Frigid

No school in Worcester today, due to windchills as low as -29!

At 9 am, it is 4.8 degrees and (finally) rising.
The humidity is 43% and steady.
The barometer is 30.09 inches of mercury and rising still, under clear blue skies.
Because we're somewhat sheltered by trees, we don't get quite the winds of elsewhere. Currently, we're seeing a fairly steady wind of somewhere between 2 and 3 MPH, with higher gusts.

The usual Thursday afternoon work project for GWLT is cancelled due to the cold. If you are venturing out, do bundle up in layers, and expose as little skin as possible. With windchills like this, exposed skin can get frostbite in very little time. And remember: frostbite doesn't hurt!
Stay safe!

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!

Brisk

A bit chillier out there than the sunshine might suggest today: it's 39.2 degrees and rising with a wind at 9 am.
The humidity is 39%: really low for spring. Fire danger is MODERATE.
This morning, we were lucky enough to see a muskrat eating, swimming, and generally having a great time across the street at Cook's Pond.

Cold

Back to cold again today.
At nine am, it is 26.8 degrees and rising.
We have 52% humidity and steady.
The barometer is at 29.56 inches of mercury and rising; shaping up to a clear day.
High blue skies and frigid!
We have ice back along the edges of the brook and there is ice forming along the Cascades, which are running.
Fire Danger remains LOW.

SNOW!

Just a dusting, but we haven't seen any since October. At least this makes it look a bit more like winter, instead of that extended brown of late fall we've had.
We're just breaking the freezing mark at 8:50 am, and the temperature is still rising.
It is 68% humidity and steady.
The barometer is at 29.06 inches of mercury and steady under overcast skies.
The brook is running through edges of ice, as are the Cascades.
The trails are nicely passable today, with a bit of snow on the ground, and the mud frozen.

Frigid

There may be no snow, but there's no mistaking the season this morning: it is COLD outside!
At 8 am, it is 22.5 degrees and steady (brrr).
52% humidity and steady (it's getting too cold to hold much water in the air)
The barometer is 29 inches of mercury and steady
The stream is running steadily, with some ice around the edges. The Cascades did some melting and refreezing over the weekend, and continue to run.
Fire danger continues to be NONE.

Yesterday, we were cutting trail and flagging a new trail loop at Kinneywood at the Dawson Road. We had a big enthusiastic crew for a great start to the new year!

Sign going up today!

You know you have intrepid volunteers when people show up even when it's 17 degrees! The sign at Cascades West has been brought up the hill and will be going up today.
It is COLD: at 9:30, it is just breaking 20. With the wind, which we're getting about 7 mph of right now, it feels like zero.
Bright and sunny, however.
The Cascades, after the rain earlier this week, continue to run through the ice. If you've never seen them like this, come by! It's really quite lovely.
The fire danger remains NONE (though it is low to the east of us).
If you bundle up and account for the wind, nice day for a hike! The mud that's been plaguing us has frozen!

Changing Weather

Conditions at the Lodge at Cascading Waters as of 8:20 a.m.:

28.85" of Hg pressure and steady (registering signs of stormy weather);
20.5 degrees F and steady;
59% humidity and steady;
The Cascading Brook is running at 4.4" (but the reading is approximate with ice frozen to the meter);
No wind is registering on the anemometer;
No precipitation in the last 24 hours;
The USFS Fire Danger Class is LOW;
The sky is partly clear with a blanket of high altitude clouds, and the sun is trying to burn its way through, and for the moment looks to be losing;
and the Cascades are icing over with water flowing as well.

The ground is definitely frozen out there!

Brrr...continues

The human barometers of the family can already feel the storm coming, 'though the actual barometer here is 29.15 inches of mercury and steady under bright sunny skies.
It remains frigid--20 degrees at 9 am--and looks to stay that way for much of the week.
The Cascades are an ice pile (pretty!); the brook is frozen along the edges, but still running through the center of the brook.

Fire danger is LOW.

Will we break freezing?

Possibly...
At 10:30, it's just breaking 30 degrees.
The barometer stands at 29.44 and RISING
Sunny blue skies
Fire danger is LOW
The snowfall from Wednesday night has been packed, but not yet to the slippery point, so the trails should continue to be in okay shape ('though there isn't enough cover for skies or snowshoes).

Snow?

Somehow I missed that we were getting snow last night, so the half inch or so that we got came as a surprise.
Colder today; we'll be lucky if it breaks freezing.

At 9 am, it is 26 degrees and slowly rising
The barometer stands at 29.23 inches of mercury and steady
Cloudy skies; there's still a chance for more snow
The stream is frozen in solid at 9 inches, but running through the center at more like 4 or so.

A bit of snow on the trails today, but nothing that will slow you down. Enjoy!

Bundle up!

An intrepid dog walker just came by, bundled up as far as possible. You'll need it today. The temperature at 9:30 am is 12, but with the windchill, we're well below zero.
The barometer is 29.26 inches and steady under bright sunny skies
Quite an amazing wind out there!
The Cascades are still running a bit through the snow that came down yesterday, but they're freezing fast!
The snow cover has largely taken care of the icy spots on the trails for now.

Snowing!

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL CROSS SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. THIS WILL BRING SNOW SHOWERS AND LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW
SQUALLS WITH STRONG WIND GUSTS AND POOR VISIBILITIES. THE HIGHER
ELEVATIONS OF NORTHWEST MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE
WILL BE MOST PRONE TO THESE SQUALLS WITH ISOLATED SNOW AMOUNTS UP TO
3 INCHES POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN.

Warmer?

You know it's been cold when you look at the thermometer at 8:30, it says 25, and you think, "Hey, it's warming up!"

It is!

At 9 am, it is 28 degrees and rising; we may break freezing today!
The brook is, well, frozen, though still running down the middle.
The barometer stands at 29.44 inches and steady under sunny skies.

Trail conditions are good, if you want to get out there today. Trails are snow-covered and broken, but not so packed as to be slippery in most parts of the Cascades. It also looks like it's going to be a nice couple of days for it (might be up to 40 by Saturday).

Brook is freezing!

I think Monday's post will be the last brook measure for awhile; when we checked this morning, it was frozen hard enough to walk on, right at 4 inches. It isn't frozen all the way across (it usually doesn't), but it is frozen well around the edges!
And the Cascades look like a big snowpile.

At 9am it was 18 degrees and rising, barely.
Barometer is 29.26 under cloudy skies.
We aren't seeing too much trail activity beyond dog walkers. It is COLD.
It doesn't appear to have slowed down the juncos, sparrows, chickadees, mourning doves, and blue jays, however!

Brrr...

It's back to work and school today (and here's hoping the sidewalks were shoveled!), and it's a cold day for it. Pretty out there, though.
At 9:45 am it is 25 degrees and rising slowly
Sunny with a barometer reading of 28.73 inches
The brook is at 4.4 inches and running.

Much of the Cascades are frozen (very pretty!), but it is running under the ice.
The resident squirrels are very busy this morning.

Sunny but chilly

At 9 am it is barely scrapping 30 degrees.
Bright and sunny with a light wind
The stream is at 6 inches; you may not have noticed, but there was some melting yesterday.
The barometer stands at 29.38 and rising

The birds are taking advantage of the clear weather; our birdfeeders (we added a new one this morning) are very busy! One chickadee was so impatient that he flew right over to my feet as I was filling the feeder on the porch!

Brrrr

You'll want to add a scarf today. Not only is it cold, but the wind is blowing too!
We just brought in another load of firewood, and we'll have the fire going here, shortly.

The stream level fell overnight, as it wasn't warm enough to melt much more. As of 9 am , the stream is running at 6 inches (had to knock some ice off to get that).

It's 22 degrees and very slowly rising.
Barometer is 29.09 under blue skies
Stay warm!

Another deceptive day...

You look at the thermometer, it says 50, you walk out without a jacket, and wow! Not so warm!

At 9 am, it is 37 degrees and rising
49% humidity and falling
30.33 inches and steady for pressure
The stream stands at 4.4 inches with the Cascades continuing to fall.


We're heading out for a hike this afternoon; we'll comment here if we find anything.

We made the paper! again!

Cascading Waters made Mr. Southwick's interesting column on Boynton Park today:

Boynton Park is one of the city’s jewels. Located in the extreme northwest corner of Worcester, it runs into Paxton and Holden and features pleasant glades, woodlands and hiking paths. On the east it abuts Cascades East, owned by the Greater Worcester Land Trust. East of that 100-acre parcel are the famed “cascades” — spectacular waterfalls plunging and foaming down through the rocks, especially in the spring. Those used to be viewable from Cataract Street before it was closed as a public way. Today a short path from Olean Street leads to it.

You can still see the Cascades from Cataract Street, as the public way ends after the bridge. But the path is US! Thank you, Mr. Southwick. Do read the rest of the column, as it's interesting stuff!

Clear and cold this morning, but because there's no wind, it doesn't feel nearly as cold.
At 9am, it is 32 degrees and rising
51% humidity and falling
Barometer is at 30.33 and steady
Fire danger is back up to LOW

Stream and Cascades are still flowing

We're really noticing the sun coming up earlier these days, and so are the birds. They were up and singing before six this morning!