Seeking Halloween 2011 Storm Pictures

Do you have a great pic of our Halloween storm two years ago? Email them to Head in the Clouds Amherst. Our favorite will be posted to our new "picture of the week" column (will go up in November) - and the winner will receive a FREE Head in the Clouds Amherst 2014 Wall Calendar! Click here and go to the bottom of our "About Us" page for our email. We will be issuing a new photo search challenge every week, with a free calendar for each winner (non-locals will only need to pay postage), so check back frequently!

Witches Welcome (snow not so much) - October 30, 2011, Amherst MA
Photo by S.Vardatira

An eerie fog before the Halloween storm

Front page of Daily Hampshire Gazette, 10/31/2011

It may have first hit on October 29, 2011, but the "snow-tober" storm of two years ago was far from resolved by Halloween of that year. This was the front page of the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Halloween 2011. Ask any local resident about that time, and you will hear some amazing tales. Trick or treating was postponed in Amherst, power was out for many of us (some of us would not have it restored for days yet), and roads throughout town were still impassable due to fallen trees and branches. Nothing like that this year, fortunately.

But apparently we cannot have Halloween without some kind of storm descending upon us, though this one won't approach what we've experienced the past two years. Still, at this moment an eerie Halloween-appropriate fog has descended over the valley, ahead of a storm that will be bringing us high winds and rain overnight tonight and into Friday. Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are likely to get damaging winds, rain and possibly flooding. In fact, a high wind watch is now in effect from late tonight through Friday afternoon for Barnstable, Bristol, Plymouth, Norfolk and Suffolk Counties of Massachusetts for sustained winds of 20-35 MPH with wind gusts of 50-60 MPH. Our own area is likely to see wind advisory conditions.

This storm system, which is tracking through the Great Lakes and Southeast Canada, will bring much warmer temperatures for a period of time along with the high winds and brief period of heavy rainfall. As some trees still have a fair number of leaves on them (that was a problem in 2011 as well), this could cause isolated to scattered pockets of tree and wire damage and power outages. Flooding will be compounded by leaf clogged drains.

For now, I intend to take a walk in the fog. Enjoy your Halloween festivities - and stay safe out there tonight.

2014 Head in the Clouds Amherst Calendar - Now Available!

(Click on image for enlarged view)

Our first ever, Head in the Clouds Amherst 2014 Wall Calendar features 12 of your favorite nature photos from our blog, all taken in Amherst and the surrounding area. Printed on high quality, glossy paper, this calendar notes major holidays, as well as astronomical events visible from Amherst with the naked eye (full moon, new moon, metor showers, and more). And, in a unique twist that you won't find anywhere else, our calendar also documents nearly 40 major weather events that occured in Amherst and New England between 1660 and 2013. A perfect gift for friends and family, this calendar will delight and surprise month after month. Full size when open is 17" high and 11" wide. 

Buy here ($12.50/calendar) for delivery by mail, or purchase at Amherst Books or Hastings. Amherst Books is located at the center of downtown Amherst at 8 Main Street, and Hastings is also downtown, at 45 South Pleasant Street on the Common.

Second Annual Cider Donut Run/Walk for the Amherst Survival Center

It's the confluence of all things wonderful: a great cause, crisp fall air (and possibly other interesting variations on New England weather!), scenic views, neighbors and friends, and yes, Atkins' famed cider donuts (as well as other local delicacies). Runners, walkers, spectators, and supporters are all encouraged to join this year's second annual Cider Donut Run (10k) and walk (2 miles) on Sunday, November 3rd. The 10k road race starts and finishes at the Mill River Recreation Area and takes runners into UMass and through North Amherst, including scenic Puffer's Pond. The 2 mile walk brings participants to Puffer's Pond and back. Last year (2012), 426 people registered, and 406 finished - pretty impressive for the first year.

All proceeds benefit the Amherst Survival Center -- last year’s race participants donated almost $13,000 – with your help we can top that number in 2013! New this year is a free pasta dinner sponsored by Bertucci’s. The pasta dinner is open to all runners, walkers, and family members, and race number pick-up will be available for anyone who has pre-registered for the Sunday event. This pre-race dinner will be held at the Survival Center on Saturday, November 2nd, 5pm-7pm. More information and registration links can be found here.

See you there!

Essential Fall Foliage Apps for Smart Phones

Trees by Cumbie's on Route 63, North Amherst (Photo by S. Vardatira)

As you head out on your annual Columbus Day weekend fall foliage expeditions (and could today be more beautiful for doing just that?), here are a couple of Smart Phone apps that may help you scope out the best colors around:

