Tag Archives: Snow

Daily Catskills: 03/20/15

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 5.12pm View from the Office

© J.N. Urbanski 3.45pm

© J.N. Urbanski 3.45pm

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Daily Catskills: 03/20/15 Spring Equinox

© J.N. Urbanski Sprouting seedlings planted on 15th March

© 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.

Daily Catskills: 03/14/15

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 Noon

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm Hubbell Outhouse

© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm Hubbell Outhouse

Daily Catskills: 03/12/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am

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Daily Catskills: 03/11/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

Daily Catskills: 03/10/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 9am Yesterday’s footprints frozen into the ground

Daily Catskills: 03/09/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am

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Daily Catskills: 03/08/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1.40pm

Daily Catskills: 03/07/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

 

Daily Catskills: 03/05/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

 

Daily Catskills: 03/04/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm

Daily Catskills: 03/03/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 5pm “Nevermind about the hail hitting your eyeballs. Throw this stick.”

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Daily Catskills: 03/02/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

Daily Catskills: 03/01/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm

Daily Catskills: 02/23/15

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...

© J.N. Urbanski 10am Lonely maple syrup stand that we’ll return to in the Spring…

 

Daily Catskills: 02/22/15

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 1pm

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

© J.N. Urbanski 2pm

Daily Catskills: 02/19/15

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...

© J.N. Urbanski Wishful thinking…

 

 

Daily Catskills: 02/17/15

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

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718

 

Daily Catskills: 02/15/15

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

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 Bell by Nousaku, Japanese master metalworkers dating back to 1609.

© Lori Robin at Cheezehound Headquarters

© Lori Robin at Cheezehound Headquarters

 

 

Daily Catskills: 02/13/15

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

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 1pm Catskill Cuisine post by Milton Glaser. “Should you call that meeting?” poster by Wendy McNaughton.

 

Daily Catskills: 02/12/15

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

© Erik Johanson/@halcott718 8.30am

© Fernando Delgado 12.30pm

© Fernando Delgado 12.30pm

 

Daily Catskills: 02/09/15

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 Midday

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm

© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am

© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am

Daily Catskills: 02/02/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

© Robert E. Block 12.15pm

© Robert E. Block 12.15pm

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

 

Daily Catskills: 01/31/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 9am

Daily Catskills: 01/30/15

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

© Melissa Zeligman 1.30pm

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Daily Catskills: 01/27/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

© J.N. Urbanski 1pm

Daily Catskills: 01/26/15

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

© J.N. Urbanski 11am