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Chances of a White Christmas in the Northeast
There is a 100 percent chance of sand all along the beaches of Atlantic City, N.J., Christmas morning, but only an 8 percent chance of snow. If you are looking for a White Christmas in the northeastern United States -- or trying to avoid one -- the top spots are the usual suspects: Pinkham Notch, N.H., (with nearly 100 percent chance of snow), Caribou, Maine, and, in New York state, Boonville and Old Forge, according to Keith Eggleston, senior climatologist with Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center A lower probability of snow -- although still at a high 71 percent -- is forecast for Syracuse, N.Y., and Portland, Maine. (December 17, 2004)

Spring in U.S. Northeast is arriving a week earlier
Spring is arriving up to a week earlier than it did 40 years ago in response to a warming trend in the U.S. Northeast, Cornell University researchers are reporting. They base their conclusion on a study of historical bloom-date records for lilacs, apples and grapes, which suggests that nature's calendar is changing due to an increase in greenhouse gases. In one of the first documented cases that plants in the Northeast are responding to climate change, the Cornell scientists and their colleagues at the University of Wisconsin say that lilacs are blooming about four days earlier, and apples and grapes six to eight days earlier, than in 1965. The findings in the study -- the first to encompass the U.S. Northeast -- are consistent with similar reports in other regions of the United States and in Europe. (December 13, 2004)

Forecast for Thanksgiving Day: Plenty of stuffing, not much snow
Save a place at the table for Frosty the Snowman if you live in Boonville, N.Y., or Caribou, Maine, this Thanksgiving (Nov. 25) -- just in case. Otherwise, most of the Northeast should be generally snow-free during the holiday, according to Keith Eggleston, senior climatologist with Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center. For travelers in Boonville, N.Y., northeast of Syracuse, N.Y., at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, there is a 38 percent chance of measurable snow on Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving, and a 71 percent chance of snow on Thanksgiving Day. In Caribou, Maine, there is a 54 percent of one or more inches of snow on the ground on Thanksgiving Day. (November 17, 2004)

Nov. 17 symposium to review effect of climate change on weeds, crops, gardens and farm profitability
Winters are getting warmer and some crops are starting to bloom earlier. Climate change is already upon us, but changes are not uniform across regions or species. The potential impact on farmers is both positive and negative and also has important implications for home gardeners and landscape managers. To review the evidence of climate change in the Northeast and to discuss adaptation strategies for the potential impact on farming, gardens and the dairy industry, researchers, extension educators and interested citizens will gather for a one-day symposium on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the Ramada Inn, Ithaca. The symposium, Climate Change and Northeast Agriculture: Developing an Education Outreach Agenda, costs $10 and is open to the public. (November 4, 2004)

NOAA climate station established on Cornell's Harford site
A postage stamp-sized piece of property belonging to Cornell University's Animal Research Facility in Harford, N.Y. is now the site of a national climate station. The Harford site will be part of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), a land-based system of climate stations now being developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Every USCRN observing site is equipped with state-of-the instruments including, a standard set of sensors, a data logger and a satellite communications transmitter. The Harford site meets NOAA criteria for its distance from urban areas, long-term stability and reliability as an area representative of the regional climate, among other factors. (November 4, 2004)

Ithaca breaks record with 49 days of rain June to August
Nice weather -- if you're The Swamp Thing. Ithaca-area residents absorbed a record-breaking total of 49 days of rain for the months of June, July and August -- and that was with a relatively dry June. The previous record of 46 days of rain in the three months was set in 1947. (August 31, 2004)

Community leaders Gary Ferguson and George Ferrari are named to Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program
The Cornell Public Service Center has announced the selection of the two fellows for the fourth annual Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program, Gary Ferguson and George Ferrari. The program enables outstanding community leaders involved in economic and community development efforts to join the Cornell University community of scholars as both learners and teachers for an academic year to work on projects that address community-identified needs. The Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program was established to help expand and improve university-community collaborations. During their time at Cornell, the new fellows will work to advance proposals that will have a lasting effect on their community. The opportunity for community leaders, college students and faculty to learn from each other is rare but invaluable and enriches the education of all involved, program administrators say. A committee with representation from the community and the university selected the fellows from an impressive and highly qualified group of applicants. (July 13, 2004)

Climate-based model to predict West Nile virus activity
Cornell University scientists are launching a full-scale study on the influence of climate on mosquito populations that transmit diseases such as West Nile virus (WNV) to humans. Funded by a $495,000 Global Programs grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the three-year project is a collaborative effort involving medical entomologists, climatologists, social scientists and risk analysts, as well as local and state health department officials. "We propose to develop a system for predicting and monitoring risk of mosquito vectors, West Nile virus transmission and human health risk that will be readily usable by public health professionals for decision-making," says Laura Harrington, Cornell assistant professor of entomology and the project's principal investigator. "This system will provide a mechanism for early warning of West Nile virus risk and serve as a model for other existing and future vector-borne disease risks for which vectors are already present in the United States. These risks include Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis and Ross River viruses." (July 12, 2004)

Web site calculates when lawns need sprinkling
To save water, enter your ZIP code and click. The Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) at Cornell University has introduced a Lawn Watering Input Web site to make it easy for homeowners and groundskeepers to prevent lawns and grassy knolls from being saturated. (May 24, 2004)

Coldest January in 50 years in New England
Toss another log on the Yankee fire. This was the coldest January for Bridgeport, Conn., and Boston in a half century, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. Boston's average temperature for the month was 20.7 degrees Fahrenheit and for Bridgeport it was 21.7 degrees, says Keith Eggleston, a senior climatologist at the center. The normal average January temperature for Boston is 29.3 degrees and for Bridgeport it is 29.9 degrees. (February 03, 2004)

It's warmer on Mars than in the northeast
During the most recent early afternoon on Mars, the temperature at the rover Spirit landing site in Gusev crater was an admittedly chilly minus 11 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit). But it was still warmer than most cities in the upper Northeast, gripped in a frigid winter chill. The rover's Mini-TES instrument (for miniature thermal emission spectrometer) made the precise measurement of the landing-site temperature, at about three feet from the surface, at 1:15 p.m. Mars time, according to mission science team member Michael Smith of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Mars is 1.5 times farther from the sun than Earth. (January 14, 2004)