Misty rain on the peaks becoming heavier in the valleys. Humid and foggy with a high of 66F. A muted red glow at sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/29/23
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Category Archives: Daily Catskills
Daily Catskills: 09/28/23
Another crisp morning under a big dome of pale blue with cloud moving in early afternoon. Humid with a high of 68F. Fall colors are muted by the cloud.
Daily Catskills: 09/27/23
A clear, still morning with fog in the valleys. Mostly clear sky all day, and a giant moon. A high of 62F.
Daily Catskills: 09/26/23
Overcast and dull until late afternoon, and humid with a high of 60F. A hazy sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/25/23
Windy, chilly and rainy with a high of 57F. Day 3 of Fall and we are setting off to a gloomy start.
Daily Catskills: 09/24/23
Another chilly, wet day with cold rain, and foggy mist obscuring the yellowing of the foliage. A high of 58F.
Daily Catskills: 09/23/23
Gloomy and chilly with rain for most of the day, and a high of 56F. A watery, soggy first day of Fall.
Daily Catskills: 09/22/23
A bright day with cloud like a thin veil, and one big fluffy cloud that looked lost. A high of 69F and another fiery sunset. The last day of summer.
Daily Catskills: 09/21/23
A chilly sunrise with overnight frost whitening the flora, and steaming mist rising into a crystal clear sky. A crisp day, with a high of 69F and the landscape looking like it’s slowly being sanded down. This is the penultimate day of summer.
Daily Catskills: 09/20/23
Warm and sunny, with wispy bits of cloud like someone didn’t clean up the sky properly and a high of 70F. Overnight lows dipping into the thirties. Frost warning.
Daily Catskills: 09/19/23
An overcast and gloomy morning clearing up mid-afternoon to late evening and a clear blue sunset. Chilly with some sprinkles and a high of 64F. Lows in the fifties.
Daily Catskills: 09/18/23
Gloomy and raining, with all-day foggy mist creeping around the mountains, creating a enigmatic day and a high of 65F.
Daily Catskills: 09/17/23
A chill in the air, and warm in the sun but mostly overcast with a flat swathes of menacing cloud. Late afternoon rain and a high of 67F.
Daily Catskills: 09/16/23
Warm and sunny, mostly clear with a high of 71F.
Daily Catskills: 09/15/23
A high of 67F, and sunny despite some flat cloud cover that transformed into a fiery sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/14/23
A heavily misty, dewy morning, lightening up to become sunny and warm with a high of 68F.
Daily Catskills: 09/13/23
Gloomy and rainy, with intermittent showers leaving a trail of thick mist in their wake. A high of 71F and humid. The goldenrod is enjoying this late summer.
Daily Catskills: 09/12/23
Bright and warm with scattered clouds like a handful of odd, mismatched clouds were chucked in the air, and a high of 79F.
Daily Catskills: 09/11/23
Gloomy: overcast and dull with misty late afternoon rain and a high of 75F.
Daily Catskills: 09/10/23
Muggy, still and overcast with low cloud and a high of 77F. Late afternoon drizzle gave way to some patches of blue. A barely discernible reddening of the landscape. The greens aren’t giving up yet.
Daily Catskills: 09/09/23
Morning fog hugged the peaks. Some gauzy, thick afternoon cloud. A high of 83F. Post-sunset rain.
Daily Catskills: 09/08/23
Another steamy day, overcast and dry with a high of 83F. Post-sunset torrential downpours cool the evening air.
Daily Catskills: 09/07/23
A steamy day. Hot and humid, with plump, fluffy cloud and a high of 89F. Mid-afternoon thunder and rain that took a pause for sunset and then continued with epic house-rattling thunder and lightning after dark. Some epic weather.
Daily Catskills: 09/06/23
Heavy and humid, mostly sunny with a high of 90F, but cool in the shade. Sweaty.
Daily Catskills: 09/05/23
A foggy sunrise with morning mist dissolving into the air. A high of 87F with some gauzy cloud: steamy and humid.
Daily Catskills: 09/04/23
Early morning sprinkles, but otherwise sunny despite big, chunky clouds like a rumpled duvet, and humid with a high of 83F. The last of the downed hay needs to be dried out before its baled because of the overnight rain.
Daily Catskills: 09/03/23
Warm and sunny with a high of 82F. Day 4 of haying: bringing the bales down off the mountain and “tedding” the second cutting.
Daily Catskills: 09/02/23
Day 3 of haying in the Dry Brook Valley, mostly clear and sunny, a high of 72F, with late afternoon cotton wool cloud and some post-sunset sprinkles. Jewel weed is thriving down by the river.
Daily Catskills: 09/01/23
Sunny and clear with a high of 80F. Tall goldenrod stems swing in a gentle breeze and its Day 2 of a hay window in the Dry Brook Valley.
Travels Like Wildfire
No sooner did I stop posting Daily Catskills on 5/31/23, than along came a swirling dark cloud of wildfire smoke that choked the Catskills, and much of the North East of the US, in a thick, dirty shroud unlike we’ve seen before in this area in living memory.
