Hard rock

What happens when you get two feet of water in a stream channel?
It can be tough on the stream gauge. This rock is probably 8 inches across, and there was enough water running down the channel that it got smashed into the gauge and bent it out of shape.

Our stream measurements may be a little off for awhile!
This morning, while everything is a bit muddy, most of the water is back in its normal channels.
It is 98% humidity under the trees.
It's 64.9 degrees and rising.
The barometer is 20.09 and steady.
We've gotten no rain since midnight; yesterday's total was an impressive 3.11 inches!
Dry off!

Rainy

As you'll see below, we've had enough rain that the secondary stream channel is open. The stream is up to 6 inches (and muddy) with the 1.06 inches we've had since midnight on top of the half an inch from yesterday.
At 8 am, it is 58.6 degrees and steady.
98% humidity and raining steadily.
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady.
The fire danger remains NONE.

Noon update: gusts of 58 mph!

While we off at church this morning, we had half a tree come down across the driveway. We've also got some birches along the south property bound down, and a sizable one right along the back of the shed. Narrow misses!
The brook is 18 inches surging to 20.4 inches.
While we are very sheltered here between the trees and the hill, yet we are still seeing wind gusts of up to 58 mph (Note: I've had to change that FOUR times while typing this!).
It is 69.4 degrees F and steady.
98 percent humidity and raining steadily.
The pressure is 28.35 inches of mercury and FALLING.
We've had 3.58 inches of rain during the storm.
The Cascades are ROARING!

Sunny and cold

('though, come to think of it, we've really got to pull down that snowy sign logo)
At 8 am, it is 31.1 degrees and rising
63% humidity and steady
29.44 inches of mercury and steady
We have no rain, no wind, and sunny clear skies.
The brook is at 5.6 inches

afternoon melting update

We've got a bit less water around now, and what we have is back in where it should be. Most notably, the DPW came and cleared out the culvert above the house, so we no longer have water running down the driveway. The driveway is now passable by foot, if not by car.
There is no longer water running under the house.
There is LOTS of water running down the hill and down the stream. The Cascades are roaring (you can hear them in the house), and again, if you haven't seen them running, come by!
Over the course of today, we saw rain, sun, snow, and some freezing wind. Must be March!

We have WATER!

This is not the spring melt.
It has, however, been warm enough for several days to mean that WE HAVE A STREAM again! The Cascades are running under, through, and around the snow. As the next few days don't look to get cold enough to refreeze it all, expect more water to be coming down the hill soon.
In other good news, a skunk ran across the road in front of my car late last night. As skunks are winter sleepers, but wake up in early spring to find a mate, hang on: spring is coming!
At noon it is sunny and 39 degrees, with 39% humidity, and the barometer steady at 29.5 inches of mercury.

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.

Remember: it could be snow

It's not that unusual to have snow by the middle of November, so if you're not enjoying all this rain, remember: it could be snow.
The stream is up to 6.6 inches. While the Cascades aren't roaring, they are running fast. Expect the trails to be muddy at this point: the ground is fairly saturated, and it just can't soak in much more. And wet leaves are slippery!
At 9 am, it is 52 degrees and rising under gray skies.
The barometer is at 28.73 and falling.

SNOW!

Yes, we did indeed get some; it's sticking still in places under cover and under the trees. This wasn't your usual late fall dusting, either: this was some serious stuff. We also got some sleet last night, which was pretty noisy, and now it's switched entirely to rain. At 8:45 am, it is 38 degrees, so that will be it for exciting precipitation for today.
All of this, however, has the stream back up to a solid five inches (once you pull all the leaves away from the stream gauge). The Cascades are running!

All of which makes this afternoon's trail clearing work at God's Acre more urgent: WINTER IS COMING! If you can join us from 3-5pm today, we're meeting at Logan Field (yes, that means we've made progress). Loppers and bow saws welcome!

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!)

Nor'easter!

We're having some rather changeable weather here as part of this nor'easter (for example, right this second, it is sunny outside). Rain is forecast for much of the day today.
Since midnight last night, we've gotten 0.98 inches of rain (with 0.08 inches yesterday). We'll be up over an inch before this is over.
(It could be worse...it could be 10 inches of snow!)
As of 9 am, the stream is running at 4.6 inches of water; the Cascades are running today!
It is 42 degrees and steady (and chilly).
We're showing 6.5 mph of wind currently (which is a LOT of wind for this valley!).

