That’s a Wrap on the Taps

WEATHER:
Let’s generalize about the weather of the months since sugar season 2024.
May, 2024. Dry.
June, 2024. Some severe storms.
July, 2024. Severe storms. In the wee hours of July 11th, in a flash flood, Falls Brook breached the culvert at the upper crossing and destroyed the road, leaving a trench lined with glacial till. This event marked a turn in how we respond to climate change: we had better prepare by upgrading infrastructure since extreme floods could strike next year and the next. In other words, our little road, Falls Brook Lane, after a century or two, needs a 35′ bridge. This project dwarfs all others at Nebraska Knoll.

August, 2024. California weather.
September, 2024. The same.
October, 2024. More of the same.

November, 2024. Dry, and by Thanksgiving it snowed.
December, 2024. Winter cold and snow. A three-day thaw around New Year’s.

January, 2025. Cold and snow (Trickle Accumulation). It has been an old-fashioned winter like the ones you recall from your childhood when you dug forts in the snowbanks, slid down the snowbanks, got snow down your boots, went back indoors smelling like snow, and winced as your frozen thumbs thawed out in the warm kitchen. But back in my childhood there was regularly a January thaw. There was no January thaw in 2025.
February, 2025. More of the same with one major storm mid-month. A thaw is predicted for this coming week.

TAPPING STATUS: Finished. Though tapping took longer due to trudging through the snow, the crew finished before the first run, unlike in 2024.

HOW’S IT RUNNING? It may run mid-week, at least a little.

Mainline excavation series: