28F by 10am with snow beginning shortly thereafter. A dismally grey, overcast Spring Equinox. Update: heavy snow into the afternoon with an inch of powder laying on roads and tree branches.
© J.N. Urbanski 5.12pm View from the Office
© J.N. Urbanski 3.45pm
© J.N. Urbanski Sprouting seedlings planted on 15th March
It feels like spring has been put on ice, but don’t put the cork back in the champagne yet. Today, March 20th is the vernal equinox, with two additional bonus features of a solar eclipse and a perigee moon, in which the sun looks about 15% bigger than it usually does: dubbed a “Supermoon”.
For the 24 hours of the equinox, the durations of the day and night are equal because the sun shines directly at the equator. The suns rays are perpendicular to the earth. When you live in the mountains, you notice the position of the sun more keenly and during winter months it rises and sets much lower than its summer east/west positions. Days will now start to get longer until the longest day of the year, which will be the June Solstice.
So the days may be long, but nothing has sprung except the indoor seedlings planted last Sunday 15th March and sprouting in the spare bedroom. If you don’t have a heated greenhouse outside, you can “start” your seeds inside, but don’t use potting soil: use peat. These cauliflowers are five days old.
23F at 10.30m: face-freezingly frigid.
© Margaret Helthaler The morning sun catches Sugarloaf Mountain while the Roundout flood plain rests in shadow, Grahamsville, NY
21F at 9am with high winds. The snow gets whipped up by the squalls.
© Margaret Helthaler Big Hollow Road, Grahamsville
34F at 8am rising to 39F. Wet and overcast: mud season continues unabated.
© Margaret Helthaler The Reformed Church in Grahamsville
Dense morning snow fall and 34F at 10am. Rather deflating to pull the blinds to yet more snow. *Sigh*
© J.N. Urbanski 10.49am View from the bed
36F at 9am, rising to 40F by noon. Dreary and overcast, the last of the snow dripping from rooves and melting snow making a muddy mess of the roads. Mud season in full swing, the only advantage being that you can wipe your muddy boots off in the snow. Update: lunchtime rain ushered in mountaintop mist that had sunk into valleys by dusk.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm Hubbell Outhouse
40F by 1.30pm, putting temporary brakes on mud season on the higher elevations. Slushy fields, but brilliant sunshine through the gauzy cloud cover. Snow cover reducing to the thin strips of Belleayre Mountain.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
34F at 9am, windy with clear skies and brilliant sunshine. Yesterday’s slush had hardened into a crust overnight and deep foot and tyre prints in the mud had frozen over. 44F by noon and warm in the sunshine.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
40F at 9am, mostly cloudy, with glimpses of the sun, with light wind. Icicles drip from the rafters as the cloud clears into wisps by noon and the snow shrivels slowly into the grass. Farmers clear piles of slush out of their gulleys with back hoes. 48F at 1.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
36F at 9am quickly rising to 40F by 9.30am. Hazy sky being burnt through by the morning sun. Mud season is upon us. Update: a high of 50F in the afternoon, which quickly became overcast and grey for the remainder of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am Yesterday’s footprints frozen into the ground
34F at 8am and clear, sunny skies. By mid-morning, pillowy cloud cover had rolled through allowing the sun only brief guest appearances. Update: Clear skies again by noon and 40F, turning dirt roads to mud.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Gusty and 36F at noon and maple syrup tapping has begun in the Catskills region. Bright and sunny despite cloud cover: the landscape appears to be under a giant light box. A strong, squally flurry blew through for an hour or so at 1pm whipping up loose powder into tornados. The clocks went forward an hour last night.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.40pm
26F at 10.30am with bright rays shining through gaps in the fast-moving clouds. 32F at 1.30pm and partially cloudy. Update: an extended, disheartening flurry of snow from 3.30pm to 5pm and overcast for the rest of the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
18F with cloudless, azure skies and brilliantly sunny at 10am.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am The Solar Array at the Catskill Center covered in snow
A nippy 18F at 9am: quite the plummet from an overnight high of 36F at 11pm last night. The chill, still air has formed a crust of impenetrable ice over the snow. The birch obsession continues, a smear of peeling peach in an otherwise monochrome landscape.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Overnight winds threw foot-high drifts of icy snow against the house but hardly anything on the car. 23F at 9am: calm and gloomy. 36F by 1pm with rolling, grey cloud cover, the sun having made a valiant attempt to emerge, but only lasting a few minutes.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
22F at 9am rising to 26F mid-morning with the sun barely discernible through the haze. An overcast, dull day enlivened only by a Cuban sandwich. Mid-afternoon snowfall with a winter weather advisory in effect forecasting ice and sleet. Update: 18F and heavily snowing by 5.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 5pm “Nevermind about the hail hitting your eyeballs. Throw this stick.”