Even wetter

Since midnight, we've gotten 0.35 inches of rain. That's on top of 0.04 inches yesterday, 0.08 inches the day before...should I continue? The stream is up to 3.6 inches and rising this morning, and I'm sure we'll see more water coming over the Cascades as this goes on.
At 10 am, it is 56 degrees and rising.
We're seeing some wind here: 1 mph now
We did have an intrepid father/daughter hiker set go through about 8:30, but otherwise, the trails are deserted.

As we're expecting clear weather tomorrow at 8:30 here at Cascading Waters, we'll be doing another round of sign and timber work. We'll be at it until 11:30, if you'd like to get some lumbering in!

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.

We have a STREAM AGAIN!

Although at 10 this morning, it was nothing but a rock channel you could walk without getting your shoes wet, by 12:30, we had 4.6 inches and RISING of water rushing downstream. The Cascades are BACK! (not impressive yet, but they're running!)
As a reminder: if you live nearly a storm drain, do us all a favor and got out with a rake and get the leaves off it. Olean Street had nearly as much water in it as the brook did before I cleared ours off. You'll get a bit wet, but you'll feel like a contributing citizen, so it's a good trade.
There continues to be a flood watch in effect.
In addition to all the WATER, it's 66 degrees. That's a drop-off from this morning, when it was in the mid-70's.
The barometer stands at  28.82 and steady ('though it's a drop from yesterday).
The National Weather Service is still saying that it will all be out of here by late tonight, and we should be in for a nice, clear weekend!

Volunteer Thursday!

Every other Thursday morning this summer, we're doing sign work with volunteers here at the Lodge. If you can wield a paintbrush, an adz, a hand saw, we'll find something for you to do. Work goes on here until 11:30 today.
(to the accompanyment of the woodchipper next door...'though I am freshly assured that this will end by noon today!)

At 9:30 it is 71.1 degrees and rising...quite pleasant.
42% humidity and falling
29.18 inches of mercury and steady
We have 1 mph of wind
The streambed is just a trickle (and likely to stay that way, unless the isolated showers for tonight pan out).
Fire danger is LOW ('though it's MODERATE just to our west).

Damp

The 0.4 inches of rain that we got last night all fell after midnight, so it's on today's count. Expect it to be damp on the trails; we're still hearing the drip of water off the trees now.
It's 76.1 degrees and rising at 10 am.
51% humidity and steady
29.21 inches of mercury and steady
O mph of wind
And the rain wasn't enough to bring the stream up above a trickle.

In addition to some family health excitement, the lack of posting has possibly been because it's been hard to hear yourself think here at the Lodge lately. The development next door has made it up the property bound to the house now, and the boundary runs without many trees as a buffer up here. They have cleared right up to the boundline, with chainsaw and excavator and chipper, and it's been loud, to say the least. We also have an impressive pile of woodchips along the boundline, and an unprecedented amount of sun in the backyard.

You can join us for sign work here between 8:30 and 11:30 Thursday morning!

Come search for the ALB!

You can join us in hunting the Asian Longhorned Beetle this afternoon over on the Kinneywood property. The hunt starts at noon at the very end of Dawson Road (just down the street from Cascading Waters). Bring binoculars and water!

At 10 am, it is a comfortable 74.3 degrees and steady
45% humidity and steady
29.18 inches of mercury and rising (those storms are still moving out)
Although we did get a spatter of rain here last night, it wasn't enough to move the rain gauge. It looks like the dramatic weather on that one went north of us.
The stream is below registering.
No wind at the moment.

The development next door continues on apace, 'though they seem for now to have given up the heavy drilling.

Still sticky...but no rain yet

We've got a forecast of mostly cloudy with scattered showers, but haven't had a drop of rain here yet. We've also got a steady barometer and mostly clear radar. Keep in mind that there is a flash flood watch in effect for tonight with possible thunderstorms.

At 10:30, it is 77.5 degrees and steady
50% humidity and falling
Currently, we're measuring no wind, 'though there is a light breeze.
The barometer is at 29.29 and steady.
The brook is dry.

Sticky

High humidity overnight, 'though it's heading down. Currently, it is 59%.
76.8 degrees and rising at 10 am
29.21 inches of mercury and steady
No recordable wind
Fire danger is back up to LOW (it doesn't take long)
The stream is back down under the rocks.

No hydro-ax this morning so far, but the excavator is busy.

Clearing?

Maybe?
The forecast still has us as "chance of showers, mostly cloudy," but we're seeing some patches of actual sun here at the Lodge, and we've had no rain since yesterday, and little then.
The stream has fallen back down to 4.8 inches; the Cascades are running but less.
We've had no rain since midnight; we had 0.04 inches yesterday.
74% humidity and steady
62.2 degrees and rising
No wind right now
The trails are wet but passable.