Another snow event occurred on this day in 1988 when powerful low pressure system produced high winds from the Great Plains to New England and produced heavy snow in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Winds gusted to 64 mph in Knoxville, TN and the winds reached 80 mph at Pleasant Valley, VT. Historical weather data from the National Weather Service archives.

Word for the week is chosen by random finger pointing at whatever page opens in my Big Book of Science Terms.

Monday we had a high of 59F and the low was 50F, Tuesday was identical to Monday, except the night time temperature dipped down to 45F – both days had plenty of sun. Wednesday presented us with a good dose of rain with 0.82 inches for the day, even with the cloud cover, Wednesday’s high reached 58F and the low was 48F. It was very windy that day and the peak gust was 20MPH.

Thursday was another sunny day with the temperature reaching 56F for the high and the low was47F. Friday was mostly sunny with the clouds on the increase through the day and by 5:00 PM, a light rain / mist was falling, we had 0.05 inches of rain. Friday’s high was 55F and the low was 45F. Saturday was a windy day and it was overcast for most of the day with the sun peeping out occasionally. The high was 56F and the low was 38F, there was 0.07 inches of rain that fell in the hours just past midnight. How was the weather for you this week?

A planned lunar impact is coming up on this Friday when NASA will send its LCROSS spacecraft and its booster rocket crashing into the surface of the moon. Further details available on NASA at www.nasa.gov, and the event will be televised on NASA TV.

It was an easy find once we located the trail leading out of the cemetery – many wandering roads and due to poison ivy, it was not advised to go bushwacking your way through. Once the trail was located, it was short walk and then a quick find. The area had many old foundations and it looked like it might have been a ‘staging’ area for quarry workers in the nearby quarries.

Another significant thing about this area is this cemetery is where Christa McAuliffe, America’s Teacher in Space that lost her life in the tragic shuttle accident, is buried. She has a nice monument and even today, has many visitors that will stop by to read her memorial plaque and her statement of why she wanted to venture into space.

On this day in weather history, October 1, 1987, it was just a tad bit nippy as was recorded in this historical record from the archives of the National Weather Service. A blast of cold arctic air hit the north central U.S. An afternoon thunderstorm slickened the streets of Duluth MN with hail and snow, and later in the afternoon, strong northerly winds reached 70 mph. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the Pacific northwest. Afternoon highs of 90 degrees at Olympia WA, 92 degrees at Portland OR, and 89 degrees at Seattle WA, were records for the month of October. For Seattle WA it marked the twenty- first daily record high for the year, a record total in itself.

The cache for the week was another in the continuing ‘Rail Trail’ series. In the good old days of yesteryear, New Hampshire was blessed with an abundance of rail road activity, after all there were not many cars on the road and one of the main mechanisms for commerce was to move goods from community to community by rail.

The cache was about a 15 minute drive from work (had to go the long way due to road construction). Upon arrival at the parking area, it was time to set out on the trek – almost ½ mile walk to the cache. Now, this particular rail trail – the rails were still in place even though no active train traffic traveled on this track. It is known that there are small carts that will travel along this particular rail.

It was gorgeous early Fall day with a crisp feeling in the air and just a tinge of color in the trees as the foliage is just starting to change. The cache was easy to find once we arrived at ‘ground zero’ and I am glad that it was not too far off from the trail as the property that boarders the trail is state prison property and it has the big signs ‘no trespassing – violaters may be shot’!

Fall has definetly arrived here in New England, both by the weather and by the calendar as we transtioned from Summer to Fall earlier this week on the Vernal Equinox. The weather has been on the Fall side with cooler temperatures and bright sunny days.

We started out the work week with Monday being a sunny day with a high of 72F and the low was 39F. Tuesday continued the sunny pattern with a high of 68F and a low of 53F. Wednesday, another repeat of the previous days with a high of 74F and the low was 62F.

Thursday was the last of the ‘warmer’ days for the week with a high of 72F and the low was 58F, the day was sunny. Friday was a transition day as it was cool with the high only getting up to 58F and the low being 43F. Saturday was the coldest day for the week as the temperature bottomed out at 34F and the high once again reached only 58F. Sunday is forecasted for rain and the high in the 50s. How was your weather?