Wednesday, January 4, 2012

CHENANGO CANAL BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Donald A. Windsor

The Chenango Canal extended for 97 miles between Utica and Binghamton.  It operated from 1837 through 1878.  Its summit was at Bouckville, 706 feet higher than Utica and 300 feet higher than Binghamton.  The Canal had 116 locks; its summit was between locks 76 and 77.  Chenango County contains locks 84 through 105.

I made the following three drawings for my presentation to the Bullthistle Hikers on Tuesday 3 January 2012.  Data for them were taken from:
McFee, Michele A.  Limestone Locks and Overgrowth.  The Rise and Descent of the Chenango Canal.  Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press.  1993.  240 pages.



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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2011 WAS A WET YEAR

Donald A. Windsor

2011 was a wet year, very wet I thought.  But how wet?  On January 1, 2011, I started logging whether or not any precipitation fell during the 24-hour day.  I continued every day throughout the year and am still faithfully keeping track.

For 2011, we had 190 dry days (52.1%) and 175 wet days (47.9%).  So, in general, we had a wet day for almost every dry day.  Here is a breakdown by month.  Note that 7 months had more dry days and only 4 months had more wet days.

              Dry Days    Wet Days    Most Days
January      13              18             Wet
February    15              13             Dry
March        17              14             Dry
April           12              19            Wet
May            11              20            Wet
June           20               10           Dry
July            21               10           Dry
August       17               14           Dry
September 15               15            -
October      16              15           Dry
November  19              11           Dry
December   14             17            Wet

But, I have no baseline for comparison, so I intend to continue doing this.  My data reflect conditions where I live, in the City of Norwich.

Precipitation is usually reported as inches of rain or snow.  For my purposes, this is inadequate.  I want to know whether the ground or the foliage is wet, or if I leave something outside, will it get wet?  Or more importantly, if I schedule an event, is it liable to be a wet day?  Besides, some plants thrive on being constantly wet; others do not.

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