Day: March 8, 2025

The late Albany historian John Wolcott talked a lot about risks of climate change driven wind causing local calamities. The jet stream winds is rapidly accelerating as more and more energy in the form of carbon is dumped into the atmosphere and cold and warm are fighting it out. The right conditions and insanely fast winds can be pushed to the ground.

Wind is no joke. Mr. Wolcott told stories of the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950, that Thanksgiving Day storm that not only devasted the south with flooding and a blizzard and caused a great blow down of trees in the Adirondacks. During that day in Albany winds blew at speeds averaging 50-60 mph with a peak gust of 83 mph recorded at airport. Several buildings in Albany – some built before the Civil War – collapsed under the forces of the all day winds. The New York City area saw winds in excess of 100 miles per hour during that storm.

Not to mention the fire risks. Much of the Albany Pine Bush is a fire dependent ecosystem, and there is a belief that local fire departments can control brush fires and that brush fires are unlikely to burn far into suburban neighborhoods or even urban areas. But that’s a dangerously ignorant belief. A small brush fire may be containable but a fire pushed by 100 mph plus winds might burn through whole neighborhoods, incinerating Crossgates and SUNY without mercy, even pushing into the Pine Hills. While such things are thought unthinkable, such thinking is dangerously outdated.