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Temperature:
The elevation in
New York
State
ranges from sea level to more
than 5,300 feet (in the
Adirondacks
).
Temperatures in the
Adirondack
region are generally high day
temperatures, due to the elevation and dry atmosphere.
Night temperatures are usually cool due to the significant loss of
heat by radiation back to the atmosphere.
The summer months can have temperatures reach the 90's, while the
winter months can have temperatures as low as -40 degrees F.
This wide range of temperatures is different than a location closer
to the
Great Lakes
or the ocean because bodies of
water regulate temperatures, and the
Adirondacks
are relatively isolated compared
to other parts of the state.
Precipitation:
Moisture through out
all of
New York
State
is supplied through winds from
the
Gulf of Mexico
, and the
Atlantic Ocean
.
The western side of the
Adirondack
region actually receives the
largest annual precipitation, of upward to 50 inches a year.
This is due to air masses that 'run' into the hills and mountains,
they rise up the western (windward) side of the mountains, condense as
they rise, and dump a lot more precipitation than in flat areas of the
state. |
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Winter precipitation in the
Adirondack
region on average ranges from 10
to 12 inches for December, January, and February.
It should be noted that 10 to 12 inches are in a water equivalent
form, generally 12 inches of snow for every inch of water.
March, April, and May represent a larger amount of
precipitation than the winter months, due to the heating up of the
atmosphere as the earth tilts closer to the sun and into the summer
months.
The summer months (June, July,
and August) represent the regions largest amount of precipitation, due to
the frequency of low-pressure systems moving across the country during the
warm summer months. As these
systems run into the mountains in the western part of the region as noted
earlier, they dump a lot of their moisture on the mountains.
As the air rises, isolated thunderstorms can form, and this is
another contributor to summer precipitation in the
Adirondacks
.
September, October, and November,
the autumn season, provides less precipitation in the
Adirondacks
due to the fact that the
atmosphere is starting to cool off in the lower levels, and there is not
as much instability, which is what is needed to form thunderstorms or
large amounts of rainfall. |
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Sunshine and Winds:
New York
State
lies within what some call the
eastern cloudy belt. The
percentage of sunshine is greater in the summer months than in the fall
and winter. However it is not
a factor that has as much range as temperature or precipitation.
The winds in the
Adirondacks
prevail from the same direction,
as does most of the state.
They are generally westerly, (which is the direction that our weather
comes from) but shift northerly during the winter months, which provides
for the cooler temperatures.
However as in any mountain region, localized winds play a huge part in
temperature differences. The
Adirondacks
contain many ranges of mountains,
notches, valleys, and plateaus.
All these features help in localizing winds even more than the
shift in seasons. This can
affect amount of snowmelt on leeward side of mountains, and vice versa in
the winter months. In the
summer it may be warmer on the leeward side of mountains, due to warm air
flowing down the mountains. |
