September 2020 Discussion

[powderfreak]

21 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

55/49 at 7:20 PM.

torch!!

Same, it got chilly fast this evening!  Feel bad for those still installed and can’t close their windows.

[powderfreak]

50 minutes ago, alex said:

Yes pretty normal here. Seems early but it really isn't. My mom reminded me this morning that last year she arrived for a visit on September 15 and she thought at that point the foliage was "spectacular" - lol, for us it had just started. First foliage season in NNE can be a pretty amazing experience 

Yeah this is normal based on photos from past year.  FB keeps showing me memories so it’s easy to see where we compare to past years, ha.

Mountain here usually peaks early October and then town peaks mid-October/Columbus Day weekend.  The ironic thing is Columbus Day weekend is a huge leaf peeper holiday but by the time that rolls around the mountain foliage is past peak...a classic case of “should’ve been here last week.”  It’s still really great foliage in the valley and under 1,500ft though.

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah this is normal based on photos from past year.  FB keeps showing me memories so it’s easy to see where we compare to past years, ha.

Mountain here usually peaks early October and then town peaks mid-October/Columbus Day weekend.  The ironic thing is Columbus Day weekend is a huge leaf peeper holiday but by the time that rolls around the mountain foliage is past peak...a classic case of “should’ve been here last week.”  It’s still really great foliage in the valley and under 1,500ft though.

Looks like mid-September through the first week in October will be best around Randolph, especially if you want to see the mountains full of color. Based on prior CoCoRaHS reports (the spotter gives decent leaf color updates) once it hits peaks it declines super fast. We are looking forward to seeing the colors.

[powderfreak]

26 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Looks like mid-September through the first week in October will be best around Randolph, especially if you want to see the mountains full of color. Based on prior CoCoRaHS reports (the spotter gives decent leaf color updates) once it hits peaks it declines super fast. We are looking forward to seeing the colors.

It does decline super fast.  You'll be absolutely blown away one day, and literally 48 hours later it'll be all orange and faded with decent leaf drop.  It'll go from all colors to all orange mixed with stick season very fast.

The thing with "best color" will depend on if you prefer to have some green still mixed in, then it's definitely the last week of September.  If you want no green and only yellow/orange/red then "peak" is probably in October, even there in Randolph.  The great thing about foliage season is as it starts going, you'll have days where you are like wow, this is awesome what could be better.  Then a couple days later you are like holy shit this is awesome, does it get better?  And you'll do that until all the sudden you wake up one day and its over in a snap of the fingers.

[powderfreak]

Who is this Mersky poster who stalks Phin? Never seen a post but leaves him weenies at every chance... Phin, you catch a fish that won't get off the line?

[PhineasC]

Just now, powderfreak said:

Who is this mersky poster who stalks Phin? Never seen a post but just weenies him at every chance... Phin, you catch a fish that won't get off the line?

Just a small-time troll from the MA forum. I think he wants to be me someday. 

Keep at it, little buddy!

[HoarfrostHubb]

Perfect fire pit night. 

[Ginx snewx]

16 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Perfect fire pit night. 

Nice

[Ginx snewx]

2 hours ago, kdxken said:

“Current conditions are setting the stage for an earlier start to the fall foliage season, with ‘peak color’ happening not all at once, but lasting several weeks in parts of the state,” said Chris Martin, Connecticut state forester.

Gonna be ugly

[tunafish]

15 hours ago, Go Kart Mozart said:

When do the real Albacore show up?

Hi.

[tamarack]

11 hours ago, powderfreak said:

It does decline super fast.  You'll be absolutely blown away one day, and literally 48 hours later it'll be all orange and faded with decent leaf drop.  It'll go from all colors to all orange mixed with stick season very fast.

The thing with "best color" will depend on if you prefer to have some green still mixed in, then it's definitely the last week of September.  If you want no green and only yellow/orange/red then "peak" is probably in October, even there in Randolph.  The great thing about foliage season is as it starts going, you'll have days where you are like wow, this is awesome what could be better.  Then a couple days later you are like holy shit this is awesome, does it get better?  And you'll do that until all the sudden you wake up one day and its over in a snap of the fingers.

