New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

I have lived in Epsom for 37 winters now on a bluff overlooking the Suncook River. How different this winter has been, from my view.

When I first lived here the Suncook froze solid each winter, turning it into a snowmobile route. This route lasted well over a decade, but as our winters have warmed this route is no longer safe. In fact, this winter, for the first time in 37 years, the river has never frozen completely at all. Maybe this is because a  recent University of New Hampshire (UNH) study, has shown that our winters have warmed some 4 degrees, on average, over the last 40 years.

Yes, climate change is real. I have witnessed weather on steroids from my perch overlooking the Suncook River for the last 37 years. In just over a decade, I have also seen the Suncook River experience three 100-year floods.

Weather can be fickle, but like Lance Armstrong, where winning one Tour de France race cannot be attributed to steroids, the fact that he won every race makes it likely that he used steroids.

There is a solution to weather on steroids. It is called the Clean Power Plan. This is a way of ratcheting back the cause of climate change - too much carbon in the atmosphere. Recently the Clean Power Plan has come under attack by the courts and some members of Congress. Luckily our Senator Kelly Ayotte and Senator Jeanne Shaheen both support the Clean Power Plan.