I remember a few years back, not long after settling near Ithaca full time, myself and some friends drove up to Turin, NY, on the far east side of the Tug Hill plateau to go snowboarding.
I couldn't believe the amount of snow they had, it was surreal, and I hadn't seen anywhere that amount except at elevation in British Columbia.
The empty platitudes from the climate change crowd really are frustrating, especially in light of the fact that their solutions are farting in the wind compared to what nature has in store for us. The cycle of Solar Minimums and Maximums, and this ridiculous undersea volcano that blew more water vapor into the atmosphere last year than ever in recorded history ... these challenges will not be overcome with bureaucracies steering ever more stolen funds (or funds summoned from the ether) to the construction of green idolatry.
Loving your reportage, despite the bad news putting literal Gum on your Shoes.
Thanks, one nit pick. Superior has an average depth much greater than Ontario. Slightly deeper than Huron and far deeper than Erie, the smallest Great Lake surface area of Ontario confuses the casual observer.
Thanks Andy I Enjoyed that and reflecting on your words and insights, it reminds me of my home, although it’s apparently not in the least similar to the land you described... I live on a small island between England and France the weather here has changed too and sadly is now plainly screwing things up for our wildlife and the human community too, so different but many parallels somehow, I don’t know where we are going from here but it’s uncomfortable.
Mr. Hickman, I would like to recommend to you the book Tree Crops, by Mr. Russel Smith. Also, have you read about the attempts at restoration of the American Chestnut? Although these subjects are not directly related to your article, I think you will find them enjoyable and illuminating.
I've long since concluded, and am teaching my son, that climate change is inevitable, nothing you or I can do will change our reverse course. My job is to position our family to insulate against and benefit from the changes.
There are two ways to catch a stick floating in a creek. You can chase after it, getting your boots and feet and pants wet, splashing and disturbing the crawfish and generally making a great racket. Or you can walk downstream along the bank, position yourself astride it's course, and pick it up as it floats by.
Here in Southern Ohio we've had the mildest winter I can remember. Or days of white Christmases appear to be good and done. So we are planting figs. There are a few cold-hardy varieties that will survive under heavy straw mulch. In five years?...
Climate change really is in a sense beside the point. Whatever the long-term wisdom of addressing it nothing done today will make a bit of difference for 40-50 years at least, so a focus on spending money in exchange for promises about the weather fifty years from now is an evasion of political choices today.
Damn, that recording has some of the thickest upstate accents I’ve heard, brings back memories.
Thanks for this, as always illuminating and full of insight on the effects of global warming - I too hate the corporate phrase "climate change" which was concocted by Cheney and his pals in the oil industry to make it sound that man made carbon emissions was somehow a natural and inevitable by product of nature itself. I've just returned from a stint in northern Quebec on Mont Tremblant, a ski resort not unlike Tug Hill, but more upmarket. The 'Grand Lodge' where we stayed was notable for US tourists, the parking lot full of NY, Connecticut, even Colorado and California plates. Despite migrating north for some snow and fun, the slopes were mostly bare. The one that they had opened had a thin layer of machine-made snow on ice, which made it very fast, but treacherous skiing. As one of the staff at the Grand Lodge noted to my brother in law, a driller visiting from Alaska where they have had TONS of snow recently, the absence of snow was a "catastrophe" for local businesses. What alarms me is we are witnessing the beginning of the effects of global warming, I think there's much worse to come. Unless we can somehow slow down and eventually give up our punch drunk dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, we're royally screwed (wind turbines by themselves are not the answer, aside from anything else they are bloody ugly and noisy). And yes, of course you are right, the politicians don't have answers, whether Biden's 'build better,' or Trump's tax handouts to the billionaire class - shouldn't those billions given to the ultra rich or those given to Ukraine/Israel go to communities like Tug Hill? I'll leave it there before this turns into a rant. Keep up the good work, you're writing is always such a pleasure to read.
