Hudson River Almanac

One of my favorite quick reads each week is the Hudson River Almanac, a compilation of nature notes from a couple of dozen observers who live as far south as the New York Bight and as far north as the shadow of Mount Marcy. Tom Lake and Steve Stanne compile them and e-mail them weekly. It’s concise, heavy on the details of sightings and observations, light on the poetic writing, and fun.

I particularly like the observations from the Adirondacks, although there’s plenty of good stuff from elsewhere as well:

12/20 - Newcomb, HRM 302: At 11:15 AM, our thermometer read -11°F. It gave a low of -18°F overnight, although a neighbor of mine reported -22°F at his house. This morning the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the Hudson River still has open water under the Route 28N bridge.
- Ellen Rathbone

12/20 - Minerva, HRM 284: The bottom fell out of the temperature floor last night. It was in the mid-30's for a brief time, but then, in a fairly slow but sure way, the winds picked up, a few inches of fluffy snow fell down, and by the time I hauled myself out of bed this morning at 6:15, it was -16°F. Saranac Lake reported -30°F. I guessed the windchill factor to be around -35°F. It is winter in the North Country.
- Mike Corey

To subscribe, send an email message to hrep@gw.dec.state.ny.us and write E-Almanac in the subject line.

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