have the Cascades Trail open through Cascading Waters, Olean to Cataract. We're talking to the city about the Cascades (we can't leave the trees draped like that, if only for the sake of the bridge).

Stream is back to 7 inches today; that's a whole lot of ice melting up on the hill!

First Trail Report

Ok folks,

Our intrepid regular hiker Margot hit the trails this Saturday:

Her view on the trail conditions isn't very good (unless you like wild bushwacking!).


Have you tried to hike any of the trails? What a mess! Is your house OK? I started at the turnaround (N. Olean St. at the Jersey barrier near the Holden line) on Saturday afternoon, picked my way along the Holden trail (south), and then up next to the waterfall and along the blue trail to the yellow. The worst area I found was the “unofficial” one that your interns did so much to improve last summer.... There were places I couldn’t even see where the trail was! I have some pictures if you want them; only of the blue and the yellow. Are you recommending that people stay off the trails?


So, Margot went:
South on Holden Trail
West on the Cascades Trail
West on Silver Spring Trail
as a one way shot, and it took too long to do a loop.

Well, I haven't had an official position on the trails, not having seen them myself up close, but Margot's word seems to be stay off unless you are up for a wild adventure.

WE HAVE POWER!!

Back on at 1:36 pm this afternoon!
With the fireplace still roaring, the living room quickly got up over 80! We're pulling that back.
The kitchen was the temperature of a refrigerator (which in some ways is very handy: "Sure, just leave that milk out on the counter!"), and now is a more livable 65 degrees again.
I'll be honest and tell you that over the past 60 hours we've been paying more attention to the temperature inside than outside, but as of 4 pm:
The outside temperature is 36 degrees and steady(we're still getting a frost warning on that)
Humidity is 75% and rising
Barometer is a nice clear 30.33 inches of mercury
Fire danger is LOW
As of this afternoon, the brook was back down to 4 inches. We put a lot of water through there this weekend!
The Cascades Trail from Olean to Cataract is passable. And we've had hikers in since yesterday. Beyond that, we haven't ventured. If you have, and have any tree information to report, please do! And please do keep half an eye up, as there are branches hanging in trees.
In fact, send a report to gwlt@gwlt.org if you know of any trails that are impassible on GWLT lands. We won't get to them all right away, but we would like to know.

ICE STORM Cont'd

Well, the Cascades Brook is back down to a more reasonable 7.6" as of 9 a.m. this morning.
The falls are still running prettily.
The trail is getting some surprising amount of use!

The trail conditions are tricky but not as dangerous as before.
Know this: The higher in elevation you go in the park, the colder it remains, and the more tree limb ice remains. Be fore warned!

Cataract Street appears to be passable again.
Olean Street continues to be passable.

As for the Lodge....
The old 1948 feildstone fireplace has been working up a storm for the past 36+ hours keeping thisngs warm. Even the fieldstones themselves are throwing heat at this point.
Water is still running, drainpipes not yet frozen, electricity still definitely OFF.

Hope this post (remotely) finds you well!

Lodge Out.

ICE is here...

Definitely,

Lots of ice!

In fact it was really hard to sleep as the sharp crack, pop, bang of trees and tree limbs snapped and fell all night long.

Power was already out by 12:00 am.
Still out when I left the Lodge at 9:00 a.m.

Lots of branches, trees, and ice chunks from branches down.
The White pine out front on the Cascades Trail is not so happy this morning.
The smell of the fresh pine pitch is wonderful, and I think we will have boughs for garland.
The ground is clear and largely just very very wet.

So here is where the weather went nuts.....
It was supposed to have warmed as it rained overnight.
It didn't.

Each time I was up wandering and looking around in the oil lamp and candle lit Lodge the temp. registered as just over 32 degrees by fractions, but never more than that, allowing the ice to build and build, while the rain made every square centimeter of branch heavier and heavier, CRACK!

It is beautiful out there, though the warming is shifting the ice load and trees are still going as well as limbs. Not a great time to go for a hike unless you relish imminent danger. The trailhead and parking area are clear, but there are no promises on the trail itself other than downed limbs aplenty. Wind was supposedly in the forecast for later this morning.....

DON'T TRY CATARACT STREET!
It is impassible!
Power lines down on the street.
Trees down across the street.

The Cascades themselves are ROARING!
Continuous ribbons of white frothy flow.

The Cascades Brook is the highest we have had since Jason the Hydrological Ranger installed the stream gauge, a full 1 foot, 2" and surging up and down by 0.4" by the second.
The second channel is in full flow, there is back water pooling on portions of the brook, and there are standing pools of water by the parking area.

