Head in the Clouds Amherst: The wonder of living in New England

Sunday, February 15, 2015

The wonder of living in New England

Sun through trees, Amherst MA
Photo by S. Vardatira, 2/2015

First - what? - is that sun I see?! (Don't get too excited, though, as now the cold rushes in.)

Second, just had to share this excerpt from this morning's official National Weather Service Area Forecast Discussion. In the midst of a highly technical overview on how the weather pattern we are now in - repeated snow systems mixed with unusually cold temps - is going to be continuing this coming week, the writer enthuses (in all caps, because that's how the discussions are always written): "...WE WILL SEE ADDITIONAL WEATHER SYSTEMS FOLLOWED BY SHOTS OF COLD ARCTIC AIR. IT APPEARS WE WILL NOT SEE A BREAK IN A PATTERN OVER THE NEXT WEEK. THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SNOW WILL REMAIN TO REMIND US JUST HOW AWFUL WINTER HAS BEEN AND HOW WONDERFUL IT CAN BE LIVING IN NEW ENGLAND. HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!"

Really, you gotta love living in New England!

1 comment:

AnonymousFebruary 15, 2015 at 2:11 PM
I completely love this! Thanks for sharing!
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On Puffer's Pond

Saturday, February 4, 2023, 3:35 pm: The past two days have seen record-breaking cold in the area, with the temperature dipping to -14F overnight, Friday into Saturday. To make matters worse, the wind was unyielding, whipping through the trees and driving wind chill readings down to -40F. In a season that had been unusually mild up until that point, it was something of a shock. Local residents were suddenly forced to think about warming up their cars, preventing pipes from freezing, and dressing in multiple layers to walk their dogs. By Saturday, while many were happy to hunker down and wait for temperatures to stop breaking low records, this was the moment that ice fishers and skaters had been waiting for all winter. With temps hovering around 12F (albeit above zero) by Saturday afternoon, Puffer's Pond was the place to be for about 30 people, many of whom were spread out over the ice, either ice fishing or playing hockey. While this is a fairly typical sight at Puffer's in the coldest winter months, our current lack of snow made it unique. No one had to contend with snowpack - the skaters didn't even have to clear a "field" for their game. And with all the hiking paths snow and ice-free, photographers had no trouble capturing water flowing through, under, and around layers of ice on the water. And, still, at 12F, without hand and foot warmers, I did not linger long. The temps will be rising quickly in the coming week, climbing well above freezing, even to 50F in the days to come. So, I'm guessing the skaters and ice fishers also won't be here much longer.

(Read past entries here.)

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Sunday, February 15, 2015

The wonder of living in New England

1 comment: