2nd half of April, general forecast ideas and banter

[CT Rain]

Sneaky sunburn?

 

Yeah got some color in the yard today. Finally. 

[Sugarloaf1989]

Here in Coventry we don't have the historic drought conditions that are ongoing in neighboring Tolland. The local farmer down the street plowed his muddy field about 3 days ago to aerate the soil and dry it out. It's way to early for a corn crop, but it's a head start on the season:

 

 

 

Local streams, wetlands and ponds are also running normally around here, although ponds are slightly higher than normal.

[ineedsnow]

went to the Southwick zoo today if you guys havent been its worth it

[free_man]

Yeah, however we've had these late Spring droughts and then some nasty storms in late May into June, or at least days and days of garden-variety storms...June '00? 01? I forget which, had an impressive catch-up..and a more recent May/June.

 

Either way, very dry and warm continuing...plenty of brush fires, water bans, poor air quality, smoke, sunblock, chapstick, intensive care lotions...etc.  Sometimes the lack of weather is exciting weather; drought.

60's to 70's for days and days..weeks and weeks, droughts and droughts,, dry and dry

[free_man]

 

 

Its a decent signal for 8-10 days out. It has potential to be a pretty solid rain event for someone given where the anomalies are at H5. Hard to say if its centered more down near DC or it makes it up this way at this point.

Its pretty darn stagnent too all the way out to about 5/10.

Yeah, it's stagnant..meaning if it doesn't get here, we're gonna semi-torch.

[HoarfrostHubb]

Just passed WaWa on 140 great to see snow on the slopes still. Decent cover on a couple of trails top to bottom. Would be a fantastic day to ski.

Where was the tournament?

My sons team blew a 10-2 lead and lost 18-10

[powderfreak]

Yes lots of danger. Not sure from what. But danger. 

 

 

That's exactly the message.  "Hype & Danger" all day long, every day no matter what the actual weather.

[powderfreak]

Sneaky sunburn?

 

I've been getting absolutely roasted on the mountain lately.  People have been asking me if I went to Florida or something as no one in northern VT should be this tan in late April, lol.  Hours and hours of August sun-angle against a white, snowy ground...very bright and very effective at getting vitamin D, lol.

[Ginx snewx]

Where was the tournament?

My sons team blew a 10-2 lead and lost 18-10

we are in Athol, they are in the finals

[dendrite]

Here in Coventry we don't have the historic drought conditions that are ongoing in neighboring Tolland. The local farmer down the street plowed his muddy field about 3 days ago to aerate the soil and dry it out. It's way to early for a corn crop, but it's a head start on the season:

 

 

 

Local streams, wetlands and ponds are also running normally around here, although ponds are slightly higher than normal.

Was that a lake? Looks bad there.

[Baroclinic Zone]

What a day. 5-0 win at soccer. 4-0 now with no goals scored against. Not bad for 12 girls together as a team for the first time.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[powderfreak]

Was that a lake? Looks bad there.

lol...all the water was drained for a property in Tolland.

[wxmanmitch]

I went hiking today between 2,000' and 2,300' in Windsor, MA at Notchview, which is owned by the Trustees, and there's virtually no evidence of spring up there yet. The red maples have swelling buds, but that's about it. The understory beech trees are still holding onto last year's leaves. I even found a tiny patch of snow (see below) on one of the trails in the middle of a thick spruce/fir forest.

 

I've always been interested in how the plant ecology changes with respect to elevation around here. You go from abundant oak and hickory in the CT and Hudson Valleys to a predominantly red spruce/balsam fir forest near 2,000'. The hardwoods begin to fade out completely around 3,000' on Mt. Greylock. Although 2,000' in Windsor does have a good amount of hardwoods, there's no oak whatsoever (not even the more cold tolerant northern red oak). There's lots of yellow birch, beech, red maple, sugar maple, and white ash. Secondary species include tamarack, hemlock, white pine, and white birch. Interestingly, there's no black birch there because it's abundant here in Lenox.

 

There's is still a tremendous amount of damage evident from the December 2008 icestorm. There's are lots of trees with missing limbs and lots of litter on the ground. This has created holes in the spruce/fir forest and a lot of small saplings have begun to grow in the sunny spots. The red spruce seems to be filling in the understory in some of the hardwood areas as well. Anyway, some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[powderfreak]

Nice, pics!  How in the word did you find that patch of "snow"?  That looks like literally an hour away from completely disappearing, lol.

 

Last patch of natural snow in the state of Mass?