I was born in the only American city on the Lake, Rochester and spent a lot of time in, on it and near it. For a nice not really tourist place Sodus Bay is a great little beach town. The lake determines the weather there and we often got blizzards that shut down the city - as a kid it was a blast. I went to college at SUNY Geneseo and lived in the Adirondacks for a while too. I don't live there anymore (traded western NY clouds for Sunny Sonoran desert skies), and I always liked that western New York or Lake Ontario's shores weren't too touristy (except for NYC metro deer hunters in the fall) - maybe that's changed over the 40+ years I've been gone?
I appreciate that someone took the time to write such a detailed essay about their impression of life in New York's North Country.
Maybe A.M. Hickman could get all the non driving morons to stop spreading all the salt all over the roads so a 80,000 dollar truck would last more than 9 years. Wait until you pay the extra price for your impractical EV. I guess all those snowmobiles are electric.
Mr Hickman is either a idiot or a propagandist and he's probably both. I live in central Minnesota and we don't have any snow on the ground right now.... Thank God. Last year we broke the all-time snow record of roughly 90 inches. Our average is about 50 so if you're going to have a year of 90 you're going to have a couple years of 20 or 30. I do like to snowmobile but I also like to drive on Bare ice free snow free roads. Is Mr Hickman aware of the record snow California had last season? Is he aware of the record snow and cold they've had in China recently? He's aware but propagandist have a different agenda
Mr. Hickman is not an idiot and he's not a propagandist. He's giving first hand, on the ground reports of present life and conditions in a rural area of NY state, that by its nature, is isolated and not immediately representative of any other locations, either in NY or elsewhere in the USA.
Mr. Hickman's questions will make you think. Give him the benefit of the doubt and you'll be asking yourself what he asked us:
"if we can preserve a plant or animal, why can't we preserve a people?" (paraphrased, but first I have ever heard it said, applied to preserving a type of American people, and thus: kudos to Mr. Hickman.)
Sorry buddy anybody who wants to claim that one month of meteorological winter has anything to do with a long-term trend is either an idiot or a propagandist
Please listen to the embedded audio clip where Tug Hill residents speak about the weather the last five years.
First hand and nonpolitical accounts of a changing environment. The NY snowbelt is a localized micro climate and very sensitive. As Mr. Hickman points out in this piece, causes mean little to statements of reality.
You are correct when looking at max depths. For lake effect potential average depth is more impactful. Ontario is ranked number 2 after Superior in this measure, and one contributing reason why Tug Hill snow is so unique. Unlike its neighbor Erie, which is more like a large river, Ontario rarely freezes over. The last time was in 1933/34, and that appears to be one of 5 times since about 1800 that were recorded. This is why a place like Buffalo gets big snow off of Erie early in the season but not all winter long. Erie last froze over in 1996, yet even without complete cover the shallowness results in a lot more ice than Ontario.
Looking at a map it is hard to realize that Ontario has more water than Erie. Ontario has enough volume to act as a large heat sink while not being as massive as Superior which never gets as relatively warm.
The importance of “fetch” also favors the Tug Hill. That is the amount of open warmer water that the cold air moves across bringing up the moisture into the atmosphere. The prevailing west to east winds across Ontario create a large amount of fetch. Compare that with Michigan where those same prevailing west winds have a much smaller fetch landing on the beaches of western Michigan.
Elevation also favors the Tug Hill. An upslope to a higher plateau before getting into the Adirondacks creates the same type of snow effect that we see in places like the Sierra Nevada or the Rocky Mountains when moist air is forced to rise, cooling, and falling as frozen precipitation.
Warm water, fetch, and elevation change make the Tug Hill a special and fragile micro climate.
Check out Operation Indigo Skyfold which is an ultra-secret chemical spraying program that is poisoning the environment with toxic metals and manipulating the weather while blocking out the sun creating almost endless overcast days. This is total war against all life on planet earth.
I remember a few years back, not long after settling near Ithaca full time, myself and some friends drove up to Turin, NY, on the far east side of the Tug Hill plateau to go snowboarding.
I couldn't believe the amount of snow they had, it was surreal, and I hadn't seen anywhere that amount except at elevation in British Columbia.
