Cascading Waters can be found at 135 Olean Street on the eastern edge of Worcester's northwest parklands, the Cascades. The Cascades are 350 acres of park and conservation lands along the borders of Worcester, Paxton, and Holden, Massachusetts. Home to countless species of plants and animals, the Cascades are open to passive recreation year-round.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Red flag still up

The red flag warning (see below) is still posted. The only hope of escaping that is for the rain that is forecasted for this evening to amount to something.

At 9 am, it is 58.3 degrees and rising
38% humidity and steady
30.36 inches of mercury
Stream stands at 4.4 inches

We really could use some help tonight with the tent platform if you're free!

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

At 5:30 this evening, we're going to be moving the tent platform at Cascading Waters--not far, we hasten to add! Just back into the woods. We've got a work crew coming next week who are going to be using it.
There's PIZZA (of course) for those who come.

Please email Anne at anne@gwlt.org if you can come. The more hands, the easier it will be!
Thank you!

Another Red Flag Fire Warning


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 PM EDT
THIS EVENING. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

THIS WARNING INCLUDES SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE... MUCH OF WESTERN AND
CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS AND NORTHERN CONNECTICUT.

VERY LITTLE RAIN HAS FALLEN ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND OVER THE
PAST WEEK. SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE RAPIDLY BETWEEN NOON AND 2
PM IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY. THEREAFTER...THE INCREASING WIND
WILL SPREAD INTO THE WORCESTER HILLS AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEW HAMPSHIRE
BETWEEN 3 PM AND 6 PM.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hikers hiking

Two hikers are coming down the trail as I type this. Nice day out there...unlike the past few, it isn't so hot that you can't stand the idea of moving.
At 9 am, it is 53.2 degrees and rising
39% humidity and steady
Barometer is at 30.39 and rising (very high)
The stream is down to 4.4 inches
The fire danger is high. You may have caught the front page article in today's T&G about the danger of fire. It has been a very dry and warm spring with an early snowmelt. We are not usually having red flag dangers this early in the season, and unless things turn wet, it could be a dangerous summer.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Red Flags, Purple Trilium, and Seedlings

First, as to the Red Flag Fire Danger:

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING.
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

Out walking the bound lines of Cascading Waters and watering the seedlings planted on Saturday. And the wicked low humidity, high temperatures, and breeze to high winds mean that the seedlings are in a tough spot to keep their moisture and properly establish themselves. Yesterday the Bovenzi Consv. Park seedlings were watered, and if time permits they will be again today.

On the good side, all sorts of things are in bloom! In addition to the Trout Lily, which are quite abundant, there is also some purple trilium coming into bloom. These warm temperatures have put the trees into overdrive and the leafing out over the course of the last 24 hours has been dramatic. The forest is once again green, almost overnight. Pretty wild stuff.

On the negative side there was at least a trashbag's worth of litter collected from the abutters on the north bound line before I ran out of room. It is less than last year. No real litter on the abutters to the south line this year. All in all incremental progress.

Lovely Weather

76.8 and rising degrees F
41 and steady % Humidity
30.06 and steady inches of mercury
0.00 for the Rain
4+11 for the Stream Level
At 9:00
RED FLAG FIRE DANGER it might go as high as 90!

Frog in the brook

Monday, April 27,2009
62.2 degrees F and rising
49 % humidity and falling
30.30 inches of mercury and steady
0.00 for the rain
and the stream is at 5
9:00
I saw a green and brown frog in the brook by the little falls!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

More Beautiful Weather

Presently it is sunny, blue skies, decent breeze, and as yet still cool.

The 9:02 a.m. weather conditions are:
74.8 degress F and rising;
51% humidity and falling;
30.09" of mercury and rising;
no reportable precipitation yesterday;
no USFS Fire Danger Status is available.

Last night the Lodge was still full of the day's heat even as outside cooled off, so up into the crawlspace for the screens and this morning was the sound of breeze, birds, and running water in the Cascades Brook. What a great start to the day.

Lots of hikers yesterday, and we expect more of the same today.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

So at one point today in the Lodge we looked over at the weather station and it read "91° F" and our immediate inclination was that something was amiss. Maybe the sun was directly on the remote sensor, or......

Nope.

It really was that warm today, and not just here but across the north-east.

If it can get to 91° F in April, what can it do in July and August?

