September 2nd Monarchs

Good morning everyone!

It is a gorgeous though rainy morning here in the Catskills with warmer temperatures (66°F this morning!) and rainy. Our new weather instrument, the rain gauge, has not accused any levels of significant precipitation however during the last hour (from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.). We call this type of accumulation a “trace”. We are very excited to use it for the first time though since we got it in August!

Winston and I think it is wet, though. I do NOT like to get wet, so when I feel the water starting to hit me, I freeze. (Weirdly enough, I like baths better than Winston does – I’m a very good boy when it comes to staying in the bathtub. Winston, at half my size, is a bigger challenge!)

Today we inspected the property for our resident monarchs and milkweed. We’ve been doing a lot of research on monarch butterflies because we are interested in bringing these to school, but we want to do it in the most ecologically correct manner. We are going to collect the butterflies today as their only milkweed is running out of leaves, and we are interested in saving other milkweeds that are in our field by transplanting them, so they don’t get mowed over. The idea is to eventually create a butterfly garden, but we’ll let Winston talk about that on Saturday.

We think that seeing the monarchs develop into their chrysalis and then butterflies will help young children appreciate and preserve nature, so in our mind we are “helping” in one way (and of course releasing the butterflies). We are however leaving the caterpillars the longest time possible in nature and only collecting them at the very end of their cycle. Stay tuned for Saturday’s post to read how we are going about this project and what you can do to help!

Hurricane Dorian is now a Category 5 hurricane and it has made landfall three times in the Bahamas. Just a side note on hurricanes – there have been 35 Category 5 hurricanes in recorded history (since 1924). Four of them have formed since 2017. Dorian is now tied for the second strongest winds at 185 mph, behind Hurricane Allen. It has the strongest winds that have made landfall in the Bahamas and is tied for the strongest winds to make landfall, ever (tied with none other but Labor Day hurricane, of 1935!).

It is still moving very slowly, which is more reason to believe that it will continue to have strong winds and dump lots of water on its path.

Meanwhile, our rain is not hurricane related, but caused by a warm front that moved across the US and met with a cold front coming from Canada. We can expect today to be rainy, and then for the temperatures to drop as another cold front is coming down from Canada.

It will be interesting to see how a high-pressure system to the East of Dorian and a cold front to the NW will affect its trajectory.

Enjoy your Labor Day everyone!

Love,

Mack

September 1st Sunrise on the morning of a hurricane

Good morning everyone! Today the sky is on fire even though it is a chilly 46°F! We raced in the dark and in the silence before the sun came out (what happened to all our morning birds?!) We heard only a few species: a rooster, an early cardinal, starlings, and crows. All in all, it was a pretty desolate September morning.

August 31st Hurricane and winter forecast

Good morning everyone! It is a lovely 49°F sunny morning at 94% humidity – yes, we got drenched this morning! We enjoyed taking a spin around the property and scaring all the starlings away – there are only a few of them left at the crack of dawn.

Down South, Hurricane Dorian, a Category 4 hurricane is no longer expected to make landfall in Florida! We can thank the Western winds and also a mighty cold front from NW Canada that seems to even weaken the hurricane in the jet stream simulation that you can see here. We certainly are already seeing the effects of this cold front: temperatures have definitely lowered overnight from a high 73°F yesterday (predicted upper 60’s today) and humidity is on the rise. Here in the Northeast, we might get the outer arms of the hurricane in form of precipitation, after it has weakened considerably and downgraded to a tropical storm near the Carolinas. The most recent updates online, which happen to be from CNN, now are saying that the storm might land in the Carolinas instead later this week, and the jet stream simulation seems to approve these odds of the hurricane hitting or stationing just outside the Carolinas.

That is not to say that Florida and Georgia shouldn’t be prepared – the hurricane could strengthen still and beat the cold front. My humble canine opinion is that it won’t, but time will tell.

Speaking of opinions, we talked to our human neighbors who agreed with our theory that the fall will be gorgeous! They also mentioned that the Farmer’s Almanac, and real NY farmers, seem to think that this upcoming winter will be a harsh one with lots of snow. Our bountiful apples, acorns, and abundance of scurrying activity from birds and rodents may be a signal that animals should prepare for a tough winter. Even Winston has been eating acorns! Myself, I have acquired a nice layer of fat over my chest area – I am trying out the role of Santa Paws this year!

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone and stay safe down South!

Love,

Mack