In New England, especially NNE, one can see full colors and green throughout the season - the dark greens of spruce and fir make for wonderful contrast.  Actually a bit behind the average around our place, but the early-turn sugar maples along the road a mile toward town are 2/3 changed - not sure if it's health or genetics, but they're consistently early.

[PhineasC]

Got down to 44 last night. 

[Ginx snewx]

Red flag warnings with winter storm watch. Kevs dream

[PhineasC]

1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

Red flag warnings with winter storm watch. Kevs dream

Action-packed forecast like no other. Heavy smoke to cold smoke in 48 hours.

[Hoth]

Made my first Guinness stew since last March. Almost time to break out the brown liquor. Fall is on final approach.

[moneypitmike]

1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

Red flag warnings with winter storm watch. Kevs dream

DID--Damage in Denver

 

COC here at Pit 2--deep blues, 69* at 11:30 ftw.

[powderfreak]

What a day, what a stretch.

60s north and 70s south.  Comfy dews. 

[powderfreak]

This has to be the busiest hiking day of the season, trails are just packed.

Stowe Mtn Rescue responding to a leg fracture high on the mountain just below the summit ridge.  They’ll have to take the patient down the steep Cliff Trail to the top of the Gondola, that’s going to create quite the traffic jam at the crux but hope the person is ok aside from the leg.  Rough spot.

[J.Spin]

19 hours ago, PhineasC said:

Looks like mid-September through the first week in October will be best around Randolph, especially if you want to see the mountains full of color. Based on prior CoCoRaHS reports (the spotter gives decent leaf color updates) once it hits peaks it declines super fast. We are looking forward to seeing the colors.

 

19 hours ago, powderfreak said:

It does decline super fast.  You'll be absolutely blown away one day, and literally 48 hours later it'll be all orange and faded with decent leaf drop.  It'll go from all colors to all orange mixed with stick season very fast.

The thing with "best color" will depend on if you prefer to have some green still mixed in, then it's definitely the last week of September.  If you want no green and only yellow/orange/red then "peak" is probably in October, even there in Randolph.  The great thing about foliage season is as it starts going, you'll have days where you are like wow, this is awesome what could be better.  Then a couple days later you are like holy shit this is awesome, does it get better?  And you'll do that until all the sudden you wake up one day and its over in a snap of the fingers.

I agree, the foliage up here declines quite quickly once you hit peak, and if you get an autumnal storm system around that time, it can really expedite the leaf drop.  It was on this forum where I heard that apparently they get much more protracted foliage seasons in general as you head farther south toward the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S.

And it’s great that PF pointed out the personal preference on peak foliage – my preference for peak is when there are still some green deciduous around (and indeed the evergreens are always there as Tamarack noted).  I typically find that once you’ve got what might be maximal fall leaf color in this area, you’ve already got too many bare branches for my taste.

The quick leaf drop we see here in NNE is one reason it’s nice to have the snow come in quickly.  A bit of stick season is certainly appreciated because it’s got its own sort of unique somber, late-autumn mood, but it’s not too long before most folks would like to see the ground white.

I can remember when I lived down in the Buzzards Bay area of Massachusetts, I didn’t anticipate white Thanksgivings, and it was always fun to head out on fall walks in the woods with the grandparents and expect dry ground, crunchy leaves underfoot, and reasonable fall temperatures.  I’m not sure if we ever had a white Thanksgiving, and I certainly didn’t expect it.

Up here in the mountains though, I’ve definitely learned that white Thanksgivings aren’t uncommon at all.  I just checked my data, and occurrence of snow on the ground here at our site is almost 2/3 of the time (64.3%) in my 14-year period of record.  And, that’s for down here in the valley bottom at ~500’, so the occurrence is only going to be greater in the higher elevations.  I have to think at Phin’s elevation, the occurrence of white Thanksgiving would have to be at least that much as long as he gets in on the typical upslope snows.

