Comparative Weather Madness!

(Ooooooo...... Pretty Charts!)

Ok,

You look over the 8 a.m. and p.m. readings and mostly you get the idea that, hey, you know there isn't a whole lot different between the area around the Lodge and the edge of the Meadow.

Maybe there isn't, or maybe we are looking at it the wrong way.

So we set up a system to capture the temperature, humidity and barometric pressure at half-hour increments from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (At the edge of the meadow there is the wireless unit out in the woods and the registering unit, which is enclosed) Thanks for the assist on this to the gang.

Now this gets a little more interesting!
Maybe there is something distinct about 400' elevation, and exposure versus Cascades bottom....

DATA

(Not like you are really going to read the above data sheet)

TEMPERATURE CURVES

But here is a chart on temperature.
Warmer during the day at the Lodge than up on the hill.... ok.
Temperatures fall off at different rates such that when we would usually look at the snap shot they are about the same.
Potentially interesting.

HUMIDITY CURVES

And then there is the humidity.....
More humid up on the hill and falling as evening sets on.
Less humid at the Lodge and rising as evening sets on.
Hmmmm......

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE CHANGE

Barometric pressure tracking the same.
Only difference is that the weather equipment up at the edge of the meadow registered a rise in pressure earlier than down at the Lodge.

cooler

At 10:30, it is still only 72 degrees
90% humidity under the trees
Fire danger is LOW

The storms that blew through yesterday did cool things off, and, I suspect, take some of the humidity out of the air (if you aren't under trees!). We got 0.28 inches of rain yesterday and 0.08 inches after midnight last night.

Barometer here is holding steady at 29.71 pounds of pressure.
Two of the rose bushes here at the Lodge are in bloom.


The Cascades and the brook will be sending through all of that rain today!

Humid

Very, very humid...

You wouldn't think that it could be so humid and not rain.

Up in the meadow this morning, it's 95% humidity
Here at Lodge? 93%
That's pretty wet.

We've had a number of hikers go through, including two from the City of Worcester on their treasure hunt!
Barometer is steady at 29.8.
At 10:30 am, it is 73 degrees here.

Fox, Hawk, and Weather

Firstly, a cool sighting of fox up by the meadow in the woods.
And a hawk as well.
Very cool!

Not like the weather, which is very humid.

Meadow Weather 8:00pm
66.7 degrees F, with 95% humidity, and 29.71" of mercury, all steady.
Lodge Weather 8:00pm
68.0 degrees F, with 96% humidity, and 29.77" of mercury, all steady.

There is a difference of elevation, and distance, yet little difference in conditions.
We will keep checking in to see what else we learn over time.

the rain came

early.
It wasn't even 10:30 when it started.

It hasn't held up some intrepid hikers, though (GOOD FOR YOU!).
It did send us inside to bake.

More Fun with Remote Weather

Presently it is warm, sunny, with a light breeze. Quite nice!

An interesting thing about the Cascades is that there is about a 400 ft. elevation change from the base of the Cascades to the top of the Meadow (keep that in mind on your next hike!). The hill which has the meadow is exposed to wind while the base of the Cascades are in a valley and are more sheltered at the bottom of the 'cliff.'

Ok, fine. So what?

Well we have set up some remote weather gear to see what if any differences are noted from the base to the top.

Last night at 6 pm the hill registered:
69.6 degrees F with 71% humidity.
While the Lodge registered at 6:24pm:
70.3 degrees F with 73% humidity.

Given that the equipment is within a degree of error that is more or less the same reading.
We hadn't got the timing or pressure thing worked out by that point.

This morning at 8:03 am the hill registered:
29.47" of Mercury and steady; 65 degrees F and steady; 83% humidity.
The Lodge at the same time registered:
29.88" of Mercury and steady; 65.7 degrees F and rising; 91% humidity

The pressure difference is a function of elevation.
You reset the device to your base elevation to account for the presence or absence of the column of air above you pushing down. We might need to tweak that a bit as theoretically the pressure should be the same unless the system is changing and there was no rising of falling noted so.....