The empty platitudes from the climate change crowd really are frustrating, especially in light of the fact that their solutions are farting in the wind compared to what nature has in store for us. The cycle of Solar Minimums and Maximums, and this ridiculous undersea volcano that blew more water vapor into the atmosphere last year than ever in recorded history ... these challenges will not be overcome with bureaucracies steering ever more stolen funds (or funds summoned from the ether) to the construction of green idolatry.
Loving your reportage, despite the bad news putting literal Gum on your Shoes.
Thanks, one nit pick. Superior has an average depth much greater than Ontario. Slightly deeper than Huron and far deeper than Erie, the smallest Great Lake surface area of Ontario confuses the casual observer.
My mistake, you are absolutely right!
Thanks Andy I Enjoyed that and reflecting on your words and insights, it reminds me of my home, although it’s apparently not in the least similar to the land you described... I live on a small island between England and France the weather here has changed too and sadly is now plainly screwing things up for our wildlife and the human community too, so different but many parallels somehow, I don’t know where we are going from here but it’s uncomfortable.
Mr. Hickman, I would like to recommend to you the book Tree Crops, by Mr. Russel Smith. Also, have you read about the attempts at restoration of the American Chestnut? Although these subjects are not directly related to your article, I think you will find them enjoyable and illuminating.
I enjoyed this, thank you for writing it.
I've long since concluded, and am teaching my son, that climate change is inevitable, nothing you or I can do will change our reverse course. My job is to position our family to insulate against and benefit from the changes.
There are two ways to catch a stick floating in a creek. You can chase after it, getting your boots and feet and pants wet, splashing and disturbing the crawfish and generally making a great racket. Or you can walk downstream along the bank, position yourself astride it's course, and pick it up as it floats by.
Here in Southern Ohio we've had the mildest winter I can remember. Or days of white Christmases appear to be good and done. So we are planting figs. There are a few cold-hardy varieties that will survive under heavy straw mulch. In five years?...
Climate change really is in a sense beside the point. Whatever the long-term wisdom of addressing it nothing done today will make a bit of difference for 40-50 years at least, so a focus on spending money in exchange for promises about the weather fifty years from now is an evasion of political choices today.
Damn, that recording has some of the thickest upstate accents I’ve heard, brings back memories.
https://tughill.org/tug-hill-region/
Thanks for this, as always illuminating and full of insight on the effects of global warming - I too hate the corporate phrase "climate change" which was concocted by Cheney and his pals in the oil industry to make it sound that man made carbon emissions was somehow a natural and inevitable by product of nature itself. I've just returned from a stint in northern Quebec on Mont Tremblant, a ski resort not unlike Tug Hill, but more upmarket. The 'Grand Lodge' where we stayed was notable for US tourists, the parking lot full of NY, Connecticut, even Colorado and California plates. Despite migrating north for some snow and fun, the slopes were mostly bare. The one that they had opened had a thin layer of machine-made snow on ice, which made it very fast, but treacherous skiing. As one of the staff at the Grand Lodge noted to my brother in law, a driller visiting from Alaska where they have had TONS of snow recently, the absence of snow was a "catastrophe" for local businesses. What alarms me is we are witnessing the beginning of the effects of global warming, I think there's much worse to come. Unless we can somehow slow down and eventually give up our punch drunk dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, we're royally screwed (wind turbines by themselves are not the answer, aside from anything else they are bloody ugly and noisy). And yes, of course you are right, the politicians don't have answers, whether Biden's 'build better,' or Trump's tax handouts to the billionaire class - shouldn't those billions given to the ultra rich or those given to Ukraine/Israel go to communities like Tug Hill? I'll leave it there before this turns into a rant. Keep up the good work, you're writing is always such a pleasure to read.
I was born in the only American city on the Lake, Rochester and spent a lot of time in, on it and near it. For a nice not really tourist place Sodus Bay is a great little beach town. The lake determines the weather there and we often got blizzards that shut down the city - as a kid it was a blast. I went to college at SUNY Geneseo and lived in the Adirondacks for a while too. I don't live there anymore (traded western NY clouds for Sunny Sonoran desert skies), and I always liked that western New York or Lake Ontario's shores weren't too touristy (except for NYC metro deer hunters in the fall) - maybe that's changed over the 40+ years I've been gone?