[Sugarloaf1989]

lol...all the water was drained for a property in Tolland.

 

 

 It's actually not that dry here yet, sunny areas and open fields are a tad dry, but nothing major

[Sugarloaf1989]

I went hiking today between 2,000' and 2,300' in Windsor, MA at Notchview, which is owned by the Trustees, and there's virtually no evidence of spring up there yet. The red maples have swelling buds, but that's about it. The understory beech trees are still holding onto last year's leaves. I even found a tiny patch of snow (see below) on one of the trails in the middle of a thick spruce/fir forest.

 

I've always been interested in how the plant ecology changes with respect to elevation around here. You go from abundant oak and hickory in the CT and Hudson Valleys to a predominantly red spruce/balsam fir forest near 2,000'. The hardwoods begin to fade out completely around 3,000' on Mt. Greylock. Although 2,000' in Windsor does have a good amount of hardwoods, there's no oak whatsoever (not even the more cold tolerant northern red oak). There's lots of yellow birch, beech, red maple, sugar maple, and white ash. Secondary species include tamarack, hemlock, white pine, and white birch. Interestingly, there's no black birch there because it's abundant here in Lenox.

 

There's is still a tremendous amount of damage evident from the December 2008 icestorm. There's are lots of trees with missing limbs and lots of litter on the ground. This has created holes in the spruce/fir forest and a lot of small saplings have begun to grow in the sunny spots. The red spruce seems to be filling in the understory in some of the hardwood areas as well. Anyway, some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am located on the edge of where White Paper Birch like to grow, just south of where I live there are virtually no natural stands. Even further south, the forest changes to American Beech. Virtually no old growth forest exists in New England, so alot of what one comes across is an unatural forest that is primarily less than 100 years old.

 

Have you been to the Ice Glen in Stockbridge? There are old second-growth Hemlock from circa 1830 and a state champion Hemlock in the rear of the glen. It's a cool place to visit and get a sense of what the majesty of our forest's must have looked like prior to European settlement and sunsequent forest massacre.

[Typhoon Tip]

And it's possible that omega block just rots over us and we never get into the moisture.... could wind up being a really nice 10-15 day stretch too.

 

Better up north in VT and upstate NY but still pretty awesome down this way. 

 

 

Yeah, the Euro and NOGAPs (of all models) won't give up on that.  The 12z + 18z GFS seem to be heading that way. 

[Typhoon Tip]

Nice, pics!  How in the word did you find that patch of "snow"?  That looks like literally an hour away from completely disappearing, lol.

 

Last patch of natural snow in the state of Mass?

 

No. 

 

There's a little known place out in NW Mass known ...I think, as snow hole.  It's up on the N side of Mt Greylock and is a deep chasm/hole/cave that has snow sometimes year round. Probably not the last couple of years, but I'm certain it has snow right now. 

[weatherwiz]

My mom just took one of my open 40s, poured some in a glass and chugged it. I can't even chug a Steel Reserve

[moneypitmike]

Nice pics there, Mitch.  Notchview is a great place.  We looked at a house about a 1/2 mile from there a year or two ago.  Great nordic skiing there.

[Damage In Tolland]

Man the Euro continues days and days and weeks and weeks of nice wx. Amazing how the Euro op schooled the Euro ens on the pattern. Something to take note of as we move thru the warm wx months. Euro ens kept signaling heavy rains for us and reality shows an omega block and Hp and beautiful spring wx

[moneypitmike]

I'd like to some rains for the seed I'm putting down.  Not worried about the 'boy who cried wolf/chickenn little drought', but the areas I'm overseeding are both too large and too far removed from my water source to effectively water.  I'd never do it, but I wonder how much it would cost to put in an irrigation system.  I think the lawn area furthest removed from the Pit itself is about 1000'.

[Mr Torchey]

Another morning of pure perfection.

 

Classico.

 

 

BSEIII

 

 

Day after day, after day, after day.

[powderfreak]

Really has been nice...we keep getting days of 60s in the afternoon and 20s at night. The last three nights have been 25F, 28F, and 27F last night...going back up into the 60s again.

I love this time of year when you can do the 40F diurnal spread quite easily...and after 27F last night and a forecast high in the upper 60s, we should at least hit a 40F spread today. Already risen 18 degrees in the past two hours.

[dendrite]

Man the Euro continues days and days and weeks and weeks of nice wx. Amazing how the Euro op schooled the Euro ens on the pattern. Something to take note of as we move thru the warm wx months. Euro ens kept signaling heavy rains for us and reality shows an omega block and Hp and beautiful spring wx

I don't recall the ens having heavy rains through the d10 period. They are looking wetter beyond that though as they finally work that ULL/trough over the area.

