Head in the Clouds Amherst: January 2025

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Clouds from Space

This cloudy extraterrestrial view of the earth was captured in 2017
from the International Space Station by European Space Agency (ESA)
astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵, 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻. 𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿. 𝗔 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸: 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. 𝗜𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝘁𝗼-𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲-𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘆, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗯 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝘁.
~ Samantha Harvey, 𝘖𝑟𝘣𝑖𝘵𝑎𝘭: 𝐴 𝑁𝘰𝑣𝘦𝑙

Wishing all cloudspotters everywhere a new year full of wonder and beauty.

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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Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Clouds from Space