Is there rain? A tornado?

There's a weather system sitting off to our west this morning: we've got a forecast ("Hazardous Weather") of incoming thunderstorms, but no sign of them yet, even on the barometer.

At 9am, it is 68.9 degrees and rising
95% humidity and steady
29.85 inches and steady under slightly cloudy skies
The stream is at 4.6 inches

And here's the relevant passage from the weather warning:

IF ENOUGH INSTABILITY DEVELOPS...
ISOLATED WIND DAMAGE OR AN ISOLATED TORNADO WOULD BE POSSIBLE ACROSS
NORTHERN CONNECTICUT AND ADJACENT AREAS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE
ISLAND.

Rainy and then clear

...which is the opposite of the weather report I heard...oh, well.
We were out and about early today, so we don't have morning numbers.

At 2:30 pm, the skies have cleared, and it's 79 degrees and falling (!)
73% humidity and steady
29.80 inches of mercury and steady
This morning we had 0.28 inches of rain
Fire danger is still low
Not much movement on the trail today, 'though we have heard that the bugs are busy!

Yesterday's numbers

Wednesday, July 29 at 9 am:
74.3 degrees and steady
91% humidity and steady
29.91 inches of mercury and steady
Stream is at 4.6 inches
Fire danger continues to be (mercifully) low

Lovely day

At 9 am, it is 71.6 degrees and rising
89% humidity and falling with a light breeze
29.94 inches of mercury and steady under sunny skies
We had no rain after midnight last night
The stream is at 4.4 inches
Fire danger is LOW

Quite a lovely day for a walk in the woods. It looks like it will be clear for much of the day.

ALB: the hunt is on!

The first sighting of this year's Asian Longhorned Beetle was last week: they are out and about.
Time to go look for them!

This year's first ALB hunt is next Thursday, August 6 at noon.
We're heading to the northwest side of town: Camp KinneyWood and Dawson Road.

Meet at the end of Dawson Road (just keep on going until you run out of road) for a 10 minute training and the beetle hunt!
Bring binoculars if you've got them.

Chance of Rain, Chance of Showers, Chance of T-Storms....

All is normal here.

It is partly sunny, partly cloudy, the lightest of breezes, and humid.
As of 9:00 a.m. our conditions are:

72.1 degrees F and rising;
98% humidity and steady;
29.91" of mercury and steady;
The Cascades Brook is at 4.6";
Yesterday's precipitation was 0.04";
Since midnight we have received 0.00" of precipitation;
The USFS Fire Danger Class is NONE.


Interesting note:
For the month of July we have received 9.22" so far.
Typically we would be at 3.54".
We are way above average for the month!

Since June 1st we have received 15.73" whereas generally we would have received 7.56".

You might think, WOW! This is a wet year!
Nope. Not yet anyway.

Our spring was so dry, remember there was no real "mud season" this year, that we are only a bit over the total precipitation for the year to be expected.

Final analysis: We needed this rain.
(Which is good because there is a chance of rain every day from now until Friday.)
I know that is tough to hear.

Cascading Water!

Water, water!

All that water that came down last night, 2.09 inches since midnight and 0.59 yesterday, has to go somewhere: it's heading down the hill!
The stream is surging between one foot, two inches and one foot, three inches this morning. There's just a LOT of water out there this morning! There's a flood watch in effect until 10 am this morning (with good reason).

At 9 am, it is 61 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady
Barometer is 29.74 inches of mercury and steady under cloudy ('though not currently raining) skies.
Photos to follow, 'though they'll never do the Cascades justice, so come by!

White Wild Frothing Madness!!!

You have to check out the Cascades as soon as possible!
The over 2" of rain last night are presently crashing down the side of the Cascades.
White wild frothing madness!!

Gate at the end of the road

Thanks to all who braved the cloudy-turning-to-rainy skies tonight and got up the Gate at the End of (Dawson) Road! Those were some of the fastest holes we've ever had to in. Very enthusiastic small helpers, too (nice hammering, Rachel!).
We could not do what we do without volunteers who show up (rain, mud, ATVs, notwithstanding). You guys are great!
Thank you!
There will be another work project getting that newly protected trail into shape and marked. Watch for it!

Overcast and humid

At 9:30 it is 66 degrees and steady
98% humidity and steady
30.06 inches of mercury in the barometer under cloudy skies
We've received no rain in the past 24 hours
Fire danger is LOW

Clearing

At 9 am this morning, it was overcast with no breeze (at noon? clearing out)
63.0 degrees and steady
30.12 inches of mercury and steady
98% humidity and steady (it really hangs under the trees)
Fire danger is LOW
We had a total of 0.83 inches of rain yesterday; 0.08 inches since midnight today
The stream stands at 5.4 inches

Not much traffic on the trail today; I expect it to pick up as people see the sun is here!