The increased humidity here at the bottom of the Cascades next to the brook isn't particularly surprising.

All of that weather observation fun aside,
It is a beautiful day for a hike!
Enjoy it, particularly as there will be a chance of thunderstorms later in the day.

The Cascades have flow and the Cascades brook has flow.
Even the small fall on the Silver Spring Trail has flow.


A Scarlet Tangier was noted yesterday in the woods at the edge of the meadow.
The bunny was here at the Lodge.
New rose along the stone wall at the Lodge as well.

Falls are rushing!

Check them out this afternoon if you have a chance!

Water, water...

Yesterday we got 2.44 inches!
And then another 0.43 fell after midnight.

That's a lot of water, and it's all heading over the Cascades. The brook is at "you can hear it inside the Lodge with the windows closed" stage. It should all be getting a bit more impressive as the day goes along, too!

At 8:30 am, it is 63 degrees
98% humidity
Barometer steady at 29.88 pounds

Fire danger is LOW (and I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped over the course of today after all that rain.)

It's booming

The thunder is rolling out there, and the great echo off the cliff is in effect!

At 10:30 am, it is 64 degrees
98% humidity and actively raining
This morning we have already gotten 1.06 inches of rain (that's HUGE!)
Consequently, there is NO fire danger!

This is a line of storms coming through for the next few days, so we'll keep an eye on the Cascades. With all the rain today, even tomorrow they should be impressive!

UPDATE: at 1 pm, we've now had 1.93 inches of rain! Crazy. We've also cleared out the culvert behind the Lodge, lest it overflow and force an evacuation!

Bunny in the road

This morning, in anticipation of the impending thunderstorms, I headed up into Cascades West to cover some GWLT materials with a tarp.

As I drove down Olean Street I had to swerve over the carcass of a rabbit.

Now 'our' rabbit is a wild animal, and it clearly isn't nearly as afraid, or as timid as it ought be (even with thrown tires and 10' ladders) so I have to say that I feared our daily visits had just come to an end. Later that morning the whole family made the trek down the road, but I didn't announce anything.

Good thing too.

Not ours!

This afternoon sitting over by the window, happily munching away was none other than the crazy rabbit.

and the beat goes on.....

Presently it is 8:00pm
The temperature is 69.3 degrees F and steady.
The humidity is 88% and steady (a welcome relief after this morning's 94%!)
The barometric pressure is 29.94" and steady.
The rain storm (which was ferocious for ten minutes in East Brookfield this afternoon) only had trace amounts here at the Lodge, 0.04".
The USFS Forest Danger class is LOW.

Now just so you know, there is a certain lack of precision to the rain gauge.
It is located here at the lodge, and is under the cover of the tree canopy.
In a brief storm there is an amount of rain that is caught and clings too the leaves of the canopy.
It has to rain a little while before it starts to accumulate on the forest floor.
Now that value we are registering is meaningful in itself, as it has the greatest indication of change in trail conditions and fire danger.
It may not reveal the total rainfall for a given short event.
So the smaller the registered amount here, the more suspect the value.
The larger the registered amount here, the more likely ballpark the value.
Just thought I would disclose the system.

We have had quite a few hikers come through on this on again, off again, on again good day.

And now, from this point hence forward the days get shorter and shorter.
Take heart, it isn't noticeable yet.

Rose and Bunny

First, more good news on the plantings.

The cold weather, deep shade rose bushes are taking nicely.
One produced a pink rose with a white and yellow heart in its depths today.
Unfortunately, it appears someone walking across the front 'meadow' wasn't looking where they were going, probably going for the trail, and broke the branch it is growing off of.
Nevertheless, the bush is in good shape and hopefully more roses are on the way.

Then there is the crazy rabbit.

Yes, the rabbit continues to be here eating most days.
The rabbit watches us and the cat without much concern.
I came barreling out the back door with a ten foot wooden ladder and there was the rabbit hopping away.
Drat, now I've surely scared it off for good.
Nope, it hops five feet away, grabs another mouthful and watches me walk by with the ladder.
It watches me go up and scoop out a blockage from the rear gutters in preparation for the next few days of storms, and only when I am coming back down the ladder does he hop off to the magnolia tree.

