Chilly and dry

While we have had mostly sunny weather, there's been just enough rain here and there to keep the fire danger LOW (we do check, and know that the sign hasn't changed in months!). Not having a rainy fall thus far, though, means that we do not have a Cascade so much as a pile of rocks. It's lovely to walk through the woods in the fall; just don't expect a waterfall right now!

At 9 am, it is 51.5 degrees and rising. (That's a ten degree rise since dawn.)
The humidity is at 94% and steady (thus, the fire danger continues LOW).
The barometer is at 29.32 inches of mercury and steady, under clear blue skies.

Yesterday traditionally was celebrated as the feast of Michaelmas, recognized as when you'd really want to buckle down and get ready for the winter. We've seen our birch and beech trees start to turn yellow; most of our maples haven't done much more than start their color change yet. The squirrels and chipmunks have picked up their tempo. The woodland aster is well in bloom and starting to fade. Our apple tree has been busy for weeks (green very tart apples).
Enjoy the fall!

Feels like fall

"Fall morning," they were saying on the playground at school this morning. Just a bit chilly, 'though we hear it will warm up over the course of the day.

At nine am, it is 64 degrees and rising.
The humidity is 84.5 percent and falling.
The barometer is steady at 29.15 inches of mercury under clear blue skies.
The fire danger, due to all the rain this weekend, remains LOW.

It looks from the forecast as though this is going to be it for clear days this week, so if you haven't been out on the trails, it's a good day for it. There is some water in the brook--not a lot, but it's flowing.
And the woodland aster is in bloom; those are the little white daisy (or star, thus the name) shaped flowers you'll see all over the Cascades.

2:30 pm Monday update

At 2:30 pm, we've been doing some trenchwork, as the soil has now become so saturated that the water is either standing on top or running across. We have now received 3/4 of an inch of rain.The stream, within the last half hour, has gone from 2.2 inches to 2.4 inches, and the secondary channel is now running.
Over the preceeding ten minutes, we've seen wind ranging from 11 mph to a high of 41 mph.
The humidity is at 98% with rain driving in from the east.
It is 56 degrees F.
The barometer is at 29.15 Hg and falling.

Fall brook

Here's the Cascades Brook this morning, running at about two inches. As you can see, the swamp maples have turned and are losing their leaves now. On an overcast morning like this one, they glow.

At nine am, it is fifty degrees and steady under overcast skies. The barometer is at 29.41 inches of mercury and steady. The fire danger is back down to LOW. 

Weirdly warm and a seasonal reminder

So, having sent us all scrambling to bring in anything that could be killed by frost, our New England weather has now decided to treat us to a day with a high in the 70's with a chance of thunderstorms for this afternoon. Hope you haven't yet put your shorts away!
It is damp here under the trees, but a brisk wind is drying things out and continuing to bring down leaves. We have a trickle of water going over the falls and down Cascades Brook. 

ALSO, an important seasonal reminder:
HUNTING SEASON HAS NOW OPENED IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Archery season runs from October 15th - November 24th.
Shotgun season runs from November 26th - December 8th.
Muzzleloader season runs from December 10th - December 31st.

Hunting IS allowed on GWLT properties outside the city of Worcester: please recall that much of the Cascades parkland lies OUTSIDE of city bounds!

As such, we urge you to:

• stay on trails
• keep your dogs leased
• wear bright colors (blaze orange if you have it)

Let's be safe as we share our open space.

Rainy

...again...
At nine am, it is 50 degrees and rising a bit.
The barometer is 29.26 inches of mercury and steady under cloudy skies.
All the rain is really bringing down the leaves: the beeches and birches are losing leaves, though the maples are still turning.
The brook is running.
We are not registering any wind.

Still wet

We're still experiencing the temperate northern hardwood rainforest here today: it is not currently actively raining, but it is once again damp, foggy, and overcast. The barometer is at 29.41 inches of mercury and steady.
The stream is continuing to run, though not at a great rate; we're measuring about two inches of water in it. The Cascades are trickling, therefore.
At 8:45 am, it is 62 degrees and rising, which is warm for early October.
The birches and the shagbark hickory trees are just beginning to turn, and we're seeing hints of red on the swamp maples.
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At nine am, you can join us for sign and timber work here at the Lodge, if you like!

Falling leaves

Fall is really here!

The rain has cleared out, 'though we still are seeing some cloudy skies here. The barometer is at 28.97 and steady.

We've got a brisk wind right now--the latest gust was up to 16 mph. The fire danger for this morning is NONE, but we're watching it closely, as that wind is going to dry things right out. We'll probably be back up to LOW by this afternoon.

At 9 am the temperature is 55 degrees and rising, 'though slowly.

The brook is running, as are the Cascades! 

Feels like fall

While it isn't as chilly as it has been the past few mornings, it does feel like fall out there today!
At 8 am, it is 50 degrees and rising.
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.
The brook is again dry.

It is sign and timber work Thursday here at the Lodge; if you have some time this morning, come by any time after 9 to help with log hewing. If you saw us at stART, you know that we have a whole sign frame read to go for Pine Glen in West Boylston; we just need to finish the sign for that. The frame we're working on next will at the end of Dawson Road to mark the KinneyWoods property.

Heading into fall

The fire danger remains low and the brook is still running, as it's starting to get chillier at night and stay cooler during the day. Currently, the brook is running at about 2 inches.
The squirrels and chipmunks have been busy here lately, as the shagbark hickory nuts are ripening. You can sit outside and hear what sounds like rain, as the squirrels high up in the trees shell the nuts.
At 9:30 am, it is 72 degrees and rising under clear blue skies.
The barometer is 29.21 and steady.

