Sunday, November 16, 2008

Severe Weather Alert: 67F On Nov 15th, How Long Till Winter Arrives?




Current Severe Weather

Record Report

Statement as of 12:56 am EST on November 16, 2008

... Record high temperature set at St. Johnsbury...

A record high temperature of 64 degrees was set at St. Johnsbury
yesterday. This ties the old record of 64 set in 1993.
Warnings for Western Essex, New York : Weather Underground






Well we have no idea really, but typically these heinously warm spells are followed by extreme changes in the air streams that bring our weather. I was saying to my wife the other night as we walked into the restaurant in downright balmy conditions, "you know what is coming next?" She said (with a sigh of dread), "yeah, I know."

This weather change from warm to cold is exactly what brings in the lake effect snow that makes national headlines, as people around the country think Buffalo is the snow capital of the world. It's the same weather that pounds the Tug with 400 inches of snow, and funnels it's way into the Adirondacks.

Looking at the long range forecast, around the northeastern North Country, it looks really good.

Lake placid isn't expected to break freezing for it's daytime highs more than a few days over the next 14 days. This is weather more typical of mid winter, not late fall!

When we get lows around the single digits, and highs right around freezing, we get two things. Fast ice formation, and regeneration. The best ice winters like 2000-2001 are fairly mild but seasonal. Meaning cold nights, and days with below freezing temps. We don't need 3 months of 0F days and -20F nights, just nights around zero and days in the high 20s, and voila plastic ice all winter that looks virgin after a few days of regeneration.

The bad news? We are below normal for rainfall, but better than last year where we were extremely below normal.

This year, we are a little off the 20 year average. Worse, we are not forecast to see a tremendous amount of precip in the next month. The result, if it snows at the lower elevations it needs to stick around. Of course days of snow cover is one of the big problems with our regional climate change (i'll concede there is no global warming here for arguments sake). In the last 20 years our snowfall has fallen off somewhat, but the bigger issue is that our days of snow cover has significantly lowered, and the result is you need a base of snow for accumulation to be deep and lasting, so less cover creates a viscous cycle of low snow depth winters which then give the impression we are getting less snowfall overall.

So keep your fingers crossed, and you might be climbing the trade routes on ice fat enough for a 22CM screw before Thanksgiving, and no doubt the Tug will have plenty of snow for a long winter of XC skiing in just a few days!! The issue really becomes how long till the Catskills, Helderbergs, Mohawk/Hudson Valley and Berkshires catch up. These areas are MUCH more impacted by regional climate change than the higher elevations and the North Country.

But more importantly, keep your fingers crossed that we go back to the days of a single mid February melt out, rather than the pattern the last few years of several mid season melt outs that take a few weeks to return to winter conditions. And just in case things remain status quo pack a bottle of DEET for those 50F winter days when the mosquitoes find a few hours to come out!

Bad news:








Good News:







More Good News:






NWS Forecast for: Keene Valley NY

Issued by: National Weather Service Burlington, VT















Today

Chance Rain/Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 30%
Chance
Rain/Snow
Hi 41°FFalling Temperatures
Tonight

Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 50%
Chance
Snow
Lo 23°F
Monday

Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 40%
Chance
Snow
Hi 33°F
Monday
Night

Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 40%
Chance
Snow
Lo 19°F
Tuesday

Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 40%
Chance
Snow
Hi 27°F
Tuesday
Night

Chance Snow. Chance for Measurable Precipitation 30%
Chance
Snow
Lo 14°F
Wednesday

Partly Sunny
Partly
Sunny
Hi 26°F
Wednesday
Night

Mostly Cloudy
Mostly
Cloudy
Lo 11°F
Thursday

Mostly Sunny
Mostly
Sunny
Hi 27°F







Today: A slight chance of rain showers before 1pm, then a chance
of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to
around 33 by 5pm. West wind between 14 and 18 mph. Chance of
precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Tonight: A
chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. West wind
between 7 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow
accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Monday: A
chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. West wind
between 3 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow
accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Monday Night: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 19. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind between 6 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday Night: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 14. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 26.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 27.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 10.

Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16.

Saturday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. Chance of precipitation is 30%.



Point Forecast: Keene Valley NY
44.19N 73.81W


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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

International Rally New York

International Rally New York, held Oct 31-Nov 1st, is the final race in the USA Rally Championships. The stages were held in multiple closed course locations around the western edge of NY's Catskill Forest Preserve.

Rally racing in the US is almost an unknown sport, while in Europe and other parts of the America's it is actually an immensely popular sport. I suppose it's a lot like soccer or cycling, the US just doesn't appreciate it.

Rally racing is usually done on closed roads rather than tracks, meaning that unlike the permanent left hand turns of a Nascar track, there is actually some diversity in rally racing. The roads are often dirt, or snow covered, and might cross standing water, or streams, but the races also occur on paved sections, or entirely paved courses. Cars often catch big air, and drift around hairpin turns.


While most of us are never going to put a race car on the track, rally is the type of racing most of us can relate to most easily. Rally racing is the epitome of the saying "fast cars drive the straight-aways fast, and fast drivers drive the turns fast."

Of course, the cars used in the rally races are anything but stock. WRC cars are based on the stock 2.0L 4 cylinder engines found in the production models but they have heavily modified safety systems including full reinforced roll cages, racing seats and harnesses, bigger brakes, better lighting, and use special tires. They also are turbo charged, and have different gear boxes.

To give you an idea of how little rally racing is known in the US. The Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer EVO had been sold in Europe and Asia for over a decade before hitting the US. Fitting with the trend that the US market only wants big cars, or muscle "sports" cars, rather than cars they can actually drive for fun, the US market was ignored.

In the early 2000s Subaru was the first company to market a rally inspired car in the US, the WRX. Mitsubishi also unleashed the Lancer EVO the following year. Not surprisingly the Lancer EVO and Impreza WRX, and other rally inspired cars like the Mini, and the Suzuki SX4 have had strong US sales.

Rally New York was a good time though, and I’m definitely looking forward to more rallying. Actually, I’m hoping to race the Covered Bridge Rally in Vermont next year in the stock division, I drive most of those roads a dozen times a year while going hiking, and I can say it's a fun drive (unless you are in my passenger seat)!!


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