Where is Old Man Winter?
By Russell Russ Winter seems to be vacationing in Alaska and Europe this year. In many locations throughout the Northeast it was the warmest January on record. And while it was warm in Norfolk, it was only the tenth warmest January on record. Seasonal snowfall totals lag well behind normal as well.” While the smaller […]
Community Based Conservation of Migratory Amphibians
It’s Only Natural By Martha Klein In our highly mobile society, there are four million miles of roads and 200 million vehicles, so it’s not surprising that there are several million deaths of vertebrates every year on United States roads. For some species of animals, roadkill can take out 20 percent or more of their […]
Norfolk’s December Weather and a Yearly Summary for 2011
A warm December closes out wettest year on record By Russell Russ December 2011 tied with December 1982 for the fifth warmest December in the last 80 years. With an average mean temperature of 32.5 degrees, this past December was 7.2 degrees above normal. The month’s high temperature of 57 degrees was observed on December […]
Bad and Beautiful, Purple Loosestrife Threatens Norfolk’s Wetlands
By Shelley Harms Purple loosestrife has been spotted this summer in wet spots along Norfolk roadsides. A showy plant with spikes of magenta flowers, it spreads very rapidly. It can take over large areas, suppressing native plant communities and actually altering a wetland’s structure and function. Purple loosestrife (lythrum salicaria) is a perennial that can […]
The City Meadow is Once Again Ruled A Wetland, Barring Future Development
By Bridgette L. Rallo Northwest Conservation District soil scientist Sean Hayden has determined, yet again, that City Meadow is a wetland. That’s the verdict Hayden delivered to the Conservation Committee on September 1, and the committee forwarded the report to First Selectman Sue Dyer. The small piece of undeveloped land in the middle of the […]
Norfolk’s May Weather
Lilacs and laurel bloom two weeks ahead of normal. By Russell Russ The month’s low temperature of 28 degrees was observed on May 11. The high temperature of 87 degrees was observed on both May 2 and May 26. The average mean temperature this month was 58.8 degrees, 4.2 degrees above the May normal. There […]
Norfolk Board of Selectmen Meeting: June 1, 2010
Eye on Town Government By Bridgette L. Rallo It’s official. At their June 1 meeting, Norfolk’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) decided unanimously to prohibit the use of privately-owned boats, including rowboats, canoes, kayaks and any other type of recreational watercraft, on Tobey Pond. Two large signs stating as much have been posted at the pond. […]
Norfolk Board of Selectmen and Economic Development Commission Meetings
Eye on Town Government By Bridgette L. Rallo Norfolk’s Town Hall, the public works facility and the sewer plant will undergo an energy audit performed by Source One, a firm recommended by the town’s Energy Task Force after reviewing several applications from competing firms. Funds to pay for the audit will come from a state […]
Norfolk’s April Weather
Warmest April on Record By Russell Russ It was Norfolk’s warmest April in the last 79 years, which is as far back as our records go. The second warmest April was in 1945, with an average mean temperature of 48.7 degrees. Five of the top ten warmest Aprils since 1932 have taken place in the […]
A Striped Menace Threatens Our Ponds and Lakes
By Star Childs As summer approaches and thoughts turn to boating on freshwater lakes and rivers, everyone must be vigilant of a new ecological threat to our bodies of water. Zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, have made their way from the distant Black and Caspian Seas of Eurasia and Russia to our Great Lakes and other […]