And I have a squirrel scolding me through the window as I post this!


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Note that this weekend marks the start of our fall festival season: please look for us at Worcester's Canalfest, which you might have seen covered in yesterday's paper.
And be sure to check out the video!

Heading into fall

It's clear that we're heading into fall here, as the fire danger has been bouncing up and down this week, even without much rain. The dews are heavier overnight, and the days are not as dry. We've now put the fire danger for today back down to LOW.
The barometer is currently reading 29.35 inches of mercury and steady under somewhat overcast skies. We aren't expecting any rain.
The wood aster are in bloom now (those are the white small star flowers you'll see under trees). They are a native New Englander, so see them and be glad!
At 11:30, it has just hit 70 degrees here with a breeze of about 6 mph.

We're expecting a troop of Clark students through here today. As part of their Outing Club's annual fall start, they run shuttles full of students up to the Cascades Parkland to show them that Worcester is not just urban; it's also full of woodland and open space!

You can't tell by the weather

You'd never know that it's November 27 from the weather outside!
At 9:30, it is 40 degrees even and rising.
Beautifully sunny with a light breeze.
The Cascades are still rushing from the rain earlier this week.
The fire danger is NONE.

An excellent day to get out and hike! We are still taking reports in from the trails, so let us know if you run into anything.

Bright Sunshine!

8:45 a.m.

Bright Sunshine!
The Cascades Brook is at 4.4" of flow (no icing as yet),
The skies are clear and blue and cloudless,
The temperature is 33 degrees F and rising,
No precipitation, though there was a frost and fun frost structures in the dirt and mud this morning,
It is very nearly breeze-less,
The USFS Fire Danger Class is NONE.

The weather is beautiful, especially for late fall/early winter. Soak it in.

There is much commotion to our south as the subdivision gets its lollipop cul de sac paved today. The street is reduced in width with parked vehicles for the job site, many trucks are coming and going, and there is no officer to direct traffic so be careful out there.

Spoke again with the DPW Customer Service folks about the illegal trash that appeared in early October, and was formally reported on October 12th. The trash wasn't examined for evidence, and the illegal dumping wasn't removed, yet somehow the file got closed out as having been finished. Well, we get a new confirmation number, an apology, and we hope for the best. The only dark positive in all of this is that the illegal dumper doesn't add new dumping until the old stuff is removed so we haven't had any new problems, just longstanding ones.

Also we pause today to remember Jeff Barnard of Wormtowntaxi who died yesterday. God bless Jeff.

Brisk

The weather is definitely heading toward winter this morning!
At nine am, it is just 44 degrees and rising.
Sunny skies.
The barometer is 29.15 and steady.
The stream is running at 3.2 inches (and COLD, speaking as one who cleared leaves away from the stream gauge!).

(And I hope you've all noticed that we updated the title for fall, as well!)

More rain

We had more rain come in overnight. Added to that from the end of last week--we recorded 2.4 inches on Friday alone--we may well have a stream here for awhile. Fall generally is the rainy season in New England, and last week and this appear to be bearing that out.
We just managed at noon to struggle above 50 degrees--we're now hitting 54 at 2 pm--so it is chilly!
The barometer is at 29.38 inches and steady.
Cloudy (though not currently raining) skies
Needless to say, all the rain has knocked down leaves. We've got plenty of beech and hickory leaves down here. The maples are just starting to turn.

Clear!

We've got a sparkling fall day out there this morning! The remnants of Nicole have left us with a bit of a Cascades and stream, wet trails, and lots of leaves down. But it's clear and going to remain so.
At 9:30 am, it is 56 degrees and rising (but slowly).
The barometer is 29.12 and rising.
Light (not measurable) wind here under the cliff.

still deciding

It looks like it's still deciding what type of day it's going to be today. We had some low-lying fog down by the pond this morning. That's broken up, but the skies remain overcast. No forecast for rain, and it's warmer than you'd think from a glance outside.
At 9 am, it's 66 degrees and rising.
The barometer is steady at 29.32 inches.
We've got 3 mph of wind right now.


We're hoping that the skies do clear, and that many of you can join us for a Friday noon Asian Longhorned Beetle hunt at God's Acre. We'll meet off of Swan Ave for a short training, and then send you off with binoculars (bring 'em if you have them!).

Work project day!

To all of you who wielded a bark spud on Sunday, now all those logs need shaping! If anyone is free this morning and would really like another whack at the adz(e), come on by! We'll be working on logs all morning.

At 9 am, it is just hitting 60 degrees
A bit overcast and cloudy
The barometer is at 29.44 inches of mercury

We got a report from a neighbor that two foxes had cornered an opossum earlier this week in his backyard. He didn't stick around to see how that worked out, but we're guessing not in the opossum's favor.

Chilly

Today feels like fall. As fall actually starts tomorrow, I suppose that's seasonable!
(The autumnal equinox, for those of you keeping track, is tomorrow at 11:09 pm EDT.)
At 9 am, it is 56 degrees and rising (slowly).
The barometer is at 29.44 and steady.
Clear blue skies again this morning.
Still no water in the stream bed (and with the forecast, it's going to be some time before we see any).

Snowy morning

The most startling aspect of this morning's weather is of course the snowfall, which contrary to all expectations, actually stuck! It's an odd scene out there today: having a few leaves on the trees for the first snowfall isn't unusual, but we still have entire trees that haven't even turned yet!

at 9 am, it is 36 degrees and rising (thus the snow has turned to rain)
The barometer is at 29.18 inches of mercury under cloudy skies
Fire danger is LOW (and probably falling)

We'll give the stream a bit to catch up with the snow before reporting on that.
Enjoy the weather!