It’s hard to complain about the amazing weather we’ve got right now, but change is certainly on its way…

[PhineasC]

2 hours ago, J.Spin said:

 

I agree, the foliage up here declines quite quickly once you hit peak, and if you get an autumnal storm system around that time, it can really expedite the leaf drop.  It was on this forum where I heard that apparently they get much more protracted foliage seasons in general as you head farther south toward the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S.

And it’s great that PF pointed out the personal preference on peak foliage – my preference for peak is when there are still some green deciduous around (and indeed the evergreens are always there as Tamarack noted).  I typically find that once you’ve got what might be maximal fall leaf color in this area, you’ve already got too many bare branches for my taste.

The quick leaf drop we see here in NNE is one reason it’s nice to have the snow come in quickly.  A bit of stick season is certainly appreciated because it’s got its own sort of unique somber, late-autumn mood, but it’s not too long before most folks would like to see the ground white.

I can remember when I lived down in the Buzzards Bay area of Massachusetts, I didn’t anticipate white Thanksgivings, and it was always fun to head out on fall walks in the woods with the grandparents and expect dry ground, crunchy leaves underfoot, and reasonable fall temperatures.  I’m not sure if we ever had a white Thanksgiving, and I certainly didn’t expect it.

Up here in the mountains though, I’ve definitely learned that white Thanksgivings aren’t uncommon at all.  I just checked my data, and occurrence of snow on the ground here at our site is almost 2/3 of the time (64.3%) in my 14-year period of record.  And, that’s for down here in the valley bottom at ~500’, so the occurrence is only going to be greater in the higher elevations.  I have to think at Phin’s elevation, the occurrence of white Thanksgiving would have to be at least that much as long as he gets in on the typical upslope snows.

It’s hard to complain about the amazing weather we’ve got right now, but change is certainly on its way…

Of the data I have from 2009-2019, there was a white Thanksgiving every year except 2009, 2012, 2015.

2017 appears to have been somewhat marginal in the snow department, but I'll allow it since it showed 1" depth that year. LOL

So 70% chance based on this small sample size. 18" on the ground for Turkey Day 2018. That is pretty epic. 

14" Thanksgiving 2019

 

[TugHillMatt]

22 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah this is normal based on photos from past year.  FB keeps showing me memories so it’s easy to see where we compare to past years, ha.

Mountain here usually peaks early October and then town peaks mid-October/Columbus Day weekend.  The ironic thing is Columbus Day weekend is a huge leaf peeper holiday but by the time that rolls around the mountain foliage is past peak...a classic case of “should’ve been here last week.”  It’s still really great foliage in the valley and under 1,500ft though.

We had that problem when we got married almost 13 years ago. Arranged the wedding date for October 13th so we could enjoy the colors around Smugglers Notch during our anniversary. A strong cold front came through the day after our wedding and by the time we arrived, the mountains were more bare than anything. 

[Damage In Tolland]

Yes the drought is very real in N and NE CT and I know posters were asking for links.. wells are going quickly 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

3 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Yes the drought is very real in N and NE CT and I know posters were asking for links.. wells are going quickly 

They are probably 20 feet deep.

[Lava Rock]

After this week, is there any rain in sight, as in wetter pattern?

[Damage In Tolland]

6 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

After this week, is there any rain in sight, as in wetter pattern?

Nope. The end of week soaker vanished. Pig HP noses down and suppresses to Mid Atlantic 

[Lava Rock]

Nope. The end of week soaker vanished. Pig HP noses down and suppresses to Mid Atlantic 

Not surprised. If it weren't for the 7" in June, this probably would be the driest summer in how many years?

[powderfreak]

9 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

17 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Nope. The end of week soaker vanished. Pig HP noses down and suppresses to Mid Atlantic 

Not surprised. If it weren't for the 7" in June, this probably would be the driest summer in how many years?

In Yore years.

[dendrite]

14 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

21 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Nope. The end of week soaker vanished. Pig HP noses down and suppresses to Mid Atlantic 

Not surprised. If it weren't for the 7" in June, this probably would be the driest summer in how many years?

