Posts Tagged ‘weather’

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Adirondack Climate Change: Deluges In The Forecast

Tropical Storm Irene destroyed or damaged many buildings in Keene and other hamlets in 2011.Photo by Nancie BattagliaA few years ago, Paul Smith’s College scientist Curt Stager came across a rare find that he says helps tell the story of climate change in the Adirondacks: the journal of Bob Simon, a retired engineer and longtime resident of Cranberry Lake.

Simon, who died in 1991, kept a meticulous journal with entries for temperature, wind direction, barometric pressure, water level, ice cover, when loons arrived, and when thunderstorms occurred. He made entries twice a day, morning and night, for the last thirty-two years of his life. Stager received the journal from someone who found it in Simon’s former home, years after the man died. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, April 9, 2016

Lost Brook Dispatches: April Winter Weather Adventures

full view - Kuma's view is a good one.It has been a dismal winter in these parts, and spring is closing in.  But for lovers of winter weather like Amy and myself, there is always hope.  We both had last weekend completely free, the first time that has happened since we moved to Keene last September.  The forecast promised to turn early April into something more like January: a strong front coming through, a big temperature drop, snow accumulation and winds gusting to 70 mph.  Wind warnings were up and the wind chill was expected to be well below zero that night.  It sounded like a perfect recipe for one last Adirondack winter fling.  But it was even better than we expected.  The rapidly changing conditions produced two surprises for us, two unique happenings, one dramatic, one mysterious and magical, and each beautiful in their own way.  » Continue Reading.


Thursday, February 11, 2016

Outdoor Conditions in the Adirondacks (Feb 11)

CompassThis weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is issued each Thursday afternoon and can be heard at North Country Public Radio on Friday mornings.

Sunrise Saturday in Lake Placid will be at 6:59 am; sunset at 5:22 pm, providing 10 hours and 23 minutes of sunlight. The Moon will rise Saturday morning at 9:53 am and set at 11:41 pm. It will be Waxing Crescent with 32% of the Moon visible portion illuminated. There will be a First Quarter Moon on Monday at 2:46 am.

SPECIAL NOTICES FOR THIS WEEKEND

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 28, 2016

Outdoor Conditions in the Adirondacks (Jan 28)

CompassThis weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is issued each Thursday afternoon and can be heard at North Country Public Radio on Friday mornings.

Sunrise Saturday in Lake Placid will be at 7:17 am; sunset at 5:02 pm, providing 9 hours and 45 minutes of sunlight. The Moon will rise Saturday night at 11:49 pm and set at 10:53 am Sunday morning. There will be a Last Quarter Moon on Sunday at 10:28 pm.

SPECIAL NOTICES FOR THIS WEEKEND

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

This Weird Winter And Adirondack Wildlife

Deer Yarding Area“Make me one with everything.” If you had to guess, you’d probably say that was a diner order, or a supplication to the Divine. This winter, I think someone whispered that line in Mother Nature’s ear, because even though it is not yet half over, she has already made us a winter with everything. It’s as if she glanced at her weather playlist and hit the buttons for unseasonable warmth, extreme cold, high winds, rain, sleet, ice, and snow, and then selected the “shuffle” function and walked away.

After each meteorological mood swing I have heard people comment how confused the weather makes them. You plant daffodil bulbs on Christmas, shovel heavy snow the next week, then need crampons a few days later because it rained and then suddenly froze. If you think it’s hard for us humans who can retreat into our posh shelters, imagine how the animals feel. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 14, 2016

Outdoor Conditions in the Adirondacks (Jan 14)

CompassThis weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is issued each Thursday afternoon and can be heard at North Country Public Radio on Friday mornings.

Sunrise Saturday in Lake Placid will be at 7:28 am; sunset at 4:44 pm, providing 9 hours and 16 minutes of sunlight. The Moon will rise Saturday at 11:15 am and set at 12:40 am, Sunday morning. There will be a First Quarter Moon on Saturday at 6:26 pm.

SPECIAL NOTICES FOR THIS WEEKEND

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 7, 2016

How A Warm Winter Impacts Local Wildlife

20160104_tdpt_decDuring a mild winter in our northern forests, there are those of us who cheer our lower heating bills and those who scan the forecast, hoping for cold and snow. In a classic El Niño year like this one, when we often get unseasonably mild weather well into February, there are winners and losers in the natural world, too.

