REGION 7 - ADIRONDACK-CHAMPLAIN 
John M.C. Peterson 
Discovery Farm 
RR 1, Box 230 
Elizabethtown, NY 12932-9721 
Drought? Fire? Flood? Landslide? Windfall? Whatever one's pref¬ 
erence, September provided them all. The season began with Hurricane 
Dennis off North Carolina and continued drought here. Plattsburgh tied 
the old high of 90°F on 2 September and broke the 1894 record high (of 
91°) with 94° on 4 September. Forest fires began on the 2nd, the largest on 
3556' Noonmark Mt. spotted by the summit steward on Mt. Marcy and 
assistant ranger on Giant. Five helicopters drew 250-600 gallon buckets 
from Lower Ausable Lake, a Blackhawk making water drops of 33,000 
gallons in four hours. As the fire raced downhill, inmates from Moriah 
Shock Incarceration Unit worked beside forest rangers to dig a deep 
trench in the three-mile long fire line, so dynamite could blow a half-mile 
break. With temperatures still in the mid-80s, the remnants of Dennis 
brought 0.5" of rain 7 September to help control the 92-acre Noonmark 
burn and other fires at Desolate Brook, Lincoln Pond, Pinnacle Mountain 
and Split Rock. Even after Dennis arrived, annual rainfall was still 6" 
below normal, at just 16.84", and Lake Champlain had dropped to 94.00'. 
The sun returned, until a cold front from the west brought rain on 14 
September. Then on the 16th, the remnants of Hurricane Floyd ended the 
severe Drought of '99, and the world came crashing down. Rain began 
that evening, with 1.5" at Plattsburgh by 10 pm and 25 mph wind gusts. 
By the next day, winds were a full 60 mph, and Tropical Storm Floyd 
drenched Plattsburgh with 4.41" and Lake Placid with 4.98" (versus 6.17" 
in all of June, July and August). In Essex County, 8000 residents were 
without power due to downed trees, the temporary Mill Pond dam in 
Lake Placid failed, and the landslides began: three on Mt. Colden, one 
2500' long, plus 500' slides on Algonquin and Wright Peak and smaller 
slides on Armstrong, Basin, Gothics, Sawtooth and Saddleback, Trickle 
Falls at the height of land in Avalanche Pass no longer sends water to 
both the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers, just to the Hudson. Crews took 
four days to reopen 200' of Avalanche Pass and nine days to go 4.8 miles 
through Indian Pass, with many High Peaks trails still unopened. 
Breeding Bird Atlas squares 5788 (Avalanche and Indian passes) and 5988 
(Noonmark Mt.) promise to be extremely interesting. Champlain had 
risen to 95.40' by month's end, and with over 10" of rain, this was the 
The Kingbird 2000 March; 50(1) 
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