At least six inches of overnight snow, soft and powdery, not like Monday’s snow which disappeared pretty quickly. A high of 34F with clouds that ripple and shimmer in the sunlight. A beautiful day despite the shoveling.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 42F with a gloomy overcast morning turn into a far brighter afternoon with sun and plump clouds
© J.N. Urbanski 11am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 51F and brilliantly sunny with snow lingering on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am
A high of 49F, humid, overcast with light drizzle. A spring thaw sends plumes of thick, fast-moving mist into the mountains. The Catskills becomes a steam bath. Stunning views from mountain tops. Large herds of deer graze under cover of early evening fog.
© J.N. Urbanski 7pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 45F with a chill in the air and bright despite being overcast with a rippled blanket of grey.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Sun! A high of 37F with brilliant sunshine through ribbons of passing cloud. The nor’easter has moved on.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A nor-easter all week: another whiteout. A high of 31F and relentless snow since Monday 12th. Shovel, shovel, shovel. Snow banks getting higher and higher. Icicles get longer and longer.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 32F with fluffy snow continuing to accumulate, chest high in some areas. Snowshoes sink a foot into the drifts. Feet of snow turn a hemlock forest into a magical glade.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 40F with continual flurries of snow and overcast with a shimmering cloud.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 35F, overcast, still and bright with the sun occasionally glimmering through rippling cloud.
© J.N. Urbanski 8am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 36F, overcast with a glimmering cloud and gloomy. Snow hangs heavily in the pine trees, cracking off branches and breaking trunks in half.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm – Usage prohibited without consent
36F by noon, overcast and slightly gloomy. Driveway shoveling begins. Day 2 without power, which means no water. You need to be fit enough for country living.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Catskills closed for the day, except for the town plowmen who go out no matter what. Heavy snow from the wee hours. Power outages from 10.30am; gusty winds; trees crushed under the weight of three feet of snow; cars buried. To the black lab, only the ball matters.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski Noon – Usage prohibited without consent
A balmy high of 54F, overcast and no need to go out for lunch with a coat. The calm before the storm.
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A balmy high of 54F, sunny and warm, with soggy ground and deep, rushing rivers.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Overnight rain continues into morning. Heavily overcast with rippling cloud and light snow caps on the tips of mountains. More rain, and a high of 37F.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 34F with crunchy snow underfoot and an afternoon snow storm that dumped several inches of powder. Yesterday laundry day. Today not so much.
© J.N. Urbanski 3.40pm – Usage prohibited without consent
An even more balmy day after yesterday’s high of 62F. Humid and cloudy with lunchtime sunshine, a strong breeze and a high of 74F. Laundry weather for one day.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 41F and overcast with late afternoon rain giving the mountains a thorough soaking.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 27F, morning snow flurries petering out by lunchtime. Still bright despite moody cloud cover.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 26F with thick layer of overnight snow balanced perfectly on every branch, nook and cranny. Another flurry of snow mid-morning but clear for the rest of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 8am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 32F seems remarkably warm, with the peaks enveloped in thick clouds of swirling snow. High winds.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 24F, with bright sunshine and mostly clear skies.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm – Usage prohibited without consent
An 18F high, with overnight snow and gusty winds kicking up small snow tornadoes. A winter wonderland with brief intervals of sunshine.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 39F, humid and overcast. A gloomy start to the month.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 21F, overcast with a bitter, driving wind and icy snow. Frigid.
© J.N. Urbanski 3.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
32F at 9am and clear with hazy cloud on the horizon. A high of 42F by the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 48F, humid, overcast and grey with thin strips of aquamarine on the horizon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 52F, snow and ice lingering on the high peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon – Usage prohibited without consent
A bitter high of 20F, face-deadening cold, but bright, almost cloudless sunshine for most of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am – Usage prohibited without consent
Briefly back to the earth tones and flax colored landscape. Bitterly cold with an icy wind chasing grainy snow that swirls around on the ground and fills the air, glittering in the sun. An afternoon high of 28F.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
36F at 9am with the mountains shrouded in heavy fog, turning the landscape to black-and-white until the afternoon. Mist lingering on the peaks. Glistening birch trees. Balmy and humid with a high of 41F.