• Yankee Magazine's Leaf Peepr app for iPhones and Androids helps fall-foliage fans find and report on the best and brightest colors in the United States. Make foliage reports by posting photos, writing comments, and rating foliage status for your location. In addition, the Peak Slider lets you rate foliage as either Green, Turning, Moderate, Peak, Fading, or Gone. And use the Foliage Map to find current foliage rated by hundreds of other leaf peepers. 
• Leafsnap is available only for iPhones, unfortunately for Android users. It is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. With Leafsnap, you are able to snap a photo of a leaf and learn all about the tree from which it came.
• If it's tree identification you're after, Android users may want to check out TreeID. Though not as snazzy as Leafsnap, this is still a solid app that enables users to narrow the species list for any location in North America using the phone's GPS, network signal or any entered address or zip code. Basically the application can become “Woody Plants of Where You Are Standing." Users can further narrow the species list by answering a series of very simple tree attribute questions such as where the plant is growing, leaf shape, leaf arrangement, flower color or fruit type. It even includes a photo guide to how different trees turn color during fall foliage. 
• AllTrails App for Androids and iPhones is the most popular app for finding the trails nearest you, whether you are visiting a national park or looking for a place near home to hike, bike, or run. Even city folk might be surprised by how much nature is around. Includes 50,000 trail guides (United States & Canada) for outdoor activities including everything from hiking and mountain biking to fly-fishing and snowshoeing. You can also read and write trail reviews which in the fall often include comments about fall foliage.
• The Ultimate Drive for iPhones and Androids will help drivers locate the most scenic routes. Unlike a GPS, which will usually direct drivers to highways (not usually the best routes to choose for fall foliage viewing), Ultimate Drive allows you to map your favorite lesser known "road stretches," share advice with other drivers, and seek out scenic byways and backroads.
• New Hampshire Fall Foliage Tracker for Android and iPhone users traveling around New Hampshire. Includes one-touch access to the latest foliage reports across New Hampshire with detailed advice on where leaves are at their best, itinerary suggestions and in-app maps to help you locate attractions along your route, plus an interactive Foliage Timeline map that will help you time your trip based on historic peak data. There's also a Gallery where you can post a photo and caption to help other leaf peepers find gorgeous leaves. 

And come November, when the leaves outside have dropped and fall foliage is just a memory, you can always download Autumn Free to your iPhone or Android and watch an autumn scene unfold on your screen, complete with rustling leaves. Change the background, wind speed, and the spacing between the leaves falling to the ground.

Nature's Wastefulness

North Amherst, 10/9/2013 (orange specks are leaves in flight)
Photo by S. Vardatira

Outside the youth center, between the liquor store 
and the police station,
a little dogwood tree is losing its mind;

overflowing with blossomfoam, 
like a sudsy mug of beer;
like a bride ripping off her clothes,

dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds,

so Nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene.
It’s been doing that all week:
making beauty,
and throwing it away,
and making more.

             -- Tony Hoagland (for more on Tony Hoagland and his poetry, click here)
             
Tony Hoagland's poem is all about spring, of course, but it perfectly describes what's going on outside now, except the trees are maples (and more) and the white petals are varying shades of red, yellow, and orange leaves. Simply beautiful.

Fast Falling Foliage

Leaves on ground, Amherst MA (10/7/2013)
Photo by S. Vardatira

There's nothing like a windy day to remind us why this season is called "fall." And today is just such a day. With every gust of wind the air is bright with orange and yellow leaves, nature's confetti. The enormous pine tree in the woods out back is even shedding yellow pine needles, draping the grass and neighboring trees in a golden blanket.

If you haven't experienced this particular incarnation of fall, you're likely to have all afternoon, as a strong cold front (which also encompasses remnants of Tropical Storm Karen) moves across southern New England. This front has very strong jet stream dynamics which will likely bring a line of heavy downpours capable of causing pockets of flooding, heavy showers, and/or thunderstorms. An isolated weak tornado cannot be completely ruled out. The entire region, including Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties, is currently under a Wind Advisory. Prepare for sustained winds of 15-25 MPH with gusts to 45 MPH with isolated higher gusts particularly in any convective showers and thunderstorms. Be careful where you wander today. While falling leaves are harmless, falling trees are a whole different thing entirely.

Addendum to original posting (added at 3:11 pm):
- All of Western Massachusetts is currently under a thunderstorm watch until 10 pm tonight
- Tornado watch issued for Berkshire County until 8 pm tonight.

Stay safe out there!

Amherst and the Saxby Gale of October 1869

Prouty, Charles, "Paper mill in North Amherst," in Digital Amherst, Item #763, http://www.digitalamherst.org/items/show/763 (accessed October 5, 2013).

The 1869 Saxby Gale was a major hurricane that swept up the North Atlantic and devastated coastal areas of eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy on October 4-5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor and amateur astronomer, who had - based on his detailed observations and calculations - predicted an extremely high tide and storm surge a week before the event occurred. Such accurate advanced predictions were rare at the time, and even after the event, the general population mostly dismissed the whole thing as more luck than science. 

Apparently, however, the impact of the Saxby Gale wasn't felt only in Canada. Right here in Amherst MA, a 36-hour storm hit the area on October 4, 1869 (144 years ago, yesterday and today). Although local newspaper accounts at the time don't connect the western Massachusetts storm to the hurricane raging in the Atlantic, these must have been one and the same storm system. Wind and heavy rains over the two day period flooded Fort River and much of the lowlands of East Amherst. North Amherst was also hard hit as dams at the paper and leather mills were torn away. 

By comparison, it's a lovely day out right now, with the lightest of breezes and trees in varying autumnal colors bathed in sunlight. So far, our fall has been unusually devoid of storms (knock on wood). Enjoy!