Autumn in NNE

[J.Spin]

We were up at Bolton Valley for a work day yesterday, so I’ve got a quick foliage update for that area. The colors have really been moving along, and I’d say they are getting close to peak throughout many areas of the valley, so for those that are looking for a peak foliage fix, you can get a pretty good one up there. Up around the 3,000’ elevation level, many of those areas that I’ve been mentioning for about the past month are even past peak; the leaves on a lot of those high-elevation birches (and presumably some other high-elevation deciduous species) are gone or nearly gone. Some of those trees really have a short season with leaves. They’ve probably learned from millennia of selection though, we’re getting close to the point of the season where there could be accumulating snow any day now up there. I’ve added a couple of images from yesterday below:

[MaineJayhawk]

A robust summer-like 81/69 currently. Summer's swan song today and tomorrow. I am ready to wish summer 2011 bon voyage.

[Snow Bow]

LOL--I was splitting, hauling and stacking wood yesterday myself--all bucked up beforehand though, so no cutting/sawdust. Every piece of wood was slippery/slimey and I must have stacked 2-3 times as many slugs as I did pieces of wood. The greener maple that I stacked even had some powdery mold growing on it. More to do today and it shouldn't nearly as nasty out....

Picked up a new-used snowblower yesterday too. Big one--10hp, 32" cut. Boo-yeah!

Now, if the Red Sox could actually win a game (2?) might be able to call it a good weekend afterall.

Yeah less pure humidity out there today but with the sun I may just wait for the patriots game to end so at least I have some shadows to help out. I didn't have any slugs but some of my oak had a few fruiting bodies coming out but nothing quite enough to ruin the wood, worst case I'll just use them in the outdoor pit. Plenty of wood to go around here so that's a plus.

My dad gave me his "old" 28 inch simplicity recently and its pretty nice but I would like to have an extra four inches of width. Optimally I want a tractor with a blow on it, maybe even an atv with a plow. But for now the snowblower will have to do.

78 here right now with a dew of 67 so not really a huge improvement from yesterday. I'm liking the look of the low 40's for next weekend time frame, hope this week is the last of the high dews, feels like I've been saying that for a month and a half now though.

[Snow Bow]

A robust summer-like 81/69 currently. Summer's swan song today and tomorrow. I am ready to wish summer 2011 bon voyage.

I've been ready for a while now, this is starting to get old. Wheres the temps in the 60-70 range with dews in the 30's? That's the fall weather I really love.

[Allenson]

Got about a cord put up today. Feelin' good about that.

Not nearly as swampy as yesterday but still worked up a good self-drenching....

[eekuasepinniW]

I deserve mountains of praise for sitting here without making a peep, quietly enduring all these hostile comments about how "terrible" this warm spell has been.

[Snow Bow]

I deserve mountains of praise for sitting here without making a peep, quietly enduring all these hostile comments about how "terrible" this warm spell has been.

You are the man!!! No denying that. Just messing around. Hey ill take what comes there's not much we can do about the temps. Just stating my personal preference for outdoor work is not this kind of weather but as long as its not raining I can at least get out there and get what's needed to be done accomplished.

[Lava Rock]

82F for a high today. What month is this?

[powderfreak]

We were up at Bolton Valley for a work day yesterday, so I’ve got a quick foliage update for that area. The colors have really been moving along, and I’d say they are getting close to peak throughout many areas of the valley, so for those that are looking for a peak foliage fix, you can get a pretty good one up there. Up around the 3,000’ elevation level, many of those areas that I’ve been mentioning for about the past month are even past peak; the leaves on a lot of those high-elevation birches (and presumably some other high-elevation deciduous species) are gone or nearly gone. Some of those trees really have a short season with leaves. They’ve probably learned from millennia of selection though, we’re getting close to the point of the season where there could be accumulating snow any day now up there. I’ve added a couple of images from yesterday below:

Awesome photos, J.Spin... same situation on Mansfield. Today I was thinking that man, this is getting very close to peak foliage from the base area on up. That 1,500ft to 3,000ft elevation band (above 3,000ft its pretty much spruce/fir or the leaves are down already) is within days of true peak. But you could say that its "peak color" now... even in bright daylight it looks awesome, and usually bright sun doesn't bring out the saturation as much as cloudy days do. The reds and oranges on Mansfield (particularly the "Angel Food" area from the Gondola into the Notch) is about as vibrant as it gets. They aren't quite as good over by the Quad, but even Spruce Peak is looking very nice. The colors into the Notch are phenomenal and I bet that's due to lack of sunlight and much colder nights there than other areas of the mountain.

