The first snow of the season is already melting on lawns and plopping off tree branches in the upper elevations of the Catskills. But it looks like that was just a taste of what's in store for us: Tomorrow, the area could get six inches or more.

From the Times Herald-Record:

On Saturday, starting between 9 and 10 a.m., rain developing into snow could leave 3 inches in the Hudson Valley by the evening. As much as half a foot of snow could fall in higher elevations such as the Catskills, and if the storm shifts, said [AccuWeather's Bob] Smerbeck, the Hudson Valley could see up to 6 inches as well.

Smerbeck said it's unlikely much of the snow will stick for long, but the weather could pose a risk of icy road conditions and knocked-down branches Saturday night into Sunday.

Photo from the Red Goats of Kingston Facebook page.

Dozens of spray-painted red goats have mysteriously appeared on white wooden planters in Kingston's Uptown district -- and, just as mysteriously, someone has been painting numbers on them. The Daily Freeman reports:

Detective Lt. Egidio Tinti, who heads the Detective Division of the Kingston Police Department, said police are questioning people around Uptown about both the goats, which apparently were spray-painted late Monday or early Tuesday, and the numbers, which were added a day later.

People who were vocal in their opposition to the recent renovations of Uptown’s Pike Plan canopies are among those being questioned, Tinti said. Twenty-two planter boxes were installed as part of the Pike Plan project.

Are they art? Vandalism? A cheeky act of protest? Whatever their mission, in the two days they've existed, they've heated up Kingston's simmering anxieties to a boil. Local elected officials are furious:

Photo of wolf in Wolf Park, Battle Ground, Indiana by Flickr user sometimesong. Published under Creative Commons license.

It's official: Wolves are the new cougars.

A study published recently in Northeastern Naturalist, by Roland Kays and Robert Feranec of the New York State Museum in Albany, confirms that a wolf shot in Saratoga County in 2001 was in fact a wild wolf that migrated naturally into the area, not an escapee from a zoo or breeding facility.

The new discovery could shift the debate on how to conserve the gray wolf, a federally endangered species whose conservation plan is currently under review, and which could lose protection in the eastern part of its U.S. range soon.