Historically, June has always been a bit boring for pictures, but not this year. Ordinarily, by the month of June, the Catskills has filled in with its multifarious greens, and daily shots during the summer all seem the same, so I suspend the Daily Catskills genre until autumn when the real colors start to pop. But this year in June, one hundred burning wildfires in Canada traveled on prevailing winds – looking much like a tornado from satellite images – blowing a layer of orange, sooty, ashy smoke for two days from Monday night (June 5th) until Thursday morning (June 8th). The sky became shades of orange, blue and grey – and blazing red around our bloodshot eyes. Everybody looked like they’d been up all night partying, coughing like they’d just smoked 20 cigarettes.
Moreover, it all got a little unnervingly chilly under that massive cloud of wildfire like we were in a Cormac McCarthy novel, I wondered, should we get the cart and starting walking??
But it all blew over.
The moral of the story is that we are all connected. It’s never been more obvious that the struggles of our neighbors are also our concern. Huge fires that burn thousands of miles away send smoke signals around the world, heralding the alert of climate change.
To compound the issue, we have had an unseasonably dry spring here in the Catskills and still have the big beige patches of crunchy brown grass to prove it. Hay season will bring roughly 60% of the yields of previous years in the Dry Brook Valley. The Catskills used to be a veritable rain forest, but not this spring. Our rivers are running low and the infamous Kaatskills waters are evaporating. Locally, we’ve received reports that springs are drying up, and that the water levels are at 50%.
We’ve had some rain in June thus far, but it’s been a mediocre mist at best. The first half of June has thus far been a drought.
Daily Catskills: 05/31/23
Hot and sunny with a high of 85F.
Daily Catskills: 05/30/23
Warm and sunny with a hazy horizon and a high of 75F. Crunchy yellow grass and parched dirt. We need water.
Daily Catskills: 05/29/23
Sunny and cloudless with a high of 80F.
Daily Catskills: 05/28/23
Clear skies and sunny with a high of 85F. Drought conditions continue. Rivers dwindle. The dirt has been parched and baked.
Daily Catskills: 05/27/23
Sunny and clear with a high of 79F. The spuds are doing well despite the drought.
Daily Catskills: 05/26/23
Another sunny day: drought conditions continue. Mostly clear sky and a high of 68F.
Daily Catskills: 05/25/23
Sunny and warm with a high of 64F and a cooling breeze. Drought conditions. Browning grass begging for some rain. Sunny sunset down by the dwindling river.
Daily Catskills: 05/24/23
A moody day: some sun breaking through the cloud in the morning, then humid with showers in the afternoon, and a mist over the landscape making it look covered in a veil of thin whitewash. A high of 74F.
Daily Catskills: 05/23/23
Hot, sunny but overcast with a milky blue sky and a high of 73F.
Daily Catskills: 05/22/23
A still and humid day with sprinkles of rain, and overcast with heavy mist. A high of 71F. The Catskills have filled in with green, and the dandelions are taking their leave.
Daily Catskills: 05/21/23
A humid morning with heavy, misty cloud and rain on the peaks. Sun in the afternoon and a high of 64F.
Daily Catskills: 05/20/23
A sombre day: the ghost of springs past. Cloud shimmering, light breeze and a high of 67F. Some of the salad bloomed early.
Daily Catskills: 05/19/23
A moody day with giant clouds and a strong breeze, but humid with a high of 67F. The sun sank slowly into the dusk like an ember fizzling into the sea.
Daily Catskills: 05/18/23
Another sunny day: warm in the sun, cool in the shade with a high of 64F.
Daily Catskills: 05/17/23
Sunny and clear, but a little colder with a sharp breeze and a high of 54F. Another frost warning for tonight.
Daily Catskills: 05/16/23
Another gorgeous day with a gauzy sky and a high of 73F.
Daily Catskills: 05/15/23
Another beautiful day, the sun glowing through a hazy sky of white smoke, and high of 70F.
Daily Catskills: 05/14/23
Another glorious day: breezy, with only sheer cloud stretched over the sky late afternoon, and a high of 63F.
Daily Catskills: 05/13/23
A glorious, clear summer day with high of 75F and strong breeze. Buds budding.
Daily Catskills: 05/12/23
Another hot day with a high of 81F and a jumble of clouds. At lower elevations, the blossom is in full effect.
Daily Catskills: 05/11/23
Baking in the sun with a high of 78F and an empty sky, save for the odd wisp of stray cloud, and throngs of dandelions taking flight in the light breeze like the tutus of tiny ballet dancers. The sky becoming more crowded late afternoon. A pre-summer scorcher.
Daily Catskills: 05/10/23
Sunny and mostly clear with a high of 65F. Violets join the dandelions.
Daily Catskills: 05/09/23
At upper elevations in the middle of the Catskills, the foliage has yet to fill in completely, and there is still no lilac. A waxy layer of cloud and a high of 63F with a warm breeze.
Daily Catskills: 05/08/23
Brilliant sunshine with a gentle breeze, chiffon clouds and a high of 68F.
Daily Catskills: 05/07/23
Sunny with a high of 69F and humid, with the cloud thickening to the texture of wrinkled wax paper by days end. Dandelions out in force.
