[at-l] Project Help Needed

[atl@xzlzx.com (Richard)]

Hi:

In CT, MA, and VT there are a number of ski areas which are within (or
close?) to the corridor you are investigating.  It's possible they may have
natural snowfall and temperature records but whether they saved them for
extended periods of time?  They may even be more accurate for your purposes
because they are more likely to be at trail/ridge elevations, not valleys in
which towns are located.  In any case, if you pursue them, be sure to
clarify that you are looking for natural snowfall data, not what they claim
they make or for sure not their alleged depth of base reports.

Richard
ATsomeday


----- Original Message -----
From: "The Weathercarrot" <weathercarrot@hotmail.com>
To: <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 7:54 PM
Subject: [at-l] Project Help Needed


>
> Hi -
>
> Several people at the Ruck suggested that I put this out to the list, and
> since I am running out of options, I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask.
>
> I am at a point in my AT snowfall mapping project where I can't go any
> farther because I have hit a section where I can't obtain the data that I
> need. I'm hoping that after I describe what I'm looking for, perhaps
someone
> out there can offer some leads, ideas, or any other sort of help. With
> several hundred people on the list, someone might have some connections...
>
> First, for the benefit of those unaware of all this, here is recap on what
> I'm doing, followed by the type of data I need and where I've already
> looked. I am currently in the middle of a 2 year project creating detailed
> annual average snowfall maps of the entire Appalachian Trail corridor from
> GA to ME. They have a scale of 1:150,000 and average about 20-30 miles
wide,
> so it's a significant chunk of the Appalachian Mountains in general, not
> just the immediate vicinity of the trail corridor. I am working from south
> to north and have completed from GA to Harriman State Park in NY (19 maps
so
> far - 29 or 30 by the time I reach central Maine). I will eventually
expand
> the project to include the entire Long Trail from Sherburne Pass to the
> Canadian border, which means most of the Green Mountain chain will end up
> being covered (especially when you consider the 30 mile wide corridor).
> These maps also have a visually artistic aspect to them (at least that's
> what people tell me) - they are all hand drawn in colored pencil with
> between 6 and 15 colors on each map, thus depicting the topography of the
> region in an interestingly unique way.
>
> The process I use to map the annual snowfall involves the combination of
> available long term data, and formulas I've come up with to estimate how
> snowfall increases with altitude, taking into consideration micro-climates
> and exposure (east slope/west slope, etc). I've always wanted to find snow
> maps with the kind of detail that shows individual mountains and valleys,
> but since that kind of scale doesn't seem to exist for the Appalachians, I
> decided to just create them myself. I don't have a history of official
> academic study in climatology or meteorology, but have instead spent the
> better part of the last decade all over the region, paying very close
> attention to patterns, collecting the data, and arriving at the formulas
> mentioned above. Anyone attempting such maps would have to be playing a
game
> of "connecting the dots" between data points, and my process of doing that
> extrapolation/interpolation tries as much as possible to depict localized
> areas that have little or no nearby data. I am looking forward to the day
> that these maps are completed and can be viewed by the "experts" in the
> field. I would love to see what their comments would be.
>
> Currently the project is stalled at the Hudson River. From Springer to
that
> point, and from around Killington to Katahdin, my data collection was a
> simple process due to the free availability on web sites or through the
mail
> (sources like the Southeastern Regional Climate Center, the NC, VA, PA,
and
> NJ state climatologist offices, and various regional National Weather
> Service offices). However, the only areas I have been unable to collect
the
> data needed are specifically a six county area along the trail from the
> Hudson River to just south of the Killington area. These counties are:
> Putnam and Dutchess in NY, Litchfield in CT, Berkshire in MA, and
Bennington
> and Windham in southern VT. I have searched extensively everywhere I can
> think of for annual average snowfall numbers for these areas and found
very
> little, except for larger cities and a few small towns (like Norfolk, CT
and
> Bennington, VT) and some ski resorts.
>
> I could theoretically just plow ahead with what I have, but it would mean
a
> far-reduced density of data-points, and more reliance on my own
estimations.
> This would be very frustrating because the area in question has many
> stations with decent periods of record. The most obvious places to look
are
> the Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) in Ithaca and the National
> Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville. There are two problems with both
> of those sources. First, they charge significantly for what I'm looking
for.
> All I need is a single number per station, and I would end up getting a
lot
> of raw data that I don't need. Second, even if the money was not an issue,
> nowhere on either the NCDC or NRCC web sites do they actually list the
> climatological 30 year normals for snowfall as being available. I find
that
> odd, considering that all the other sites where I have found data credit
the
> NCDC as being their source.  I have also written to the CT, MA and VT
state
> climatologists, the NWS offices in Albany and Burlington, and the
University
> of Mass, but have had no success with any of those. I also received the
> NRCC's northeastern snow atlas, but it does not have the kind of data I
need
> - it was entirely in the form of regional maps - nothing on a local level,
> and no actual station data.
>
> This is a low-budget project that is intended to be something mutually
> beneficial to all involved - I'd like to make the finished product
available
> for free in many forms to anyone interested. This would include a viewable
> and downloadable form on the web or on CD, labeled or unlabeled. Many
people
> have already helped with several different aspects of the project. It's
> frustrating that such an endeavor would be grounded because the data from
a
> small section of trail happens to be very difficult to find, and
potentially
> at a high cost that would include much that is superfluous anyway. So I'm
> hoping that someone out there might either have access to that
information,
> or know someone that might.
>
> Here is what I need:  I'm looking for either the 1961-1990 normals, the
new
> 1971-2000 normals, or better yet, the average snowfall from the full
period
> of record. I'm even interested in the stations where there is an
incomplete
> record (missing years, discontinued, etc), because they too can be useful.
> Here, from VA, is a good example of the kind of stuff I'm looking for:
>
> http://climate.virginia.edu/Climate/normals/norm_station.html
>
> Here are the NCDC station lists from Berkshire, Bennington, and Windham
> counties. I'm also interested in anything available from Putnam, Dutchess
> and Litchfield Counties, especially Stormville and Falls Village.
>
> Berkshire County:
>
> Adams
> Becket 2 SW
> Dalton
> Florida
> Great Barrington
> Hoosac Tunnel
> Lanesboro
> Lenox Dale
> North Adams
> North Adams 2 E
> Peru
> Pittsfield
> Savoy
> Sheffield 3 SSW
> South Egremont
> Southfield
> Stockbridge
> Washington 2
> West Otis
>
> Windham County:
>
> Ball Mountain Lake
> Bellows Falls
> Grafton 1 NW
> Mays Mill
> Newfane
> Newfane Telemark
> Searsburg Station
> Somerset
> South Londonderry
> Townshend Lake
> Vernon
> Wardsboro
> Wardsboro 3 SE
> West Dover
> West Wardsboro
> Whitingham 1 W
> Wilmington
>
> Bennington County:
>
> Bennington
> Dorset 2 SE
> Manchester
> Manchester Depot
> Peru
> Pownal 1 NE
> Pownal Center
> Readsboro 1 SE
> Searsburg Power Plant
> Sunderland
> Sunderland 2
> Woodford
>
> So if anyone out there has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks very
much!
>
> wc
>
>
>
>
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