A melting day

The snow is softening up and the stream is running: a melting day! And just ahead of more snow?

At nine am, it is 38.5 degrees and rising.
87% humidity (warm enough for water to be in the air!)
The barometer is 29.5 inches of mercury and steady under a blue sky with some clouds.

Overnight, the snow froze up a bit, so the trails are a bit crunchy for now. The Cascades remain snow covered, but they are running underneath.

Snowy morning

The very last batch of snow we got overnight was "sticky" snow, so the woods this morning are a winter wonderland, as the snow has outlined all of the trees.

I see that at least one hiker has been through already on the Cascades Trail up from Olean. Do know that though the top is a pristine coating of white, that wet glop that fell through most of yesterday is still underneath. Be sure your footwear is up for several inches of water!

At nine am, it is 35 degrees and rising.
84% humidity and falling
The barometer is 29.26 inches of mercury and rising under clear blue skies.
Very bright and sunny. All that snow is falling off of branches this morning: watch your head!

Blustery

We only got a dusting of snow overnight here at the Lodge, but it is quite windy.
At nine am, it is 20.1 degrees and steady.
53% humidity and falling.
The barometer is at 28.61 inches of mercury and falling under overcast skies.
We have a fairly steady 10 mph of wind, gusting to 20 mph.

Clear and sunny today!

At nine am, it is 38 degrees and rising.
The humidity is 72% and falling.
We have steady wind of between 20 and 13 mph.
The barometer is 29.18 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.
The forecast has us down for a thawing day today, so we expect the snowpack here to shrink even more. More coming in tonight, though, we hear!

More Sunshine in the Cascades!

8:20 am weather notes:
30.0°F and rising;
70% humidity and steady;
29.06" Hg pressure and steady;
3.0 mph breeze occasional;
Bright sunshine;
Blue skies;
The Cascades Brook is submerged in snow;
The USFS Fire Danger is NONE;
The parking area is OPEN.

The melt and sun have been subsiding the snow depths but boots are key and gaiters are recommended.

More sunshine

8:25 am weather conditions:
32.9°F and rising;
64% humidity and falling;
29.06"Hg pressure and steady;
Light occasional breeze, no reading;
USFS Fire Danger is NONE;
Bright sunshine and blue skies;
Parking area is OPEN;
Trails require boots and gaiters or snow shoes despite the melting.

The following day

7:24am,
8.6°F and steady;
50% humidity and steady;
The pressure has risen so high so fast that the digital counter freaked out and only shows arrows up and "HH.HH";
The fire danger is NONE;
The stream is buried;
And we have occasional stirring of breeze but nothing recordable.

Blue skies and a beautiful sunrise.

Parking area is open.

Bring gaiters, & snowshoes.

WE ARE OPEN!

Thanks to more than one generous neighbor (you guys are great!), we now have a CLEARED parking area. You can park on the left as you turn into the driveway.
PLEASE be thoughtful in your parking so we can get as many people in as possible.

We've already had more than one hiker come through on the Cascades Trail. This is a light fluffy snow, so it is fun snowshoeing, but it takes some energy to cut a new path.

Enjoy the trails and send photos, if you would!

Happy hiking!

The snow has ended

The clean up is starting.

The end of the Cascades Trail at Olean.

Cascading Waters sign on Olean Street

Yes, the fire danger DOES remain NONE.

Here's the same shot from yesterday from Olean up the Cascades Brook to the Lodge. Now with snowpiles of about three feet at the street.

Cooks' Pond at Cascades Brook

And the trail from Olean to Cataract is broken. After that, you're on your own! We have not YET gotten the parking area open, but we are working on it! If you're within walking distance, come by. We will post as soon as the parking area is open.

Snow log 1030.02092013 (10:30 Saturday morning)

The skies are lightening!
It is currently 21.2 degrees and RISING!
The humidity is 72% and steady.
The pressure is 29.23 and RISING!
We might be getting through this!
Wind is constantly at least 6-8 mph with gusts of 20 mph.
Now measuring 16 inches of snow here at the Lodge

A few photos from Saturday morning

Here's a few photos (from inside!) from Saturday morning.

This is looking east from the Lodge down towards Olean Street. It's hard to get the scale here, so let me say this: there is a canoe to the right in this photo, and the stone wall under the trees is about two feet high.

This is the teacup magnolia. You can see from the trunk the drifting we've had, even here under the cliff.

About 15 inches of snow

Measuring several spots in the yard, we've had about 15 inches of snow. There is a bit of drifting under and around trees, but we don't have any place that's more than two feet.

Storm log 830.02092013 (Saturday morning, 8:30)

It remains 17.2 degrees and steady.
83% humidity and steady
The barometer is 29.18 Hg and steady
Wind is ranging between 2 and 5 mph

Snow totals coming up! We currently have about 15 inches. There is some drifting, but nowhere is it deeper than close to 2 feet.

Snow log 730.02092013 (7:30 Saturday morning)

We'll get someone out with a ruler shortly, but there has been a lot of drifting, so accurate measures are going to be hard. The official Worcester measurement according to NWS is 27.5 inches; it looks as though we have less than that here.
Still steadily snowing.
Currently, it is 17.6 degrees and steady.
85% humidity and steady.
The barometer is 29.15 and steady (good news!).
Wind is between 4 and 6 mph.
Note that MEMA has announced this morning that the statewide travel ban continues. We just had a plow go up and down Olean, keeping the road to the water treatment plant open.

Stormlog 2230.020813

32 mph max wind speed;
29.12" Hg pressure and falling;
17.6°F and steady;
90% humidity and steady;
Over 6" of snow.

Stormlog 2130.020813

Max wind 15.5 mph,
Temperature is 19.2°F and steady;
Humidity is 90% and steady;
Pressure is 29.15" Hg and falling;
Snow depth is 5.5".

(About ten minutes later we had gusts of up to 42 mph.)

Storm log 2030.02082013 (or Friday night, 8:30)

Peak wind of 28 mph
Pressure is at 29.21 Hg and falling still
Temperature is 20.1 degrees and steady
Humidity is 86% and rising (which is saying something when it's snow!)
As for snow: 3 and 1/4 to 3 1/2, as it's drifting. That means accumulation is picking up. We've picked up nearly an inch in the last hour.

Storm log 1930.02082013

Update after dark here:
Top wind of 36.5 mph (and remember, we're at the bottom of the hill. That's huge for here.)
Temperature 20.3 and steady
Humidity 81% and steady
Pressure is 29.26 Hg and falling
As for snow, we now are up to 2 and 5/8ths inches.

Stormlog 1830.020813

Temperature is 21°F and steady;
Humidity is 80% and steady;
Pressure is 29.29" Hg and falling;
Wind gusting to 27.5 mph;
Snow depth is 2"; and
Fire Danger is Wicked None!

Storm Log 1730.02082013 (or 5:30 Friday night)

The barometer is now down to 29.32 inches and is still falling.
We now have 1 and 3/4 inches, but it's now blowing around so much that depth is going to be increasingly sketchy to measure.
The temperature is 21.4 degrees and steady.
The humidity is up to 78%.
As the sun goes down, the wind has dropped a bit, as we're now looking at wind between 8-14 mph.

Stormlog 1630.020813

1.25" +/- of snow;
17 mph max gusts;
22.1°F and steady;
77% humidity and steady;
29.38" Hg pressure and falling;
USFS fire danger is none.

Funny, but not much new depth this past hour.

Stormlog 1530.020813

22.5°F and steady;
76% humidity and steady;
29.41" of Hg pressure and falling;
Wind gusting to 15.5mph.
1.25" of snow.
Fire danger is NONE.

Still have hikers passing through!

Stormlog 1430.020813

Wind occasional up to 8.0 mph;
Temperature at 23.2°F and steady;
Humidity at 74% and steady;
Pressure at 29.50" Hg and falling;
Forest fire danger is NONE;
Snow depth is 1 1/16".

Yes, we had a request for Fire Danger.

Cascades Brook, 1:30 Friday afternoon

Storm log 1330.02082013 (or 1:30 Friday afternoon)

Still coming down! We now have 3/4 inch of snow!
It is now 24.3 degrees and steady.
Humidity is now 73% and steady
The barometer is 29.53 inches of mercury and still falling.
The wind has picked up a bit; we've seen a top speed of 34 mph in the last hour, and while it is still sometimes dropping to 3 mph, it's much higher for much longer: right now I'm seeing 22 mph (and remember, the Lodge is protected by a cliff on one side).
We've seen some hikers go through over the course of the afternoon, and it's now looking as though that's the only way to travel, as Governor Patrick has signed an executive order to get all traffic off the roads as of 4 pm.

Storm log 1230.02082013 (or 12:30 Friday afternoon)

We've gained a quarter inch! Now up to 1/2 inch of snow and still falling rapidly.
It is now 25.7 degrees Fahrenheit and falling.
The humidity remains at 71% and steady.
The barometer is down to 29.59 inches of mercury and still falling.
And we've now got some wind! Ranging up to 12 mph and down to 3 mph, fairly constant.

Storm log 1130.02082013 (or 11:30 am Friday)

It's building up! We're now measuring 1/4 inch of snow here at the Lodge.
It's now up to 27.9 degrees and steady.
71% humidity and steady
The barometer is now at 29.62 inches of mercury and is continuing to fall.
Still measuring no wind

Storm log 1040.02082013 (or 10:40 am Friday)

We've just gone out to measure accumulation, after about an hour of snow. We now have 1/16 of an inch. It's a very light snow, falling fast.
It is 27.1 degrees Fahrenheit and steady.
It's 70% humidity and steady
The barometer reads 29.68 inches of mercury and falling.
Currently registering no wind.
The Cascades Brook has frozen up around our measuring stick, but it's flowing under the ice at about 3 inches.

Cascades Brook, 10 am, Friday

Storm Log 0931.020813

The first flakes are falling!
25.5°F and steady;
70% humidity and steady;
29.71"pressure and steady;
Wind between 3-6mph.

The day before

I'm just back in from refilling all of our birdfeeders, as people aren't the only ones getting ready for the incoming blizzard! It is very cold out; we've just hit 20 degrees now.
The humidity is 49%.
The barometer is at 29.91 and rising still.
Clear blue skies.
The falls right now are frozen, 'though there is still water flowing under the ice.

And should you wish to get a bit of woodwork in before the snows, we have our stalwart group of volunteers outside right now, working on signs. They'll be here til noon (and we have the coffee on), so do come by for a bit if you can!