powderfreak

I feel like the media has been doing that since the dawn of time... from everything like “drinking white win over red wine may cause you to die earlier” to various just odd ball stories sensationalizing every little study done on the planet. The media has always put out shit it shouldn’t and claimed it as gospel but no one cared when it was random studies about owning a dog makes you live 5.6 years longer on average than non-dog owners. Peer reviewed? Ha. The problem is this is the first time doing that seems to have really impacted public policy.

Yeah I was going to take Monday the 5th off with the wife to do a NNE day drive maybe over to the Whites and back through NEK of VT for some foliage viewing... I think we are going to go this Monday now. I'm afraid the 5th will be too late for this northern band from here to Alex/Phin.

In a little bit, got a bunch from this morning that may need to wait till this evening to get off the real camera. You know the pics are coming as I get them .

This foliage is absolutely insane. I think it’s more vibrant down on mid slope to valley. I’ve never seen the valley reds/oranges this neon...and the lower elevations look to peak before the mountain now. Best foliage is 750ft up through 2,000-2,500ft by far. Still a lot of early light greenish yellow foliage up high.

Low of 48F... our lows are now near where our highs were last weekend, ha. Warm departures swinging back.

I was surprised to see a few cells on radar cut right through Barre and then into NH near Gene. Then another through Jay Peak heading towards Alex and Phin. Given the dry air and how far away they are from the radar site, it’s hard to say if anything is even hitting the ground though.

Some updated photos I posted in the main thread but will leave here for continuity. Iphone shot on my walk this evening... still a good deal of green in town as the above river photo shows too... but the trees that are changing are absolutely vivid.

Sweet yeah truly a special neighborhood. So much stuff at the top of that Hill Road on the map.

Dude you have so much recreation nearby, I’d be hiking around that neighborhood to the peaks behind ya daily. I wouldn’t get anything done for a good two months after moving there lol. That ice gulch and the overlook look awesome.

Ha that’s true, maybe it could’ve been even brighter. I could see it speeding up though for sure... like it feels like it’s over in a week at this rate lol.

Walking the dog right now, here’s an iPhone shot of one of the nuclear orange/reds out there. Still plenty of green in town but the ones that have changed look like someone is feeding them fruity pebbles for fertilizer.

Maybe it shortens it but the trees in town seem equally vibrant red. I’ll have to grab some photos from the road tomorrow, coming back from work today it was popping bright red in several spots. We did freeze at 1500ft but I bet 2000+ avoided it.

Ha, photographer’s orgy out there right now. Can’t take enough photos.

It’s insane all the sudden. Foliage is just cranking in the past 72 hours. At this rate it’ll all be over in a week, lol. The worst foliage is actually above 3,000ft, just bland like that sub-ridge in the back you can barely make out in this photo. The mid-slope hardwoods and even down into town the reds are incredible all the sudden. Just full bright red.

Gonna have to check this out in Phin's backyard....

Well seeing as I’m chatting with Phin about his well... I’m not shook, I feel pretty good about a slow moving boundary, tropical moisture and mountains all interacting together.

Hopefully you just need to get to next Tue/Wed. Looks like a good set up for inches of water.

Really? Even after 15” this summer? But I will say I’ve never seen anything like this September... when these mountains are under half an inch for the month, yikes.

Yeah for sure Columbus Day is past peak up here pretty much every year, but it’s when the tourists come to look at the leaves. Every year they say “looks like we should’ve been here a week or two ago.” It’s still nice viewing but it’s that uniform orange by then...the red and yellow is gone and there’s a lot of bare trees as well.

The trees are changing every 12 hours it’s noticeable. Definitely going to peak early, by October 1st probably at this rate. Columbus Day weekend will be stick season.

That's pretty impressive. All the other years are grouped pretty closely but this summer has #2 beat by like 2/3rds of an inch.

I didn't think it had anything to do with moral superiority... and I'm not saying there isn't a lot of money at stake... but it's basic anthropology that the more advanced and prosperous a society gets the longer their population lives and in return the more unacceptable early death becomes. Since the dawn of time people have been trying methods to get themselves and others to live as long as possible... from witch doctors and potions, to the magic elixirs and fountains of youth. Humans have always had the desire to prolong life as long as possible. As one of the most prosperous/advanced countries in the world, early death is much more unacceptable here than it is in say West Africa. We are really in the "banter" zone but I find this stuff interesting to ponder.

I really like that line of analysis though, it’ll be interesting to see. We are certainly a society who continues to move towards keeping people alive as long as humanly possible, ha pun? We pour billions into medical research, cancer research, complicated procedures, daily medications (some take so many they need trays to organize them), you name it... we are here to get everyone to live a day longer than they would’ve last year. An early death is unacceptable. Its an interesting philosophical discussion to have as a country. It’s not a surprise we react this way. Without a real discussion, death won’t get any more acceptable in future generations either, in fact it’ll be the opposite as we keep plowing on in medical advancements and expectations grow.

Purely curious, in those comparisons is there a modifier that accounts for change in health care, living conditions, etc? I could certainly see past pandemics hitting those groups harder. Have people been claiming this one was worse in those age groups?