24F at 9am with hazy cloud covering the sun like thin gauze. Somehow it manages to be bright and enigmatic morning even with the cloud. Overnight snow laid white accents on high branches that sprinkled powder the wind. The creamy peach colour of peeling birch trees stand out against the snow and reflect the sunlight.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm
Lightly but steadily snowing at 8am, overcast and grey, but still much warmer at 25F by 10am. Perfect Sunday for a walk with the dog, with the snow continuing for most of the afternoon. Update: Snow continued for the rest of the afternoon and into the night with moderate winds.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
18F at 11.30am with clear skies that dissolve to haze on the horizon. Bright and sunny. 22F at 1.30pm: the arctic torturer recedes north like a winter shadow at dawn.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
14F at 9am, bright and sunny, rising to 18F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
12F at 8.30am and partly cloudy, rising to 16F by noon. The arctic deep freeze is granting a modicum of relief, like the torturer taking his coffee break.
© Margaret Helthaler Thunder Hill, Grahamsville
12F with hazy sunshine at 8.30am.
© Margaret Helthaler Rondout Reservoir, Grahamsville
10F and gusty at 8am, with powder being blown all over the roads and a thick, white blanket of snow lain over the countryside. A mostly bright morning, with multifarious cloud cover rolling over in waves. Maple tapping should be in full swing. A bone-chilling, windy -2F by 6.30pm with temperatures predicted to plummet to -17F this evening.
© J.N. Urbanski 10am Lonely maple syrup stand that we’ll return to in the Spring…
A balmy 30F at 10am with white light burning through the hazy cloud: a brief respite from the pipe cracking, tree splitting, shoulder hunching, crushing tyranny of the 2015 deep freeze. No wind. The arctic spectre seems to save its wind like a trump card for the coldest, darkest moments. Clear with brilliant sunshine and 34F by the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
12F cloudy and snowing by midday. Heavy powdery snow and whiteout by mid-afternoon with freezing, blustery winds. Got wood?
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
Overnight winds had fashioned the snow into intricate patterns. 2F at 9am and blustery. Sun breaking through the hazy cloud. Update: 10F at 1.30pm with periodic gusts of frigid wind.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
9F at 7am, lightly snowing and cloudy: knee deep snow. The snow had stopped by 10am, it became clearer over lunchtime until the sun broke through hazy cloud by 2pm. Trees creaked and cracked in the wind as it whipped up powdery tornados. Laundry day feels like its getting further and further away…
© J.N. Urbanski Wishful thinking…
The deep freeze continues: -6F at 8am with more snow predicted for the day. Brilliant sunshine rising to 23F by 3.30pm.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718
0F at dawn, more bitterly freezing temperatures only rising to 16F at midday. Many exasperated New Englanders who are bearing the brunt of this week’s arctic chill, having been made prisoners by low hanging icicles.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718
Overnight lows of -6F continued into morning “rising” to zero by 10am. Throughout the region, dawn lows were reported anywhere from -14F to -25F. Clear and sunny.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718
6F by 9.30am with blustery winds and sunshine arriving by lunchtime. New England got the worst of the deep freeze allegedly. Update: rising to 7F by mid-afternoon, but feels like -23F. More cabin fever…
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 Bell by Nousaku, Japanese master metalworkers dating back to 1609.
