Fall Foliage
These autumn mornings may be starting out too frigid and frosty for mid-October, but as the midday sun rises in the sky to light up our fall foliage everything turns into a scorching fire.
Read MoreScorching May
The first half of the month of May 2015 was a quietly scorching one, with the heat turned all the way up in the Northeast. You may not believe it based on the outdoor feel of our day to day weather, but the entire region was far warmer than usual. While we did not have the extreme highs or actual heat waves, a stretch or days well into the 90s or anything particularly memorable, we have been consistently warmer than average for our highs and often above the long-term lows. The Northeast Regional Climate Center map here shows us the tale. The coolest part has been sections of Maine which were...
Read MoreSnowy Owl in Flight
Let’s be honest – this winter has been absolutely brutal! Whether we want to blame this continuous weather pattern on climate change or not, this is not what the climate is supposed to feel like in mid to late February. As the sun keeps rising temperatures keep plummeting with record low minimums at night and record low maximums during the day. The snow keeps coming, and more will be coming this weekend. However, the Snowy Owls have been a bit tougher to find this year than last. Nevertheless, there are many individuals spending their season here in our neighborhoods, which look...
Read MoreChautauqua County Snow Depth
Our friends at the Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Club have this NOAA/NWS snow depth map regularly updating on their website to let members and the visiting public know how much snow is on the ground in Chautauqua County. While it has gone down a bit recently due to a brief warm-up (very brief, and I am being very generous in saying “warm-up”!) and some rain, freezing rain, and sleet, there is still a ton of snow covering the earth in the region. You can see the escarpment well in this photo and the effect of elevation on snowfall and temperature. It will be utterly frigid later this...
Read MoreRing-billed Gull in the low sun
Winter is coming. This Ring-billed Gull’s face is illuminated by a low sun as our days are becoming shorter and shorter. Are you ready to feel the coming season in this week’s weather? Snow and frigid temperatures, in relative terms for mid-November, are on the way as waterways freeze even faster than last year. Lake Superior has ice supposedly a full 10 days ahead of fall 2013. However, I doubt we will see the heart of this winter nearly as cold as that extreme season. Bundle up! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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