September 11, 2008
Granite State Greenery: AMC Huts Showcase Green Tech
Hello, all!
Just back from a hike through some of the AMC huts along the Appalachian Trail. We headed up the Bridal Path Trail up to Greenleaf hut and then on up a total of 3600 feet to Mount Lafayette (5,260ft) and across the Garfield Ridge Trail to Galehead hut, passing the summit of Mt. Garfield (4,500 ft) along the way.
Had a great time, some serious weather though, like fog, hurricane force winds (80+mph), torrential rain, thunder, lightning and a snow advisory.
The Garfield Ridge Trail was substantially more difficult than I remembered, especially around Mt. Garfield, where it turns from a trail to a rock climbing expedition. It made Agony Ridge below Greenleaf feel like a cakewalk.The weather thankfully cleared for a bit along the way and we had some fantastic views.
We made it to Galehead a bit after dark. The Galehead crew gave us a tour of all the green tech at the hut—composting toilets, kitchen compost, wind power, solar, on-demand hot water for the kitchen, etc.
You can find more pictures of our trip on FLICKR: Greenleaf to Galehead and I'm going to try to do a post with more details on how the huts of the White Mountains make little choices that make big differences to keep their impact on the environment low.
Posted by sorsha at 3:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 6, 2007
The Lowdown On Lake-Effect Snow
There's a cold front moving towards us and according to Weather.com, it brings with it some abnormally cold temperatures and a strong chance of lake-effect snows.
Despite living in the Northeast for decades, I have never heard that term before: lake-effect snow. This is likely due to the fact that I relied upon my parents to tell me when to wear a coat. And I barely listened, even then.
Now I have a pretty high tech weather station that tells me all the little metric details, including flashing little comments I can understand, like "It's raining cats and dogs!!!"
At first, I was just excited. The first snow of the year! Yay! Then I got suspicious. Does lake-effect snow stick? It better. I need to take pictures or I will get in trouble with Shane.
Anyway, turns out, it does stick. According to Wikipedia, it can actually pile. Lake-effect snow is a type of snowsquall (another word that makes me giddy!). It occurs when cold air passes over warmer lakes and picks up energy and a lot of vapor. Narrow, intense areas will then have high precipitation - basically a snowbelt (when it's snow) or very intense rain if it's warmer. This is why some of upstate New York gets nailed with snow all the time, since it's right next to the Great Lakes, and arctic winds come whistling down from Canada and blast the Northeast.
Some areas are expected to get as much as 8 inches of snow by tomorrow night!
Posted by sorsha at 11:02 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack