Bright Sunshine After the Rain

9:38 a.m. observations:

Gentle breeze, with no MPH reading beside an occasional gust;
Blue skies;
75.0 degrees F and rising;
60% humidity and falling;
29.12" of Hg Pressure and steady;
0.31" of rain yesterday;
No reading on the Cascades Brook Stream Gauge;
LOW USFS Fire Danger Class.

Last night was pretty amazing! In about 10 minutes the sky went black and the wind picked up. It held off raining long enough for us to put everything away, bring stuff in, close windows before it hit. And hit it did! The strongest strike, which wasn't too far away to the east, was strong enough to trip the circuit breaker for the outdoor plugs! Flash! Snap (circuit breaker)! pause, Thunder Strike! The storm brought in a healthy 0.31" of rain, which is nothing to shrug at.

Also fun yesterday, got to hike with some representatives of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation here in the Cascades. They were interested to see what we have been up to out here and we were happy to share all of the great volunteer work going on with them. We hiked from Cascading Waters to Cook's Pond beach, back to Cascading Waters, up to the Cataract Street bridge at the base of the Cascades, up the switchback to Wunneompset the split boulder, over to the the field of small glacial erratics at the top of the Cascades, and finishing at the Newton and Cascades Trail junction. It was a beautiful day for a hike, even a short one.

Today looks pretty darned nice so far. Come on out and take a hike.

THIS JUST IN:
Late last night the Cascading Waters entrance was serving as a speed trap!
Since Olean Street has a perpetual speeding problem this is very cool.
And to the observant volunteer who noticed this (we didn't), no, GWLT doesn't get a cut of the fines! Hah!