Any information concerning the status of the inspection would be appreciated.

http://www.saratogaassociates.com/portfolio/studios/architecture?proj_arch_mohonkspa.php

completed in 2005, according to these reviews.

http://www.spaindex.com/Features/MohonkFeature.html

and is connected to the main building by covered walkway.

Also, as a continuation of this little exercise, comparing photos of the grounds from this historic collection taken between 1880 and 1920 to the modern google collection shows the term “relatively unchanged” does not mean “just like it was”.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,horyd,wtc,toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lhbumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,aaodyssey,magbell,bbcards,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasm,scsm,denn,relpet,amss,aaeo,mff,afc911bib,mjm,mnwp,rbcmillerbib,molden,ww2map,mfdipbib,afcnyebib,klpmap,hawp,omhbib,rbaapcbib,mal,ncpsbib,ncpm,lhbprbib,ftvbib,afcreed,aipn,cwband,flwpabib,wpapos,upboverbib,mussm,cic,afcpearl,awh,awhbib,sgp,wright,lhbtnbib,cmns,psbib,pin,coplandbib,cola,tccc,curt,mharendt,lhbcbbib,eaa,haybib,mesnbib,fine,cwnyhs,svybib,mmorse,afcwwgbib,mymhiwebib,uncall,afcwip,mtaft,manz,llstbib,fawbib,berl,fmuever,cdn,afcesnbib,hurstonbib,mreynoldsbib,spaldingbib,sgproto:0:./temp/~ammem_lWqS:

I swear, I’ve seen a google photo of the place with rows of window ac units hanging out of them… should have saved the link.

Very much looking forward to seeing the survey results!

As I was about to say before my bout of premature posting.

The photo in question is indeed unlabeled, but you will notice the picture of Paul C. Huth on page 2 of the NYT article linked in the main post is the same person standing at the Stevenson screen in the unlabeled picture.

Also, the current NOAA weather sheet linked on the Mohonk Preserve site with the unlabeled photo lists Paul C. Huth as the observer

Now, does any of that mean the Stevenson screen in the picture is the official one? No. For now we will just have to wait for a documented inspection. It was, however, a fun exploration of the circumstantial evidence.

That looks like wood chips on the ground. Someone’s going to have a fun survey. Incidentally, I’m not finding when wood chippers became common; it was only a few decades ago. Wood chips were not common mulch before wood chippers. And due to the material, I suspect bark chips have different biological and thermal characteristics.

There is warming year round in the max temp records over the last couple of decades, but it is certainly more pronounced in the summer, and seems to peak in June/July, at least compared to nearby Falls Village. There is no comparable (relative) warming in the min temp record.

Falls Village is hi-res on Google Earth and still looks fairly rural. For recent 5 year averages the difference FV – ML looks like this (deg C, June/July only, max temp):

1979-1983 2.9
1984-1988 1.6
1989-1993 1.9
1994-1998 1.7
1999-2003 0.3
2004-2008 -1.4

So over 4C relative shift! Just eyeballing the numbers, there seems to be quite a (relative) jump around the beginning of August 2004.

“Every day for the last 112 years, people have trekked up the same gray outcropping to dutifully record temperatures and weather conditions.”

As for the referenced picture, it is unlabeled. I do see the building right beside the weather station. Hmm. I wonder when the building was constructed? Assuming the picture is of the Mohonk weather station, the building could be a factor in the temperature rise. Again, does anyone know when it was erected?

Also, the NYT article states the following:

“The station has never been moved, and the resort, along with the area immediately surrounding the box, has hardly changed over time.”

Personally, I think the Mohonk folks and the NYT have jumped-the-gun carelessly (an all too common trait among the AGWers). Until, the above quoted “hardly changed” is defined and extensively researched and photographed with the survey released publicly, this is, at best, a highly unscientific, anecdotal account of warming.

Finally, is it just me, or does the actual reported warming seem confined to only the Summer Max Temp records?

Not to worry, look behind the man at the Stevenson screen in the second picture. Notice the window in the office building? Or is it a house?

http://www.mohonkpreserve.org/index.php?weatherdata#warmtrend

It sounds like quite the uphill climb. No disrespect intended, but what if the record-keeper did not make it up to the remote station everyday, yet “estimated” what the readings may have been for the missed day(s). In the summer, especially (as it appears that the reported rise is concentrated in the summer months), the readings are vulnerable to the following scenario:

Instrument reset on Day Zero.

Day 1 has a unseasonably high temp of 90 degrees and a low of 70 degrees on a clear day/night. On Day 2, 4:00pm rolls around, and for whatever reason the reading is not made (busy or too hot to climb — the solitary reader is much older than he used to be). On Day 2, it “felt” just as warm or warmer than Day 1, so when the instrument is read on Day 3, the high was shown as 90 degrees — even though Day 2 may have only been 82 degrees with higher humidity than Day 1 — Day 2 is officially recorded at an estimated 90 degrees, even though the true temperature reading was 82 degrees. If this scenario occurred more often as the years ensued, an upward trend in Max Temp would occur.

I am not calling anyone a liar or cheat — just pointing out that all humans have weaknesses — and the possibility I described above COULD be one many factors (other than AGW) affecting the instrument readings.

I understand that since the industrial age, globally, we have lost about 50% of our forests for crops and other land uses.

Oh, that’s a complicated issue.
Most of the U.S. (maybe most of the Americas…and Europe) were savanna — grassland with tall or scattered trees before European exploration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_savannas_of_the_United_States
Over 90% of the native americans died from 1492-1550, so the savanna-required burning was greatly reduced. Buffalo population boomed and they moved into the eastern savanna. Some of the woodland along the Atlantic east coast became overgrown into forest; the Pilgrims arrived in a “virgin” forest which may have been 100 years old. Much of what we now call “old growth forest” was cut when railroads and industrialized sawmills reached them in the early 1900s. However, North America and Europe now have more forest than in the early 20th century, which was more forest than in 1492.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afforestation