But it has been warm... low of 60F this morning is +17F departure from the normal low of 43F at the Morrisville-Stowe ASOS. High of 77F today is like 10F above normal, too. Next weekend looks nice though as Saturday's forecast high/low is 52/35 and up on Mansfield its 42/27. That'll be a welcome change from this warm airmass.

[powderfreak]

There's no doubt your climate is a bit wetter than BTV's... as it is here in Stowe and most of the rest of Vermont. BTV and the Champlain Valley has the lowest annual precipitation of any other area in the state. And as far as BTV's snowfall being heavier or icier... I see where "adk" is coming from but I remember lots of "fluffy" snowfall there, too. Most of the January snowfalls at BTV are broom snows. Tons of nickel and dime squalls and lake effect and light 1-3" fluff falls. The difference is when BTV gets 1-3" of fluff from showers and squalls, the mountain communities get 3-6" and the resorts get 6"+.

[powderfreak]

Jspin....what would be REALLY good is if we had not just a snow total comparison but also a snow water equiv. comparison. I'd guess the numbers on total qpf are actually rather close. Much of the upslope snow is of the super dendrite formation fluff puff stuff. While much of what falls lower down in BTV is the flatter icier stuff.

It's also pretty incredible that waterbury only saw 2.4 inches of snow in November. I'd never imagine anywhere up here would have a 2.4 inch november

November's have been absolutely dreadful the past several years.... thus the "delayed" ski area openings like 3 of the last 5 years. Its almost gotten to the point where we expect to have to push back opening day at the mountain. Last year I'm pretty sure there was only a skiff of natural snow on Mansfield when the resort opened the day before Thanksgiving. We didn't have enough man-made snow the weekend before that so there was a 5-day delay last year.

We've been in a pattern of big snowy Octobers (last October was the snowiest on record at the Mansfield co-op with over 30") followed by dry, warm Novembers. I've had much better skiing in October over the past 5 years than I have in November. Here in Stowe, last year's first significant snowfall of greater than 1" occurred on December 2nd/3rd when we got 3.5" overnight in town. Right after that we got hit with that 20" upslope event (in town) on like the 6th. Then I think it rained 2 days later. Our snowpack that week went from 0", to 16", back to 4".

[borderwx]

no real report. colors up this way...

crystal lake, Barton, VT. Barton Mt. in the back

Pisgah, BUrke in between, Mt. Hor

Wheeler Mt.

[mreaves]

Willoughby, my favorite lake. Awesome between Pisgah and Hoar.

[hvysnow79]

Willoughby, my favorite lake. Awesome between Pisgah and Hoar.

I agree with you about Willoughby!! When I lived in Lyndonville one of my favorite drives was up to Willougby and then cut over to Barton and Crystal Lake and then back down Rte 5. Such a beautiful area, especially this time of the year, great pics borderwx.

[borderwx]

thanks fellas, but I assure you these don't really do the views justice, looks like, as usual, next weekend should be just about prime, leaves came on like gang busters last week. took the long way to S Wheelock on Sat through Albany, Glover, Sheffield, everything is just about in full there while our valley still is showing some light greens mixed in.

One more, its certainly not the best for color, but it is one of my favorite views. This is from brownington, but if you head anywhere into the "high" country (morgan, holland, the charlestons) you get a look at a lot of country side, 50+ mile views (which you usually have to climb a Mt. for)

Lookin at all the Jay's in the distance. I love VT texture.

[dendrite]

Down to 57F making it a comfy night to sleep. One more hot day on tap. MAV is spitting out 86F for CON.

[Allenson]

Nice shots border. Ever been to the Green River Reservoir (or anyone else here) in Hyde Park/Eden? I keep meaning to load up the canoe, drive up there and paddle around. It's supposed to be a great place for canoeing/kayaking....

Down to 57F making it a comfy night to sleep. One more hot day on tap. MAV is spitting out 86F for CON.

Got down to 51F here. I must be getting soft as it feels chilly out there this morning. Not a good sign, lol.

Even for here, the P&C forecast high is 79. Rather balmy for late September. It'll be a nice day though for one of my last motorcycle rides of the season.

[MaineJayhawk]

Low of 55F here .. the running window fan made it a touch cool.

Nice pics above.

[J.Spin]

Down to 57F making it a comfy night to sleep.