As of just shy of 9 a.m. the readings were:

Barometric Pressure is 29.21" and falling;
Temperature is 33.1 degrees F and steady;
Humidity of 98% and steady;
Rain yesterday was 0.71" (and that was basically last night before midnight);
Rain from midnight until roughly 9 a.m. was 1.34";
For a total rainfall of 2.05" (which is a heck of a storm! by itself)

Pictures will follow as power is restored to the Lodge.

Enjoy!
Storms like this come but once a decade!

Ice is coming

For those of you who turned on WCCA and did not see us this morning: sorry! I got my times mixed up. You can see the "Snow Ghost Community Show":
Fridays at 8.30pm,
Saturdays at 11.30pm,
Sundays at 9.30pm,
Monday mornings at 9.30am
(thanks for the correction, Mike!)

The National Weather Service is warning that we're in for a doozy of a day:

.COLD HIGH PRESSURE WITH ITS RESERVOIR OF SUBFREEZING TEMPERATURES
IS BECOMING ENTRENCHED FROM NEW YORK STATE TO NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND
AND SOUTHEAST CANADA TODAY. LOW PRESSURE MOVING TOWARD NEW ENGLAND
FROM ALABAMA WILL CONSTANTLY DRAW UPON THAT POOL OF COLD AIR TO OUR
NORTH WHILE HEAVY PRECIPITATION FLOWS NORTHWARD WITH THE MOISTURE
LADEN LOW PRESSURE CENTER. THIS WILL RESULT IN A MAJOR ICE STORM FOR
PORTIONS OF INTERIOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND. THE LOW PRESSURE GALE
CENTER WILL MOVE ACROSS EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS FRIDAY MORNING AND
DEPART FOR THE MARITIMES IN THE AFTERNOON.

So far, all we're getting is rain, and the barometer is staying high.
As they've also said to watch, in particular, northeast facing slopes,
we're keeping an eye out: that would be the Cascades.


At 9am, it is 33 degrees and steady. It's been just 33 for a number of hours now.
98% humidity and raining
So far today we've had 0.04 inches of rain. Our total for yesterday was 0.75 inches.
The stream is up to 6.4 inches and rising, no doubt!
Barometer is 30.03 inches of mercury and steady
Fire danger remains NONE

Traffic on the trail this morning is non-existent, but we did have a visit from
the DPW up on Cataract Street. Looks like they're keeping an eye on the bridges
and culverts today. The Cascades are running!

Hang onto your hat! UPDATED WITH LINK

Did you hear the wind last night? Clearly all the trees that were going to fall down at Cascading Waters already have, as we didn't lose any new ones last night. It's quite a wind! We're only sorry that we don't have a gauge for measuring it.

At 9am, it is 57 degrees and rising; it's quite pleasant, actually.
96% humidity and steady
29.88 inches of mercury and falling; the radar map shows quite a bit of this storm is still coming.
We have had 0.08 inches of rain since last night; before midnight, we had 0.04 inches.
Stream is already up to 5.8 inches
Fire danger is NONE


We are very excited that we have finally gotten our new DPW trash basket! Out on the telephone phone on Olean Street is a brand-shiny-new DPW pole basket. We've agreed to empty it. We are hoping that this cuts down on the amount of detritus left in the parking area.

We had a great time with Bruce and Mike as they recorded a bit about Cascading Waters, as well as something about a mission trip to Poland. You can watch it tomorrow morning at 8:30 on WCCA. Thanks for coming by!

Moving forward

We've got some workers in the street this morning, digging up the road. Looks like work on the development next door is moving forward.

At 9 am, it is 22 degrees and rising
61% humidity and steady
Barometer stands at 30.36 inches under cloudy skies with an occasional flake of snow
National Weather Service says we'll have a bit of snow through 10 am
Stream is 4.4 inches deep
Fire danger is NONE

We've got "Snow Ghost" coming in early this afternoon to record a broadcast; we'll give you info on that when we have it!

Odd bird

Okay, so now I've got a nuthatch who seems to be trying to get in the house?

He landed on the kitchen windowsill, tapped at the kitchen window, flew off to a tree, flew to the entry window, tapped at that, flew back to a tree.

What is he up to?

Brutally cold

It's what we would call "brutal" out there this morning. It's been very slow on the trail; even our faithful dog walkers seem to be taking a pass today.

At 9 am, it is 17 degrees and rising, with the sun high in the sky
46% humidity and falling (that's really dry)
Barometer stands at 30.12 inches and rising
Fire danger is down to NONE
(sorry, I didn't check the stream this morning!)