I appreciate that someone took the time to write such a detailed essay about their impression of life in New York's North Country.
Maybe A.M. Hickman could get all the non driving morons to stop spreading all the salt all over the roads so a 80,000 dollar truck would last more than 9 years. Wait until you pay the extra price for your impractical EV. I guess all those snowmobiles are electric.
Who is to blame for the great ice age going away? You can't blame man or anything he is doing.
Thanks for writing that - I love your stuff. Interesting and very informative :)
Mr Hickman is either a idiot or a propagandist and he's probably both. I live in central Minnesota and we don't have any snow on the ground right now.... Thank God. Last year we broke the all-time snow record of roughly 90 inches. Our average is about 50 so if you're going to have a year of 90 you're going to have a couple years of 20 or 30. I do like to snowmobile but I also like to drive on Bare ice free snow free roads. Is Mr Hickman aware of the record snow California had last season? Is he aware of the record snow and cold they've had in China recently? He's aware but propagandist have a different agenda
Bob,
Mr. Hickman is not an idiot and he's not a propagandist. He's giving first hand, on the ground reports of present life and conditions in a rural area of NY state, that by its nature, is isolated and not immediately representative of any other locations, either in NY or elsewhere in the USA.
Mr. Hickman's questions will make you think. Give him the benefit of the doubt and you'll be asking yourself what he asked us:
"if we can preserve a plant or animal, why can't we preserve a people?" (paraphrased, but first I have ever heard it said, applied to preserving a type of American people, and thus: kudos to Mr. Hickman.)
Sincerely,
Robert in The Bronx
Sorry buddy anybody who wants to claim that one month of meteorological winter has anything to do with a long-term trend is either an idiot or a propagandist
Your extremely useful and thoughtful commentary speaks more to yourself than Mr Hickman.
Please listen to the embedded audio clip where Tug Hill residents speak about the weather the last five years.
First hand and nonpolitical accounts of a changing environment. The NY snowbelt is a localized micro climate and very sensitive. As Mr. Hickman points out in this piece, causes mean little to statements of reality.
Lake Superior is the deepest Great Lake FWIW. Not Lake Ontario (which isn't even the 2nd deepest of the 5).
Lake Superior depth: 1,332 feet.
Lake Michigan depth: 925 feet.a
Lake Ontario depth: 802 feet.
Lake Huron depth: 750 feet.
Lake Erie depth: 210 feet.
You are correct when looking at max depths. For lake effect potential average depth is more impactful. Ontario is ranked number 2 after Superior in this measure, and one contributing reason why Tug Hill snow is so unique. Unlike its neighbor Erie, which is more like a large river, Ontario rarely freezes over. The last time was in 1933/34, and that appears to be one of 5 times since about 1800 that were recorded. This is why a place like Buffalo gets big snow off of Erie early in the season but not all winter long. Erie last froze over in 1996, yet even without complete cover the shallowness results in a lot more ice than Ontario.
Looking at a map it is hard to realize that Ontario has more water than Erie. Ontario has enough volume to act as a large heat sink while not being as massive as Superior which never gets as relatively warm.
The importance of “fetch” also favors the Tug Hill. That is the amount of open warmer water that the cold air moves across bringing up the moisture into the atmosphere. The prevailing west to east winds across Ontario create a large amount of fetch. Compare that with Michigan where those same prevailing west winds have a much smaller fetch landing on the beaches of western Michigan.
Elevation also favors the Tug Hill. An upslope to a higher plateau before getting into the Adirondacks creates the same type of snow effect that we see in places like the Sierra Nevada or the Rocky Mountains when moist air is forced to rise, cooling, and falling as frozen precipitation.
Warm water, fetch, and elevation change make the Tug Hill a special and fragile micro climate.
All that depressing nonsense to describe one snowless winter season. I guess its global warming, right?
Check out Operation Indigo Skyfold which is an ultra-secret chemical spraying program that is poisoning the environment with toxic metals and manipulating the weather while blocking out the sun creating almost endless overcast days. This is total war against all life on planet earth.