Oh boy, I'm in trouble with the global warming freaks again! I was actually surprised that it wasn't mentioned with the story. That's right, some believe that global warming is causing all sort of problems. They don't even take all things into consideration when they make the statements they do.
So tonight's news story was really a stupid one. As I said in a previous post (The Global Warming Argument) that this was one of the warmest in recorded history. What I didn't mention was that it also on the path to be the least snowiest winters in Syracuse history. Last time I knew we had less than 50 inches for the year. That is less than half of the average snowfall we normally get. There are two reasons that made tonight's news story so stupid. You just need to keep this fact in mind as well as the date.
The first reason it was such a bad story has to do with the time of year. Normally at this time in March we are still dealing with snow. That is snow still falling as well as still on the ground. It isn't normal to have to mow the grass before the end of April, middle of April at the earliest. But if I wasn't a skeptic about the end of winter I would have removed the snow blower from the tractor and put the mowing deck on. I just don't think it is completely through yet. To give you an idea of how much the grass is growing at this point, the golf courses are mowing every morning already. Under normal circumstances they aren't even open yet! So the fact that people are stating that the water is normally higher at this time is really dumb. Most people don't even pay attention to the water at this time of year.
The other reason is really what will probably get some of the freaks going. These people can't figure out why the water level is so low. Two reasons for this, the first is pretty simple, the second is just stupidity. First on this sub topic is the state controlling the water level. Every winter, once the canal system is closed for the season, the state opens the flood gates in a couple of small towns, Caughdenoy and Phoenix (as in New York). I'm sure others are opened but these are major ones as I'll get to in a moment. Doing this lowers the level of the entire canal system above Phoenix and that is a good thing. The last time this procedure wasn't done there was major flooding all along the system. I have been told that the Oswego River (formed by the merging of the Seneca and Oneida rivers) drains nearly 1/3 of the state. Opening these lowers the levels to allow the system to be able to handle Spring melting without too much damage. I put melting in bold and italics for a reason. During a normal winter much of the water is held in the form of snow and ice so it doesn't flow down the river. When it melts in the Spring it begins to flow. Mass melting creates flooding which the state prevents by being ahead of the curve all winter. This year they were ahead of the curve as usual. The difference is that there isn't any large melts happening which means that even by closing the gates the water level isn't going to increase rapidly. These people need to keep in mind that the water needs to come from somewhere!
I certainly can't blame the state for leaving things as they are. With all the extremely wet weather that has been coming across the country it is a good idea to be prepared. Those that complain about it would be the first to cry if the torrential downpours that have been happening caused a major flood. Just another instance where people don't think about what could happen based on current conditions and only think about themselves and their current enjoyment.
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