Trout Lily in Bloom

Spring is moving on here at Cascading Waters, and the trout lilies (above, from the north side of the stream, taken this morning) are now in bloom. They're easy to spot this time of year, with the bright yellow flowers standing out against the dry leaves of last year. The rest of the year, you can find them by the mottled leaves that give them their name.
The bloodwort have largely stopped blooming now and have only their shamrock-shaped leaves out.

Treees, trees, trees!

Today was tree planting day for the Trust!

At Cascading Waters the WPI fraternity ΑΧΡ (Alpha-Chi-Rho) planted trees along the north and south bound lines.
They planted a mix of:
  • 25 Eastern Red Cedar (good in wetter soils);
  • 10 American Red Pine;
  • 5 Eastern White Pine;
for a total of 40 trees.

Meanwhile, across town, at Bovenzi Conservation Park (in the Sunrise Ave section) the Bates Alumni Club of Central Mass. planted trees.
They planted a mix of:
  • 25 Balsam Fir;
  • 10 American Red Pine;
  • 5 White Spruce
for a total of 40 trees.

Both groups started at 9 a.m. and finished at 11 a.m.
80 trees were planted in Worcester on the kick-off of the Worcester Tree Initiative planted by the Greater Worcester Land Trust on Trust lands thanks to the academic volunteers! Thank you so much!

All the trees, save the 5 White Spruce, are native to Central Massachusetts and they are all non-ALB host species. The White Spruce were a free-bee we didn't ask for and managed to get into the ground when no one was paying attention. Sneaky trees.


WEATHER:
And now for the glorious weather!
Warm! Sunny! Gentle Breeze! Idyllic!
Presently at 12:45 p.m. it is 83.1 degrees F, and 31% humidity.

As of 9 a.m. the weather was:
66.6 degrees F and rising;
49% humidity and steady;
30.12" of mercury and steady;
no rainfall yesterday;
the USFS fire danger server is still down.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Windy, sunny

Presently the conditions as of 9:12 a.m.:
Sunny, passing clouds, windy;
47.5 degrees F and steady;
64% humidity and falling;
29.65" of mercury and rising;
USFS Fire Danger Class is hard to get out of them. (Their server service was supposed to be completed by the 21st);
Yesterday's (Wed.) rainfall was 0.16"
The Cascades Brook is at 6" even.

Yesterday's conditions as of 9 a.m. were:
55.8 degrees F and rising;
81% humidity;
29.65" of mercury and steady; and
the total rainfall from Tuesday was 0.98" (Quite a lot! for one day)
The secondary stream channel was running.

A series of observations on the brook proper and the secondary stream channel.
The instances of the secondary channel running are increasing, and the size of the storm it takes to get flow in the channel is decreasing. The stone walled edge of the primary channel appears to be breaking down a little bit in its effectiveness.
In addition, as you stand on the Cataract Street Bridge and look east the fairly straight channelized segment is seemingly less straightforward with low to moderate flow. The whole of the channel is still straight, but the stream is taking a less than linear path along the bottom of the channel. High flow and it is definitely straight, but in less than high conditions you begin to wonder when the channel will erode a little here and build up a little there.
It would seem, at least anecdotaly, that the stream is beginning to reassert itself on the Cascading Waters site. We have no problems with this. No public safety is involved, no structures are threatened, and the bridges continue to function admirably. It is kind of nice to know that the Cascades Brook wants to run wild, and that it is more in a position to do so unchecked than it has in decades.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Cascades are RUSHING!

That's what some rain will do for you! The stream is back up to 6 inches, and we expect the fire danger to fall today.

At 9am, it is 44.8 degrees and steady
97% humidity and steady (and raining)
Barometer is at 29.74 inches and falling
The fire danger is below, but expect it to change.

As of 2 pm, we've had 0.43 inches of rain.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Fire Danger Update...

While the USFS Fire Danger is impossible to get from the Forest Service WebServer,
Google Earth's got the WFAS basic station infromation.

And we are in a band of between HIGH and VERY HIGH fire danger.

The rain tonight and tomorrow will be a big help.

Great Weather! but hurry!

A beautiful weekend, and a beautiful Patriot's Day!
The trails are in ever increasing order, the bloodwort is in full bloom, the Cascades Brook is running.
Carpe Diem!

As of 10:47 a.m. the conditions were:
48.4 degress F and rising;
54% humidity and falling;
30.18" of mercury and steady;
A storm system is bearing down on us and will move in this evening (a warning is associated with that.);
The USFS Web Server is all messed up so a fire danger class isn't accessible, other than Maine being MODERATE, and a decent inference is that we would be similar.