If you took away all of the rain all summer we wouldn't have had any.

[ORH_wxman]

6 hours ago, J.Spin said:

 

I agree, the foliage up here declines quite quickly once you hit peak, and if you get an autumnal storm system around that time, it can really expedite the leaf drop.  It was on this forum where I heard that apparently they get much more protracted foliage seasons in general as you head farther south toward the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S.

And it’s great that PF pointed out the personal preference on peak foliage – my preference for peak is when there are still some green deciduous around (and indeed the evergreens are always there as Tamarack noted).  I typically find that once you’ve got what might be maximal fall leaf color in this area, you’ve already got too many bare branches for my taste.

The quick leaf drop we see here in NNE is one reason it’s nice to have the snow come in quickly.  A bit of stick season is certainly appreciated because it’s got its own sort of unique somber, late-autumn mood, but it’s not too long before most folks would like to see the ground white.

I can remember when I lived down in the Buzzards Bay area of Massachusetts, I didn’t anticipate white Thanksgivings, and it was always fun to head out on fall walks in the woods with the grandparents and expect dry ground, crunchy leaves underfoot, and reasonable fall temperatures.  I’m not sure if we ever had a white Thanksgiving, and I certainly didn’t expect it.

Up here in the mountains though, I’ve definitely learned that white Thanksgivings aren’t uncommon at all.  I just checked my data, and occurrence of snow on the ground here at our site is almost 2/3 of the time (64.3%) in my 14-year period of record.  And, that’s for down here in the valley bottom at ~500’, so the occurrence is only going to be greater in the higher elevations.  I have to think at Phin’s elevation, the occurrence of white Thanksgiving would have to be at least that much as long as he gets in on the typical upslope snows.

It’s hard to complain about the amazing weather we’ve got right now, but change is certainly on its way…

The only White Thanksgivings I can think of for Buzzards Bay Area would be 1987 and 1989. It’s exceptionally difficult down there. Kind of weird that they had two so close together and probably nothing 20 years either side of that. 

There may have been snow OTG in 2002 not too far away but I think right down at buzzards bay they were too warm. But I’d have to double check that one. 

Edit: scratch 1987....just hit me that that one was Veterans Day. Not near Thanksgiving. 

[alex]

6 hours ago, J.Spin said:

 

I agree, the foliage up here declines quite quickly once you hit peak, and if you get an autumnal storm system around that time, it can really expedite the leaf drop.  It was on this forum where I heard that apparently they get much more protracted foliage seasons in general as you head farther south toward the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S.

And it’s great that PF pointed out the personal preference on peak foliage – my preference for peak is when there are still some green deciduous around (and indeed the evergreens are always there as Tamarack noted).  I typically find that once you’ve got what might be maximal fall leaf color in this area, you’ve already got too many bare branches for my taste.

The quick leaf drop we see here in NNE is one reason it’s nice to have the snow come in quickly.  A bit of stick season is certainly appreciated because it’s got its own sort of unique somber, late-autumn mood, but it’s not too long before most folks would like to see the ground white.

I can remember when I lived down in the Buzzards Bay area of Massachusetts, I didn’t anticipate white Thanksgivings, and it was always fun to head out on fall walks in the woods with the grandparents and expect dry ground, crunchy leaves underfoot, and reasonable fall temperatures.  I’m not sure if we ever had a white Thanksgiving, and I certainly didn’t expect it.

Up here in the mountains though, I’ve definitely learned that white Thanksgivings aren’t uncommon at all.  I just checked my data, and occurrence of snow on the ground here at our site is almost 2/3 of the time (64.3%) in my 14-year period of record.  And, that’s for down here in the valley bottom at ~500’, so the occurrence is only going to be greater in the higher elevations.  I have to think at Phin’s elevation, the occurrence of white Thanksgiving would have to be at least that much as long as he gets in on the typical upslope snows.

It’s hard to complain about the amazing weather we’ve got right now, but change is certainly on its way…

I've had a white Thanksgiving every year since moving here (can't even remember for sure how many that is but it would be  3 or 4 past years)