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A high of 44F with bright sunshine through hazy cloud. Ice slowly melts.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
15F at 9am with a snow flurry glittering in the sun. 21F by mid-afternoon and partially cloudy with a bitter wind.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.15am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 19F, bright and cloudless with new snow on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Bright sun poking through hazy cloud with a high of 20F and a continual flurry of glittering snow. Large puddles of mud with frozen crusts crack underfoot and trees creaking in the cold.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.50pm – Usage prohibited without consent
Overnight, gusty, house-creaking, tree-waving winds continue into morning, with rain melting the last of the snow, and bright despite being overcast. A lush landscape of brunette tones is revealed, and the landscape welcomes a drenching before the ice storm. A balmy 61F. T-shirt weather. Flood warning. The carbon sink (compost piles) gets a thorough soaking.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 52F, gloomy all day with the occasional whip of wind and a chorus of tinkling as the snow drips from high places. An anonymous critter’s regular commute back and forth from a large cave into the hemlock stand melts slowly to reveal a trail of crushed ash leaves.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
Bitterly cold with a high of 6F on our ridge and sunny, with some snow. Beautiful in the valley of hemlocks. Cold toes after a half hour of snowshoeing.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
0F (-17C) at 2pm with a wind chill of -19F (-28C). Face-cracking, eyeball-freezing, toe-numbing, finger-deadening cold for all except the black lab who is in his element.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski
We enter the New Year 2018 with formidably low temperatures. Christmas was bitterly cold and New Year’s Eve’s overnight low is predicted to be -8F. I cannot remember it ever being much lower than zero in previous winters. It feels like a thorough cleansing, as if Mother Nature wants to properly destroy everything before she resuscitates the landscape next Spring. Previous milder Winters have been blamed for the prevalence in ticks, for example. This year – this past Fall – we had a record number of ticks on our ridge and extremely low winter temperatures do their part to kill the eggs and larvae hibernating in the soil. Continue reading
A high of 33F and cloudy with freezing rain. Mountains shrouded in mist. Tea with a friend.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski 11am – Usage prohibited without consent
Today, December 21st, is Winter Solstice, officially the first day of winter. The northern hemisphere of the earth is pointed the farthest away from the sun and, tonight begins its slow return towards it until the June Solstice of 2018. The ancient tradition of Yuletide, one of the oldest winter celebrations in Europe began this morning and will end on January 1st, 2018. Last year, 2016, Hanukah, a festival of lights, coincided almost exactly with Yuletide, from December 20th to January 1st. Yuletide was a fire festival celebrated by the Northern Europeans. Pre-Zoroastrian Persians and ancient Romans celebrated something similar before the common era. The most enduring British tradition from Yuletide is the Yule Log, a small firestarter from a larger bonfire that was shared with many households by landowners in England. Evergreen trees were fashioned into wreaths and other decorations for the interior of the house for their refreshing smell. The Brits still make cakes fashioned into Yule logs and, of course, we still bring in pine trees, decorate them with lights, but now we call it Christmas. Happy Solstice!
A high of 28F and overcast with a glassy, grey sky. Thick snow on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski – 12.30pm Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 26F with continual, light snow.
© J.N. Urbanski – 4.45pm Usage prohibited without consent
© J.N. Urbanski – 4.30pm Usage prohibited without consent
20F by midday and still with cloud cover moving on by the afternoon exposing a vivid blue sky.
© J.N. Urbanski – 4pm Usage prohibited without consent
A morning temperature of 10F with blistering, face-numbing, phone-freezing winds, rising to 17F by mid-afternoon with brief flashes of sun. Bitterly frigid.
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A high of 35F, and overcast with shimmering cloud and continuous snowfall. A quick Urdhva mukha svanasana. Yoga on the go.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.45am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 31F and overcast with brief flashes of sun through the rippling clouds.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.20am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 29F and gloomy with rippled, moody clouds and a bitter chill. Late afternoon flurries cover iced ponds.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.43pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 30F and cold with afternoon snow beginning as a light sprinkles at lunchtime and continuing well into the evening. Cars over-shooting their turns, sliding gracefully off roads and into ditches, just before dusk ahead of the snow ploughs. Winter has finally arrived.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.50pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A 45F high with a thick layer of morning frost and foggy for most of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am – Usage prohibited without consent
A high of 41F, mostly overcast with brief glimpses of sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 6.10pm – Usage prohibited without consent
A balmy 43F by mid-afternoon, bright and humid after frosty morning. The dried husks of summer’s blooms, crowned with snow, wave in the breeze on tall stalks like stakes marking the spot where spring once was.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am – Usage prohibited without consent
Throwback Thursday: three years ago this week, the dog glides across two feet of snow.
© J.N. Urbanski 11/27/14 Noon