Rainy morning

As of 9:02 a.m. the conditions at the Lodge are as follows:

Overcast, with a light breeze;
63.3 degrees F and steady;
97% humidity and steady;
30.18" of mercury and steady;
0.00" of rain yesterday;
0.16" of rain since midnight; and
The USFS Fire Danger is LOW.

It is a beautiful day for a walk as it is cool and not actively precipitating!

UPDATE from cascadingwaters: as of 5 pm, we have had 0.71 inches of rain since midnight! We have also had several hikers, one jogger, and one bike. Dedication!

Sunny

At 9 am, it is 64.6 degrees and rising
68% humidity and steady
30.03 inches of mercury and steady
The stream is at 4.2 inches
It's weather that feels a bit more like September than July, one might say.
We've had no rain recently (next rain looks like Thursday night).
There's been a bit of traffic on the trail, some dogs, some bikes.

Campers!

We just saw the first campers of the season. I didn't catch where they were from: mostly girls, in a van. On seeing me outside, one of them asked, "Do you live here?" When I said I did, she asked, with horror, "Isn't it scary?"
Umm, no, not really. But there's a girl who needs some more time outside!

At 9 am, it was 56.8 degrees and falling (that's unusual)
88% humidity and steady
30.15 inches of mercury and steady
No rain last night (!)
Cascades are still running nicely.

And for those of you who are wondering? The fire danger is LOW.

International Space Station overhead

And for those of you who share our NASA fascination, there a log here of when you can spot the International Space Station overhead. If you're up at 3am and it isn't pelting rain, looks like you could get a good view!

Thunder in the distance

We hope you enjoyed the two days of sun there, because it appears that we're back in the rainy weather pattern. The stream is running at 5 inches, and, with this weather, it won't be going down anytime soon! The good news is that we're having an unprecedented (in our experience) number of days with the Cascades running, so if you haven't come over and seen them running (and running through the green!), come by!

at 8 am, it is 61 degrees and steady
95% humidity and steady
29.74 inches of mercury and steady
0.04 inches of rain this morning (it was clear most of the night)

If you're finding erosion issues out on the trail, do let us know!

Redspot purple!

I found it!
It took some doing (hey, butterfly people, some of us can't start with the Latin names!), but I found out what we had here today: two redspot purples (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).

This isn't my photo (we weren't that fast) but it gives you an idea.
And for future reference, the site I found most helpful was Discover Life.

THE SUN!

We'd almost forgotten what it was like around here with the sun out! This morning we made the acquaintance of two toads and two butterflies (looking the butterflies up; they were black!).

At 10 am, it is 66 degrees and rising
98% humidity and steady
29.80 inches of mercury and steady

Yesterday we had a total of 1.69 inches of rain, but we've had no measurable rain since midnight.
The Cascades and the brook are lovely right now (and LOUD); check them out, as, yes, more rain is coming!

Lots and Lots of Rain!

Welcome to WaterWorld!

The Brook is at 8.8" and surging to 9" deep.
The second channel is open and running strong.
The Cascades are flowing with spots of white water.

Yesterday it rained 1.21", which in an of itself is alot,
BUT since midnight it has rained another 1.65"!
2.86" by 9:30 a.m. with more rain predicted for today!

LOTS of rain!

But what of that?
We seem to have settled back into an Atlantic NorthEast Temperate Rainforest mode of weather, much as we had last summer, but is this really far off the mark for historical norms?

Not so much, believe it or not!

As of midnight last night we were 1.24" below normal for the year.
Obviously we made up for that and stretched past it,
but with all the rain we have been having, we aren't in record territory for anything other than an absence of sun, and perhaps consistency of rain, and perpetually high humidity.

The weather as of 9:21 a.m.:
58.3 degrees F and steady;
98% humidity and steady;
29.80" of mercury and steady.

FLASH FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT
CHANCE OF HAIL

The Lodge lacks a dryer, and we rely on the sun for our drying, typically,
but we have been feeling the weather acutely, being reliant on the sun,
and exporting clothes for drying when possible.
Yesterday we lit a fire in the fieldstone fireplace to dry out camping gear from this past weekend in the rafters.
Things have been cool enough, damp enough, and dark enough where an indoor fire on July 1st was welcome indeed!

Raining

WEDNESDAY,JULY 1, 2009
61.0 degrees F and steady
98 % humidity and steady
29.77 and steady
0.98 for the rain
at 9:30