National Weather Service Hazardous Weather Warning for Tonight:

THERE WILL BE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. ALSO...THERE WILL BESOME HEAVIER DOWNPOURS WHICH MAY CAUSE URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING.

Friday, April 17, 2009

And now for the less dramatic part of our report

At 9 am , it is 53.2 degrees and rising; it may top 70 today!
38% humidity and falling (and there, plus wind, is the fire danger)
Barometer is at 30.15 inches and steady
Stream is at 4.6 inches
Fire danger, you can read about below.


BEAUTIFUL DAY! Just leave your flames at home!

RED FLAG WARNING!!

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
BINGHAMTON NY
1052 AM EDT FRI APR 17 2009

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING.
CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL BE MET ACROSS THE WESTERN CATSKILLS AND SOUTHERN TUG HILL PLATEAU THIS AFTERNOON.

WEST WINDS WILL AVERAGE 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 35 MPH... ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. THESE WINDS... COMBINED WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES DROPPING BELOW 20 PERCENT AND DRY FUELS... WILL CAUSE ANY BRUSH FIRES THAT DEVELOP TO EASILY SPREAD OUT OF CONTROL.

THE MOST CRITICAL TIME FRAME FOR FIRE CONCERNS WILL BE FROM MID AFTERNOON TO EARLY EVENING WHEN WIND SPEEDS WILL BE HIGHEST. RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL BEGIN TO RECOVER BETWEEN 8 AND 10 PM THIS EVENING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY... AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

And now it's spring...

Yes, we finally got around to changing the top photo. The pansies went in earlier this week!

Still Sunny!

48.0 and rising for the temperature
38% and steady for the humidity
30.21 and steady for the pressure
0.00 for the rain
4+111 for the Stream Level (that's 4.6 inches)
Fire danger is still HIGH
(at 9:00)
Not many hikers.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Trail report in

A hiker stopped by yesterday to let us know that in his travels through Cascades East, Cascades West, and Cascading Waters, he'd only found trail blockage on the switchback section of the Cascades trail heading down slope to Cataract Street; all else had been cleared up.
If anyone's got new or different information, we'd love to hear it!

The Worcester Landscape

We thought this might be of interest to our local hikers.

In honor of National Library Week, come hear Prof. Owen Sholes speak about the Worcester landscape on Thursday, April 16 from 7-8PM. The lecture will be held on the first floor of the Assumption College Library. Refreshments will be served.

From Ice Age to Duck Pond: The History of the Worcester Landscape

Assumption College’s Duck Pond has not always been as we see it now. Twenty thousand years ago, all of New England was covered by a huge sheet of ice. After the ice melted, Worcester changed from tundra vegetation to conifer forest to deciduous forest, and the last species of tree to arrive was chestnut (which was wiped out by a blight in the 20th century). Native Americans populated New England shortly after the ice was gone, and were here to greet (and fight) people from Europe. Settlers cleared up to 90% of the trees by 1850, then abandoned most of the land over the next hundred years, allowing trees to grow back where their farms had been. In the 1950s, the old farmland at 500 Salisbury Street was converted to Assumption College, and the stream was dammed near the street to form the Duck Pond. Fifty years seems like a long time, but it is just the latest change to this little piece of central Massachusetts.

Sunny Day !!

45.3 and steady degrees F
50 % Humidity and falling
30.00 and steady Pressure
0.00 for the Rain
5+1 for the Stream Level
VERY,VERY SUNNY!
I am hopeful it does not rain.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

WARMER TODAY

48 and rising degrees F
38 and falling % Humidity
30.00 and steady for the Pressure
0.00 for the Rain
4+11 It's so warm I didn't wear my coat.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hopeful

Out and about, one sees more crocus, daffodils, even an occasional tulip. We're getting there!

At 9 am, it is 39.2 degrees and rising
42% humidity and steady
29.97 inches of mercury and steady
Clear blue skies and a steady wind

As stated below the fire danger is HIGH, and expect it to remain so, as long as the wind and lack of rain continue.
Otherwise, nice weather!

Fire Danger

The weather we will post later, but.....

The USFS Fire Danger Class is HIGH!

No smoking or fire craziness in the woods folks.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Weather in Transition

Presently the USFS Fire Danger Class is Moderate, but any second now it will begin to rain and wipe that away.

This morning the conditions were sunny and blue with a strong breeze.
As of 9am it was:
48 degrees F and rising;
49% humidity and falling;
29.97" of mercury and steady;
no recorded rainfall;
The Cascades Brook was running at 4.8".