© Lori Robin at Cheezehound Headquarters
7F at 9.30am, with yet more snow. Perfect snuggling weather.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718
Cabin Fever! Overnight lows in the negative figures: -2F rising to 0F by morning. Some sunshine making up for the frigid temperatures. Only the brave, and dog owners, venture outside. Update to come.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 1pm Catskill Cuisine post by Milton Glaser. “Should you call that meeting?” poster by Wendy McNaughton.
21F and cloudy with a chance of more snow. Another snowstorm on the way… as if that needed mentioning: more snow sweeps through the Catskills mid-morning. Update: light but steady snow fell into the afternoon.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 8.30am
© Fernando Delgado 12.30pm
A bright morning with more overnight snow and 30F at 10.30am.
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
The overnight snowstorm continued into this morning: 20F at 9am. Update: the tortoise of snowstorms… it seemed inconsequential, light and slower than the hare, but steathily dumped a foot or two throughout the day, still sprinkling it like glitter at dusk.
© J.N. Urbanski Midday
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am
More overnight snow, a few inches of fresh powder, but a clement 32F at midday. Overcast and gloomy.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
Fresh overnight snow; 22F at 9am rising to 25F by the afternoon. More gloom.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
8F at 8.30am with an inch of fresh powder and still snowing into mid-morning. 18F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
16F at 8.30am with a few inches of overnight snow. Granite sky with patches of blue made for a magical morning walk. Update: 12F, partially cloudy and much brighter in the afternoon with high winds.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
18F at 7.30am and lightly snowing with an inch or two of fresh powder. A clear but overcast afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
5F at 8am, with a flurry of fine, icy particles glistening in the rising sun like sinking glitter. Update: 20F and bright sunshine for the rest of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 8am
An overnight snowstorm dumped a foot of snow with two-feet drifts in some parts, burying cars, sheds and outdoor furniture. 18F at 9am with the snowstorm continuing unabated. Two feet of fluffy snow is catnip for the black lab.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
© Robert E. Block 12.15pm
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
Overcast with early morning flurries and 20F at 8am. Mostly cloudy, brighter and clear by 1.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.48am
10F at 8am, dropping sharply to 8F mid-morning. Brilliant sunshine and some snow-bathing. Alfie the Upstate Dispatch media lab, a loving, sensitive, protective, deer-chasing outdoorspuppy with the scariest bark I’ve ever heard, has been with us for a year since we rescued him from the Kingston ASPCA this time last year.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
It’s nice to see what’s going on in the Catskills when you have cabin fever, like a whiteout on Belleayre Mountain and the view from a high window at Spillian. Snowy and 25F, clearing in the afternoon to reveal glorious light and striking colours: simply gorgeous.
© Melissa Zeligman 1.30pm
Grey and overcast: a monochromatic but still lustrously beautiful day at 27F by 1pm.
© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 1pm
8F at 7.30am with the rising sun clearing the clouds and a fresh dusting of powder covering the tracks.
© J.N. Urbanski 7.30am
19F mid-morning with a light but persistent flurry. Overnight snow had coated the car in a few inches, but left the branches bare. Update: The flurry turned into a whiteout with 4 inches dropped by 1.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
14F at 8am with the Catskills bracing for a winter “blizzard”. Update: New England’s feverishly anticipated “blizzard”, named Juno, turned out to be only a few inches here in the Catskills and NYC. It was also actually a bit warmer at dusk: 20F. Last year’s snow, in which we suffered a few feet for weeks, and thereafter when it formed an icy crust, was far worse.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am
27F and brilliantly clear skies and warm for most of the day, but not warm enough to melt the stalactites around the Pepacton Reservoir.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Waking up to 24F and a quiet winter morning coated with snow. Almost 3 inches have settled, as we sit patiently, enjoying the view, counting down to spring.
© MGP&D
20F mid-morning with brilliant sunshine and cloudless skies. The pepacton reservoir, with its shoreline collection of row boats, looks frozen over.