The weather took quite an amazing turn yesterday. I wasn’t aware that that was supposed to happen, so I checked out the MPV data plot and indeed the dew points had dropped into the 50s F by midday, and they’ve basically been dropping ever since:

It was actually somewhat chilly this morning getting out of bed due to the shift to cooler, drier air; I saw 55 F on the thermometer when I left around 6:00 AM. On a seasonal note, Roger Hill mentioned the potential for another round of snow for the mountains toward the weekend, which would be in association with the influx of cooler air that people have been talking about.

I headed back up to the mountain for a bit yesterday afternoon since the weather was so nice - my route didn’t give me too much in terms of long views like Saturday, but I happened to catch sunset with the colors, so I added a couple of shots below:

[borderwx]

Nice shots border. Ever been to the Green River Reservoir (or anyone else here) in Hyde Park/Eden? I keep meaning to load up the canoe, drive up there and paddle around. It's supposed to be a great place for canoeing/kayaking....

Got down to 51F here. I must be getting soft as it feels chilly out there this morning. Not a good sign, lol.

Even for here, the P&C forecast high is 79. Rather balmy for late September. It'll be a nice day though for one of my last motorcycle rides of the season.

nope, never been, we usually get the canoe in the water 3 times a year, haven't carted south or west of our place yet. you might like Long Pond in Westmore too, small, but a pretty damn fine spot to float and stare at Mts.

plenty of time to let the blood get thick Allenson, don't fret about getting soft

nice pics J.

should add we had 48F this AM, minimal valley fog but maximum sunrise

if it does snow, there better be some pics from the usual suspects as I am out of town, even the thought of missing the first snow makes me tear up a bit

[powderfreak]

Got down to 51F here. I must be getting soft as it feels chilly out there this morning. Not a good sign, lol.

Currently 51/51 with dense fog... low of 51F felt fantastic for sleeping after the past few mornings.

I've noticed that our lows are very similar, Allenson... I've been here for over a year now and I never really noticed it before. But this fall it seems that we are fairly close in lows. Your highs are a tick or two cooler though.

[powderfreak]

if it does snow, there better be some pics from the usual suspects as I am out of town, even the thought of missing the first snow makes me tear up a bit

I'll fill 2 pages with pictures, don't worry

Haha, have a good trip and sweet pics of the foliage up there! Looks very similar down here but the elevations below 1,500ft look to be a bit behind you as usual (NE Kingdom is always the first to go).

[J.Spin]

Ever been to the Green River Reservoir (or anyone else here) in Hyde Park/Eden? I keep meaning to load up the canoe, drive up there and paddle around. It's supposed to be a great place for canoeing/kayaking....

We went there for the first time last month; it’s a State Park. In our case the trip was actually to bike the access road, but the boys ended up going for a swim. It looks good for paddling – the website says only electric motors are allowed. We didn’t camp, but a big draw could be all the campsites that are only accessible by water. There are certainly loons, because we got to listen to them. We were only at the south/west end of the reservoir, but I added a couple shots below of the general appearance:

[mreaves]

Nice shots border. Ever been to the Green River Reservoir (or anyone else here) in Hyde Park/Eden? I keep meaning to load up the canoe, drive up there and paddle around. It's supposed to be a great place for canoeing/kayaking....

Got down to 51F here. I must be getting soft as it feels chilly out there this morning. Not a good sign, lol.

Even for here, the P&C forecast high is 79. Rather balmy for late September. It'll be a nice day though for one of my last motorcycle rides of the season.

I've been through the Green River area a couple of times on my snowmobile. Beautiful area. It used to be owned by the Morrisville Electric Co. who then turned it over to the state. It is now a primitive state park. I guess there are camp sites but no other facilities.

On another note for all of you who grew up in Vermont, Stewart Hall died yesterday. He was the weatherman for Channel 3 from 1954 to 1990. He wasn't a meteorologist but was just about the only weather outlet for a good portion of the state that didn't get very many channels. They ran an interview from when he retired and one of the last questions they asked him was what he woul like to be reincarnated as, his answer was a Noreaster. I learned that the best storm track for snows up here was over the CC Canal from watching him. Not as famous as the longtime tv mets in SNE but definitely a Vermont fixture.

