Weather rambling: End of photo season

It was a unique sign of the change of seasons.

“The portable photograph gallery which has been stationed near the depot at Sandy Hill during the past summer was brought to the village (of Glens Falls) yesterday and placed in winter quarters,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Nov. 2, 1888. “Occupancy of the structure in zero weather would not be conducive to comfort or good health,”

If folk tradition was correct, less than usual back pain from shoveling snow was ahead.

“The water in Lake Champlain is three feet higher than usual at this season of the year. Old settlers say this is an indication of a light snow fall this winter,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 1.

Light precipitation did not necessarily mean moderate temperatures.

“Several bricklayers employed hereabouts quit work yesterday afternoon on account of the cold weather,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 23. “The icy cold wind yesterday and last night crept through crevices into dwellings and offices.”

In 1879, “Old Winter” would not wait for farmers to finish their work, and the hastiness would have ramifications for months to come.

“Old Winter has ‘cast the snow over the landscape’ a little too soon for our farmers,” The Commercial Advertiser of Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, reported on Nov. 26. “Belated fields of corn are still in sight, while the dry weather which prevailed through the early fall has stopped the ploughing until too late for completion, which will give a light crop from all regions of heave soil next year.”

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