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Posts Tagged "Alaska"

Record Shattering Cold & Historic Snow

Posted on Mar 16, 2015

Record Shattering Cold & Historic Snow

To be entirely honest I meant to write this blog entry a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I have been busy during that time with meetings, gearing up for spring and summer projects, surveying, and much more. Nevertheless, I could not get myself too excited to write about the unbelievably and astonishingly historic cold we have had this winter, especially in February, or the feet of snow dumped on the region, rewriting more records for some locations. After feeling the first signs of spring in the past week I feel renewed, ready for the thaw and once again energized about our weather and climate....

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Northern Wheatear season

Posted on Sep 7, 2014

Northern Wheatear season

The Northern Wheatear is undoubtedly one of my favorite North American nesting species despite the fact it is one of the toughest to find in the contiguous United States. I have no real reason for why I love the bird except for the fact that it is so difficult to call it simply a “North American” species and I admire its biology. Two populations nest on the continent with a western group breeding in Alaska and far northwest Canada with an eastern group in north central and northeastern Canada, the former group migrating southeastward across Asia to move to Europe and finally...

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The Seen and Unseen Effects of Climate Change

Posted on Aug 25, 2014

The Seen and Unseen Effects of Climate Change

“That’s western New York weather for you,” is a phrase I’ve often heard growing up in this area, as our weather seems to change pretty frequently throughout any given week and sometimes even within a day. Being accustomed to how the weather in this part of the state changes by the hour, I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the weather in the morning before I head out the door. The other morning as I was taking a look at accuweather, my typical weather go-to site, I saw an article about Alaska’s shrinking glaciers. Having taken a trip to Alaska within the...

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Our Own Alaska

Posted on Jun 3, 2014

Our Own Alaska

Around this time last year I found myself boarding a plane with 10 other Houghton College students bound for the state of Alaska for a 15 day trip. Previous to getting on the plane, we had spent an intensive four days in class learning about the unique ecosystems, like none of our own here in New York, we would soon see. We left New York from Rochester, and a layover and seven hours of flying later we arrived around midnight in Anchorage. It was dark when we landed, but while we were waiting to be shuttled to our hotel we were able to peer over the buildings and see the peaks of several snow...

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