Vole visit!

We were not quick enough with the camera for a photo, but one of our meadow voles tunneled right under the birdfeeder this morning, and we are catching glimpses of him as his nose comes up to grab some spilled birdseed. If you have open space in your yard, you, too, may have lines in the snow where the voles have tunneled under the snow to get (safe from predators) to and from where they need to be.

It's the good stuff!

We see that we had an early hiker out here already today. While the parking area is not cleared, the trails are full of light, fluffy snow. If you have snowshoes or cross-country skis that have been gathering dust, c'mon out!

The trail sign is up!

You may have noticed a new addition at Cascading Waters. We now have a trail sign right at the end of the Cascades Trail by the parking area.

Snow is sticking!

4:06pm weather conditions at the Lodge:

Cascades Brook is at 2.6" of flow;
The temperature is 29.1°F and falling;
The humidity is 69% and rising;
The pressure is 29.74" of Hg and falling;
The fire danger is NONE;
The wind speed is gusting to 22.0 mph;
The snow is falling and sticking on stones and pavement as well as grass and leaves.

It is falling fast enough to have a real chance at carpeting everything by sundown!

Another Sunny Day

7:25am report:

The Cascades Brook is holding steady at 2.4";
The sun is out and shining brightly;
There is a light occasional breeze, but it peaks at 4-4.5mph;
The temperature is 38.3°F and rising;
The humidity is 72% and steady;
The pressure is 29.74" Hg and steady;
The USFS Fire Danger Class remains MODERATE.

There is a chunk of a pine tree down across the Silver Spring Road running through the Cascades.

Windy days

11:00am Weather Observations

The Cascades Brook is running at 2.4" in both channels. Perhaps more interestingly, closer examination in full sun and a little time shows a number of trees, some already deceased, blew over when we had wet soils and strong winds. Nothing blocked the trail or the cart path so they did not yell out for immediate attention. It is fun to watch the stream and its banks over the years to see how very dynamic and changing this area is without any outside intervention.

The USFS fire danger class is back up to MODERATE. The lack of rainfall, fresh fallen leaves and wind bring that about.

Temperature 49.5°F and rising;
Humidity 51% and falling;
Pressure 29.65" and steady;
Sunny skies;
No recorded precipitation;
Wind gusting to 7.0mph.

Blue skies?

We are seeing blue skies here at the Lodge on and off today, as things begin to dry out a bit. The first evidence of that: our fire danger is back up to LOW as of this morning!

Today the brook is running at 4.5 inches after .2 inches more of rain overnight.

At noon, the temperature is 54 degrees and steady

The humidity is down to 73%.

The barometer is back up to 29.41Hg.

The Cascades this morning

11 am at the falls

The morning after: Tuesday

The power is still out here at the Lodge, though we see from the National Grid map that we've been assigned a crew.
Some of the heaviest rain of the storm fell last night: the rain gauge is up to a full two inches. The brook is up to five, and the Cascades are running! The secondary stream channel is open.
At 8:30, the temperature is 57.4 degrees and steady. We continue to have 98% humidity.
The barometer is 29.35Hg and rising as the storm moves out.
As you head out on the trails over the next few days, please let us know the specific location of downed trees and branches on trails.

9 pm Monday update

Just back in:
Brook is at 4.6 inches: quite a jump today.
Rain totals 1 1/2 inches thus far.
Maximum wind speed of 18 mph, dropping to zero.
The barometer is 29.09 Hg and steady.
Temperature is 60.6 and steady.
Humidity is 98% and actively raining.

We lost power at 7 pm and it is still out now.

6:50 Sandy Update

22 mph max, 5 mph min from a two minute sample; (we have been seeing peak gusts of 34 mph though)
1.3" of rainfall from the storm thus far;
4.0" in the Cascades Brook;
29.09" of Hg pressure and falling;
59.7°F and steady;
98% humidity and steady.

We lost power for less than a minute and had a flicker earlier in the day.

Highest wind gust we noted was 55 mph around lunchtime.

Interestingly, the loudest wind is not the fastest.

Minor branches down at Cascading Waters and a tree across the Cascades Cart Path just north of the falls.

4:30 Update: Hurricane Sandy

Cascades Brook is now running at 4 inches.
We've now gotten a total of 1.1 inches of rain.
A one minute interval has the wind topping out at 27 mph.
The barometer is at 29.06 Hg and still falling.
It is 57.7 degrees and rising.
98% humidity with rain coming in from the east.

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.

Noon update

The barometer is now at 29.29Hg and falling. We've seen the wind pick up; it's now fairly steadily in the twenties (25, 27mph) with gusts as high as 32 mph over the past fifteen minutes.
The temperature is 55 degrees and steady. Humidity is 98% with rain falling.
Heading out for a brook check now. ..

The brook is running at 2.2 inches. Also, it isn't really raining; there is just a lot of water flying around.

9:30 am Sandy Update

9:30 am Sandy Update

Cascades Brook is up to 2.0";
Total storm rainfall is up to 0.25";
Temperature is 54°F;
Humidity is 98%;
Barometric pressure is 29.44" Hg and falling;
Wind gusting to 18 mph, with a minimum speed in a 2 min. sample.

Monday morning update

Now we have rain, though at least for now, not much wind. Currently, we are topping out at 3 mph, sometimes sinking to none.
At 6:30 am, it is 52.2 degrees and steady. The humidity is 98% with steady, though not torrential, rain.
The barometer, at 29.47 inches, is falling.
We will be out to check the brook in a bit; it and the falls should be increasing over the course of this morning.

9pm Sandy Update

Max wind gust 24.5mph, settling to 0mph;
Temperature is 49.5F and steady;
Humidity is 97% and steady;
Barometric pressure is 29.74"Hg and steady;
But not much beyond some mist thus far.

6:40pm Sandy update

Cascades Brook still at 1.6";
Precipitation at 1/16";
Peak wind 8.5mph and lowest at 3.0mph in a 60 second sample;
Temperature at 50.4F and steady;
Humidity at 96% and steady;
Barometric pressure at 29.74" (further down) but steady for the moment.

Our next door neighbor is out watering his freshly planted trees by lights, and while I understand, it is still funny under the circumstances.

5:30 update

We now have winds at about 12 mph.
The temperature is 50 degrees and steady. Humidity at 90% and steady.
We've readjusted our barometer (it had not been reset in some time) and it is now 29.74 inches of mercury and steady.

3:42pm Sandy Update at the Lodge

3:42pm Sandy Update at the Lodge

Wind has picked up: 13 mph. min. - 21 mph. max. gust over 2 min period;
Barometric pressure is down a little to 29.77" Hg;
Temperature is down as well to 52.9F and still falling;
humidity is up to 90%;
It is misting but not raining.

The canoe is tied up in the front glen!