[Mr Torchey]

Quite the show going on.

[wxmanmitch]

Nice, pics!  How in the word did you find that patch of "snow"?  That looks like literally an hour away from completely disappearing, lol.

 

Last patch of natural snow in the state of Mass?

 

It was actually right in the middle of the trail I was walking on, so I spotted it. I thought it may have been a rock at first until I bent down and touched it. As it is a Nordic skiing spot in the winter, it was probably trail packed snow that turned into solid ice and melted very slowly. I was lucky to spot it just before it melted.

 

I am located on the edge of where White Paper Birch like to grow, just south of where I live there are virtually no natural stands. Even further south, the forest changes to American Beech. Virtually no old growth forest exists in New England, so alot of what one comes across is an unatural forest that is primarily less than 100 years old.

 

Have you been to the Ice Glen in Stockbridge? There are old second-growth Hemlock from circa 1830 and a state champion Hemlock in the rear of the glen. It's a cool place to visit and get a sense of what the majesty of our forest's must have looked like prior to European settlement and sunsequent forest massacre.

 

SNE is at the southern part of the native range for white birch. They exist in the southern Berkshires, but a lot of the trees are not overly healthy. White birch increases in abundance and healthiness as one heads north and higher in elevation as the bronze birch borer can't tolerate the colder conditions found there. White birch is often attacked first, while the more southern birches like river birch and black birch are more resistant. As a pioneer species, I've seen a couple of healthier white birch stands at the edges of meadows and in newer growth woods around here.

 

Ice glen does hold snow deep into the spring and early summer, hence its name. It does this since it's a shady hemlock grove. I bet there's still some snow and ice there now.

 

No. 

 

There's a little known place out in NW Mass known ...I think, as snow hole.  It's up on the N side of Mt Greylock and is a deep chasm/hole/cave that has snow sometimes year round. Probably not the last couple of years, but I'm certain it has snow right now. 

 

I don't know it, so it's obviously not well known. It's been a while since I've hiked Greylock. You wouldn't happen to know what trial it's near would you?

 

Nice pics there, Mitch.  Notchview is a great place.  We looked at a house about a 1/2 mile from there a year or two ago.  Great nordic skiing there.

 

It was my first time there, and it's 3,100 acres so I only hiked a part of it. Great spot and interesting ecologically as spruce/fir forests are rare at this latitude. I will go there again, but probably not until the fall as the bugs are probably brutal in those spruce/fir forests in the summer. No black flies yet, thanks to chilly nights. Save for the fall, this is the best time of year for hiking.

[powderfreak]

What a day... perfect for the end of April.  Blue skies from horizon to horizon.

 

Funny that the ski resort could be like almost fully open still...no one really cares to ski at this point, especially with all the lawn work going on in SNE.

 

[Typhoon Tip]

 

I don't know it, so it's obviously not well known. It's been a while since I've hiked Greylock. You wouldn't happen to know what trial it's near would you?

 

 

Actually, it not be Greylock - per say.  It's up near the nexus of NY/MA/VT, which is why I refer to it as the N side of the Mt, but that's my bad.  Anywho, here's a web-site that talks about it :   http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/snowhole.html

 

 

 

I only know about it because I used to date this girl that went to North Adams.  I'd go up and hang for weekends of ill-repute, then come home and earn enough money for bus fair during the week to rinse and repeat.   I finally just said fudge it!  and bought a car so I could drive it, but about a week later she dump me.  But during that gleeful time of pure debauchery we enjoyed, there were several parties -- I was talking to some dude at one of them, and when I was discussing my nerdliness with weather and stuff, he said I should check out "snowhole".   Shame on me, I never did        At least I got a car out of the deal

[Typhoon Tip]

What a day... perfect for the end of April.  Blue skies from horizon to horizon.

 

Funny that the ski resort could be like almost fully open still...no one really cares to ski at this point, especially with all the lawn work going on in SNE.

 

current.jpg

 

Yeah, it's pretty epic down in the valley today, too.  Light flag wobbler wind at best under this U.V. lamp -like sun makes it feel like being in a tepid swimming pool out there.  I'm likely going to either do a 30-mile biking sprint, or just run for 4 or 5 miles ... but only after the Celtics make a comeback and win today (and they will win!), and the 'Sox push their start to 18-7 and way better than Kevina's coveting "yank-me's"