Overnight, the Cascades froze. There is, as there almost always is, water trickling under the ice, but it's a sheet of ice. We lucked out that it was flowing when the freeze came; it's very pretty!

The snow over the weekend was so little as to be immeasurable as precipitation.

That white stuff

We officially got a dusting this morning, enough to reveal that our morning visitors, hazily seen in the dark of 6 am this morning, were rabbits. The footprints are out there!
We just had two hikers come through to check out the falls in the snow. They are still running and they are lovely.
The barometer is still falling here--it's at 29.53 now--so it may not be quite over yet, 'though at the moment we aren't getting any new accumulation.

At 8am, the stream stands at 4.8 inches.
Temperature is 29 degrees and steady
Humidity is at 88% and steady
Fire danger is LOW
The National Weather Service says that we could have high winds coming in this afternoon. Strap down those Christmas decorations, and bundle up if you're heading out to admire the snow!

More wildlife

A late return home last night was greeted by four whitetail deer down by the brook next to the street. By the time we made it to the door, they'd come up the trail and were in the meadowy portion by the yard. Big ones!

At 9am, it is 34 degrees and rising
56% humidity and falling
Barometer stands at30.09 and steady
Stream stands at 5.2 inches
Fire danger is back down to LOW

Clear day and a wildlife report

At 9 am, we've got a good breeze.
It's continuing unseasonably warm, at 41 degrees and rising
65% humidity and falling
Barometer stands at 29.91 and falling (rain's coming!)
No rain today
Fire danger is UP to MEDIUM
Stream is down to 5.4 inches

It's a nice day out there, if you get out before the rain comes in.

We got a report this morning of a fox in the neighborhood: "This feller seemed to be larger than the few I've seen around here since I was a kid, if I had to guess closer to the 20lb range. Looked real healthy, great coat. Had the back light on and was just wandering around the yard till it heard me and took off towards stark rd. "Very cool! We know they're around, but they aren't often seen. Thanks for sending it in!

Another nice one

Still not looking like December out there...be sure to get outside while it lasts! The falls, while down, are still running, too, so use that as an excuse!

At 9 am, it is 35 degrees and rising
80% humidity and steady
Pressure is 30.15 inches and steady under high clear skies
Stream stands at 5.6 inches
Fire danger is LOW

And, not to blow our own horn or anything, but the City Manager had some nice things to say about us at last night's City Council meeting.

When the trails turn into streams

We took a lengthy hike this morning: up the Cascades Trail next to the waterfall (which is still running fast and furious; if you haven't been by, you should!), around to the Silver Spring Trail to its end, by road to West Tatnuck School, bushwacked to the West Tatnuck spur trail, down that to Cascades, and down the Newton Trail. (That's blue circles to yellow triangles, to the road, to yellow circles, to blue circles, to red circles, for those of you who go by blazes.)

The most notable thing is how very wet it is. The ground really is saturated, and there's lots of water just sitting on the ground out there. If you're planning on taking the Silver Spring Trail in particular, wear waterproof footwear, because you are going to get your feet wet. Parts of it have become the brook that it turns into in the spring, and there's plenty of water just sitting there, too. In places it's difficult to tell that there's water due to leaf coverage.

If you have never been on the Silver Spring, or haven't lately, let me recommend it. I hadn't been up there in awhile, and with all the brooks running, it's really lovely. There's a number of benches out there to sit and contemplate it all; a nice antidote to running around.

It looks like a tree took out a picnic bench up at the picnic grove at Boyton Park; I'll send that into the Parks Department and see if we can get anywhere on it.
For those who have despaired of ever again seeing that huge sign that belongs in Boyton Park, we're on it! We're getting there! We've had the great problem of having to update it to include more preserved land just about every time we thought we had it done. As there's nothing in the works in that regard, we'll see about getting it back out there.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...what? March, maybe?

At 9am, it's 39 degrees and rising
61% humidity and falling
Fire danger is LOW
Barometer is at 29.88 inches and rising under clear skies
We've had no rain in the last 24 hours
The stream stands at 6.2 inches (and it's falling)

Cascades are gushing!

The stream has reopened the secondary channel with all the rain we've been having. As of this morning, the stream stands at 7.8 inches.
Today so far we have had 0.12 inches of rain.
That follows 0.51 inches on Sunday and no rain on Saturday.

At 9 am, it is 39 degrees Fahrenheit and rising
98% humidity and steady
Barometer stands at 29.44 inches and steady
Skies are overcast with some drifting fog.

It's rained enough that the ground is fairly well saturated. Keep to the trail (this is just the sort of weather that the edges of trails get torn up in, as people dodge puddles), and keep your bikes at home today, please.