El Niño refers to a natural warming of Pacific waters. This phenomenon occurs every three to seven years, when prevailing trade winds, which drive the direction and force of ocean currents, slow down. As a result, cold water from the depths doesn’t get mixed with surface water, the ocean’s surface temperature rises, and global weather patterns can be altered. This year’s strong El Niño is being complemented by a low pressure system in the far north – called the Arctic oscillation – that’s keeping polar air trapped around the North Pole. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 7, 2016

Outdoor Conditions in the Adirondacks (Jan 7)

CompassThis weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is issued each Thursday afternoon and can be heard at North Country Public Radio on Friday mornings.

Sunrise Saturday in Lake Placid will be at 7:31 am; sunset at 4:35 pm, providing 9 hours and 1 minutes of sunlight. The Moon will rise Saturday at 6:46 am and set at 4:38 pm. There will be a New Moon on Saturday at 8:30 pm.

SPECIAL NOTICES FOR THIS WEEKEND

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

With All This Cold, What About Global Warming?

Global Mean Tempertures RiseI had such high hopes for global warming, but when the first week in March was just as cold as February, I felt disappointed. Betrayed, even. I thought the planet was heating up. All my plans for a northern NY citrus and banana orchard, out the window.

Turns out it’s easy to mix up climate and weather, two very different things. There’s a saying in the Adirondacks (and elsewhere, I’m sure) that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. That’s weather: what we experience in a given day, week, season or year. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

How Wildlife Are Affected By Intense Cold

February 15 2015 Extreme ColdIntense cold is hard on all forms of wildlife, however, some of nature’s creatures are better adapted to deal with this type of adversity than others. Those animals whose geographic range extends well northward into Canada and Alaska have evolved various strategies to cope with prolonged bouts of sub-arctic weather and are quite capable of surviving the unrelenting cold that the Adirondacks has experienced this winter.

Conversely, some components of the Park’s fauna are on the northern fringe of their range and are better suited for functioning in a temperate region, such as southern New York and the mid-Atlantic States. These creatures are probably not faring well this season. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 13, 2015

How Ice Storms Impact Trees

TOS.treesandiceIce storm.

If you live in northern New England, those words can send a chill up your spine. They portend demolition derbies on the roads, power outages and the ominous cracking sound of limbs breaking and trees falling in woods, parks and urban streets.

Snow we’re up for. Ice, not so much. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Hazard Mitigation Info Session Planned

Land SlideOn Thursday January 8, 2015, the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the Warren County Office of Emergency Services (OES) will present a program on Hazard Mitigation from 6 to 7 pm in the Christine L. McDonald Community Room at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls.

In Warren County significant natural events impact communities and residents including flooding from severe rains, and beaver dam failures, land slides and high winds. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 23, 2014

Woolly Bears: Winter Forecast Flops?

woolybearAutumn is coming to a close. The brilliant fall foliage is past peak, if not already layered in the compost bin. The last geese are honking their way toward winter homes. Predictions are proffered (sometimes cheerfully, mostly not) for how cold and snowy this year’s winter will be.

Sources for seasonal predictions vary. The Farmers’ Almanac and traditional old-wives-tales are often cited. How soon those geese head south, for example, is supposed to indicate how difficult winter will be. We trust these bits of folklore because they often have a scientific basis and seem to work. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 18, 2014

Freeze Warning Issued For Tonight

First Freeze - Sept 19 2014The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for early Friday morning for most of the Adirondack Region – expect widespread frost and freezing temperatures tonight with lows 25 to 30 degrees. Sensitive plants will be killed if left unprotected.

 


Saturday, August 30, 2014

Lost Brook Dispatches: Giants in the Mist

Magnificent giants - timeless and veiled.Last week we spent a few precious days at Lost Brook Tract. It was a cool, overcast stretch of weather that reminded me of the Adirondacks of my youth, when impending fall could at any time push and urge its way into lazy August days, into the fading summer.

During nearly all of the time we were on our land the cloud ceiling remained low and Keene Valley enjoyed gray days and rain. But at our lean- to at 3,300 feet we were immersed in the clouds themselves, the daylight hours gloaming, exalting the primeval feel of the forest.

We are accommodated to – though ever awed by – our cathedral of ancient forest giants: red spruces that lift from thick-barked trunks to as much as a hundred feet in the air. At Lost Brook Tract stands of old-growth trees tower and brood as in few other boreal forest communities in the park. To sit among them is for me to feel both old and ageless, all at once. These groves are for patience and contemplation. » Continue Reading.



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