That is just the prelude.
So I am sitting on the couch, reading aloud a story on the US Forest Service (a request mind you) and right next to us, right at the back door, there is the rabbit looking in and listening and nibbling as we talk of Gifford Pinchot.
Truly odd.

Beautiful Day in the Woods

Cool, with a breeze, low humidity, full sun....
What more is there to ask for?

Well, hikers in our case, and we have those too!
Families, individuals, folks on bike (using the bike rack no less!)

Ok, we could have had enough rain to have the Cascades Brook and the Cascades moving as well, but we will just have to settle on that front.

Presently it is 2:31pm
The temperature is 76.1 degrees F and steady.
The humidity is 56% and steady.
The barometer is 29.97" of Mercury and steady.
The forest fire danger a la USFS is LOW.

The bunny is out back eating our dandelions.

It is simply a good day.

A good drying day

(That's what we call these clear days with a bit of wind and low humidity here at the Lodge. With no dryer, it matters!)

We're having a slow morning here to recover from the platform moving last night. We had a GREAT crew of volunteers, who showed up ready to work and really threw themselves into it. From lifting to directing to hauling cinder blocks to speedy tree trimming, they did it all. Special mention to the younger set, who hauled dinner across the meadow for the rest of the crew. We barely got wet (super example of microclimates at work there) and enjoyed pizza, and, for those who were last to leave, brownies!

(And for those of you who were here: Bob's okay.)

We got .04 inches of rain last night

At 11:30, it is 68 degrees
61% humidity
Barometer is steady under clear blue skies
Fire danger is LOW

We had a group of mountain bikers come through an hour or so ago.

Platform moving day!

If you've got some muscles to lend and like brownies, the place to be at 5:30 this evening is here at Cascading Waters. Tonight the platforms go up to Cascades West!

The fire danger today is LOW
At 9:30 it is 60 degrees
71% humidity
Barometer steady at 29.68 pounds

Just yesterday's rain pushed the brook up into the wetlands surrounding it down below. The brook goes up and down everyday lately.

Wild Turkey!

We manage the area more as a meadow than a lawn despite its small size.

The wildlife seem to think it is plenty big with the latest visitor being a wild turkey this afternoon.
This is the first time we have seen turkey in the past nearly three years of watching.

Thankfully Mike Benedetti was present with a digital camera while working on a 508.

Thanks for the image Mike!

Heart Association Hike photos

A word before the hike
In the Lodge clearing
Ginger takes a water break

Miracle dog returns

You might remember the dog that was supposed to have died of cancer awhile back?

He just came happily trotting through again!

Clear skies?

It looks as though the storms all moved through last night!
At 11 am, we are looking out at sun!
67 degrees
83% humidity and falling
Barometer holding steady at 29.68 inches of pressure
Brook is running nicely

Yesterday we had 0.51 inches of rain here

The hike at noon yesterday avoided all but a few sprinkles and brought out about twenty people (and one dog). We'll post pictures later today.

Platform Moving Wednesday

A note from Anne in the GWLT office:

Wednesday June 18th is rapidly approaching and we still need five more volunteers to help move the Observation Outpost tent platform. We will meet at 5:15 this Wednesday at the lodge at Cascading Waters (135 Olean St. Worcester) to help load the platforms onto a trailer and then to help walk them through the woods to their destination. We expect that this will take about an hour and we will have pizza, brownies, and lemonade as a reward for a job well done. Please consider giving us a hand if you haven't signed up already and thank you to those who have already sent their RSVP. You can email or call me at 508-795-3838 x602 to let us know that you plan to attend.

The Land Trust can't do what it does with out you!

Hike at noon today!

No rain yet today, but the skies promise some later.
At 10:30, it is 61 degrees
98% humidity
Bartometer holding steady so far

The Heart Association is holding a hike at noon here today. If you're free, come join us!