I just went camping and was wondering how are the Adirondacks affected by global warming?

Question

After looking around and seeing all the majestic trees, gorgeous lakes, and abundant wildlife, it struck me as odd that upstate NY doesn't appear to be as affected by global warming as other ecosystems around the world are studied and reported.

Answer 1

I hiked to the top of Prospect Mt last week. I've been going to the Lake George area for over 45 years now. There is no change that anyone can see. If you didn't read the papers, magazines, or turn the news on the TV, there would be no clue that anything different was going on.

Answer 2

The effects of global warming (climate change) are more apparent in different environments. Not being familiar with the Adirondacks makes it hard to comment specifically. It may be that, like many other mountain ranges, they create their own microclimates which may be more or less susceptible to climate change or it may be that the cimate of the Adirondacks is more akin to that of the surrounding area.

There are places in Switzerland and Chile for example that you can go where the effects of climate change jump out at you in one valley but in the next valley the effects are for more subtle and harder to spot.

By virtue of the fact that mountainous regions receive higher precipitation, higher windspeeds, less sunshine, more fog, lower temperatures etc than surrounding areas the effects of climate change are less perceptible to humans and it's only by taking instrumental readings that some changes become obvious. For example, a 3 degree rise in surface temps would have a marked impact and be apparent to all concerned but such a temp rise in the mountains would be far less noticeable. The most obvious change being an increase in rainfall, decrease in snowfall and progressively greater annual retreat of glaciation. These are the sort of changes that would go un-noticed by a casual visitor but would be more apparent to a local resident or someone who visited frequently.

I've noticed this myself on many occasions. The mountain ranges I regularly visit are showing very obvious signs of the effects of climate change but when I visit a range for the first time the changes aren't so obvious and it's necessary to read the clues on the ground.

Answer 3

if global warming continues, the types of insects able to live in the Adirondacks will change, with more harmful species taking hold and attacking trees, spreading disease, etc.

the ecosystem in the mountains is balanced based on some areas freezing solid in winter and keeping out termites, fire ants, certain mosquitoes, etc.

we're already seeing spread of malaria, parasites and other pests and threats in places where the climate is growing warmer.