Presently it is densely overcast with a decent breeze.
As of 5:06 pm it is:
59.5 degrees and steady;
33% humidity and steady;
29.91" of mercury and steady;
as yet no recordable rainfall.

Spring is here and the bloodwort are in bloom in the western half of Cascading Waters!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

SCA Visitation

The SCA MassParks crew were here this afternoon scouting out trail work projects at the Cooks Woods Conservation Commission property in NW Worcester. They hopefully will spend five days this spring working on implementing a trails strategy called for in the Massachusetts Forest Stewardship Plan for the property. They are a highly trainned college aged crew who work and live at the site to implement access, erosion control, and recreational amenities.

This could be a great leap forward for Worcester's trails!

Colin

Nice one!

Nice one out there!
At 9 am, it is 46 degrees and rising (it may break 60 today)
51% humidity and falling
29.74 inches of mercury and steady
Fire danger is LOW
stream level is 4.8 inches

Both the stream and the brook are running well. We're getting good reports of clear trails up through the Cascades. Enjoy!

YESTERDAY:
36 degrees and rising
54 degrees and falling
29.5 inches of mercury
The stream is at 5.4 inches

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Clearing for now

It's clearing out a bit this afternoon, but don't trust it!

At 9 am, it is 42 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady
29.09 inches of mercury and steady
From midnight on, we've received 0.04 inches of rain. Yesterday's total was 0.59 inches.
The fire danger is NONE
The stream has risen two inches overnight to 7 inches.

Monday, April 06, 2009

The sky gets darker and darker

April 6,2009
42 degrees F and steady,
73% humidity and falling,
29.62 and steady pressure,
0.00 for the rain,
5 for the brook,
Very overcast ,and it gets darker every second!
(NOT AT ALL A GOOD DAY FOR A HIKE) or if you want to, bring a rain coat!

The USFS Fire Danger Class is NONE.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Incoming!

A friend in upstate NY sent along a word of warning.
Weather coming.
For them it is snow.
For us it will be rain, tomorrow.
A LOT of rain.

How much?

The National Weather Service says:

"LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL FROM SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY INTO MONDAY EVENING WILL LIKELY PRODUCE AREAS OF URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING. SOME RIVERS AND STREAMS WILL COME CLOSE TO BANKFULL FROM THE RAINS."

That could prove interesting!

It has been a busy weekend in the Cascades.

On Saturday two crews from Clark University came in to clear ice storm debris off of the trails.

The first crew was a group of hardy folk some Clark some neighbors bearing chainsaws.
I followed their trail of sawdust through the woods.
Incredible amounts of work!

The second crew was a group of students with had tools who followed a chainsaw bearing GWLT president and moved debris, particularly from the brook by the Sanctuary/Amphitheater.

I walked the River Trail from the playing field to the Meadow Ridge, and it is still buried, though the Meadow Ridge, the Cascades Trails are both in fabulous shape! So another project is in the offing....

On Sunday we saw tons of hikers at the Lodge, and for that mater we saw tons of hikers as well, though the squirrelly nearly spitting rain all day meant that it was a bit restrained.

Presently it is:
10:10 p.m. and
42.3 degrees F and falling,
66% humidity and rising,
29.68" of mercury and rising,
The brook and Cascades are flowing,
and the USFS Fire Danger Class is LOW.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Rain and fog continues

While it still looks pretty miserable out, it's rather pleasant, in fact, so if you don't mind the wet, take a walk!

At 9 am, it's 50 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady with mist hanging in the air
Barometer is at 29.62 inches and falling
The brook is up to 5.2 inches
Fire danger is LOW
So far the rain isn't enough to measure for today.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Rain clearing out today!

We've had a chilly couple of days, but the rain forecasted for today has now moved out and left us with a pleasant afternoon!

Yesterday at 9 am:
38 degrees and steady
76% humidity and falling
30.18 inches of mercury
the stream running with 4.8 inches of water

Today at 9 am:
44 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady; we had quite a bit of fog this morning, in addition to rain
from midnight to 9, we had 0.04 inches of rain
30.00 inches of mercury
the stream is up to 5 inches

As of 3 pm, the temperature is up to 64 (!) and we've accumulated no more rain.

We are pleased to report that we have a fabulous new Dynamy intern. Will has been working this week in the GWLT office on a sign for Cascades West which will go up along Howard Street (which should, among other things, clarify things for those who think that's all Boyton Park). The sign is routed on both sides, has been polyurethaned, and is being inked in this afternoon. Go, Will!