[adk]

I've never seen bugs as bad as they were on Snake Mountain saturday evening. The mostuitos were swarming by the hundreds as soon as you stopped. It also led me to realized a life lesson. When three parties of vermonters coming down from a mountain on a wet humid abnormally warm day warn your party unsolicited that the "bugs are terrible"....listen to them. It took all our mental focus to not run arms swinging wildly down the trail on the way home.

I'm half tempted to go back there friday night as a high builds into the west and pumps cool moist air in from the norht and the temp drops down into the freezing level and watch as they all die around me. Que evil laugh.

[Lava Rock]

Want to hike the bigelows in a couple weeks and catch some of the foliage, but judging by the sugarloaf webcam, all the leaves will be gone by then. It goes so fast.

[tamarack]

Enjoyed the slightly lower dews yest afternoon, 55-60 rather than 65-70. Morning low yest was +23 compared to my avg low of 40 for 9/25; recorded low was 58, as that was the obs temp at 9 PM. Should NOT be recording CDD this time of year.

Took a closer look at the white ash IMBY this morning - 75% leaf drop, hadn't noticed how far gone they were. Maples are still below 50% color, aspen doesn't show any sign that fall is coming, and balsam poplar is almost bare - odd that those two native populus species are so different this fall. Though all the NNE locations I check (CAR,BGR,PWM,CON) are about +2 for Sept, leaf change seems a few days ahead of usual. My peak is generally in the Oct 5-10 range, and it looks like 1st-5th this year.

Want to hike the bigelows in a couple weeks and catch some of the foliage, but judging by the sugarloaf webcam, all the leaves will be gone by then. It goes so fast.

Anything exposed to the wind will be pretty threadbare, but the aspen should still be colorful if yellow-centric, and sheltered sugar maples may be at their best. For colors, the huts/trails system or the trail past Stratton Brook Pond toward Huston Pond will hold longest, though views are relatively modest.

[adk]

November's have been absolutely dreadful the past several years.... thus the "delayed" ski area openings like 3 of the last 5 years. Its almost gotten to the point where we expect to have to push back opening day at the mountain. Last year I'm pretty sure there was only a skiff of natural snow on Mansfield when the resort opened the day before Thanksgiving. We didn't have enough man-made snow the weekend before that so there was a 5-day delay last year.

We've been in a pattern of big snowy Octobers (last October was the snowiest on record at the Mansfield co-op with over 30") followed by dry, warm Novembers. I've had much better skiing in October over the past 5 years than I have in November. Here in Stowe, last year's first significant snowfall of greater than 1" occurred on December 2nd/3rd when we got 3.5" overnight in town. Right after that we got hit with that 20" upslope event (in town) on like the 6th. Then I think it rained 2 days later. Our snowpack that week went from 0", to 16", back to 4".

What

upslope

Event?

[Allenson]

nope, never been, we usually get the canoe in the water 3 times a year, haven't carted south or west of our place yet. you might like Long Pond in Westmore too, small, but a pretty damn fine spot to float and stare at Mts.

plenty of time to let the blood get thick Allenson, don't fret about getting soft

Sounds good--I'll take a look for Long Pond on the maps. There's another Long Pond just to the west of Moosilauke in NH that makes for a nice paddle too, coincidentally enough.

And yep, I'll toughen up. Always do for winter.

I've noticed that our lows are very similar, Allenson... I've been here for over a year now and I never really noticed it before. But this fall it seems that we are fairly close in lows. Your highs are a tick or two cooler though.

That whole ~1000', east of the Greens thing, I reckon. As for our highs here at the house--being of east/southeast exposure and having a big hill immediately to our west, our afternoon temps get capped a bit once the sun gets past the trees/hill....which is of course getting earlier and earlier these days. What's the exposure at your place in Stowe?

We went there for the first time last month; it’s a State Park. In our case the trip was actually to bike the access road, but the boys ended up going for a swim. It looks good for paddling – the website says only electric motors are allowed. We didn’t camp, but a big draw could be all the campsites that are only accessible by water. There are certainly loons, because we got to listen to them. We were only at the south/west end of the reservoir, but I added a couple shots below of the general appearance:

I've been through the Green River area a couple of times on my snowmobile. Beautiful area. It used to be owned by the Morrisville Electric Co. who then turned it over to the state. It is now a primitive state park. I guess there are camp sites but no other facilities.

Thanks gents--supposed to be a great place to paddle. No powerboats, intricate shoreline, islands to explore, good wildlife, the works. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze in a day-trip before ice-in.

[eekuasepinniW]

We missed what likely would have been a phenomenal display of the northern lights by just a few hours.