Woods Hole: The Fog Sets In.

Spring is bursting out all over.

Beech and maple, now confident that frost is no longer a threat, have begun their new season’s growth. They give new and intense color to the landscape. Underneath their branches is a steady rain of falling bud scales and falling flower parts.

Family events and the full-tilt busy-ness of the season have kept me away for a week or so. Sorry about that.

What a cool, backwards, and freaky spring we are having. For over a week, our winds have been coming, not from the typical NorthWest to SouthWest directions, but from the NorthEast to SouthEast. We’ve had a “block” in the weather systems, according to the meteorologists. The jet stream has been getting really loopy.

For more on the loopy jet stream you could read some of Jennifer Francis’s writings.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/linking_weird_weather_to_rapid_warming_of_the_arctic/2501/

The last few days of this loopy weather have flung banks and patches of fog throughout our area. One minute it’s sunny, the next it’s not.

Fog and mist over Nonamessett. The browns of winter are becoming punctuated by patches of green, from the early openers. The little clouds of white are amelanchier…mainlanders call it “shadbush”, but True Vineyarders call it “wild pear”.

The other day, we boarded the ferry about five o’clock in the evening. Woods Hole was bathed in sun, Nonamesset and the Elizabeths were wreathed in mist.

SSA freight ferry “Katama” coming into Woods Hole. That little boat, chugging off into the distance on the right, is the private ferry that goes to Naushon.

You can see the strength of the currents in Woods Hole by the lean of the red buoy in the photo .