CapturedNature

For all those folk calling for a March 1989, 2002 or 2012 to roll through the door and are saying we are done with snow, remember that even those months had 5-7" of snow. At this point it looks to be fairly seasonable.

I am so glad that I block that guy. It makes reading the forum so much easier. I just never saw any posts from him that provided value outside of trolling for fish...

Since you're young, I'd consider a health savings account with a high deductible plan. You have 40+ years to build a health savings account and that money can be used for ANY healthcare related expense, including Medicare premiums when you retire. The money comes out pre-tax so it lowers your overall tax burden. The premium will be lower but you'll have a higher deductible. If you divide the deductible out, it will actually be about the same as the HMO or PPO. It gives you the benefits of the PPO but you'll be able to carry over funds year to year and you never have to worry about out of pocket healthcare expenses.

I will on Sunday.

Are you trying to insinuate that things are 6 weeks ahead of schedule? If that was the case the sap should not be flowing and the buds would be coming out right now. In 2002 and 2012 the forsythia were in bloom at the end of March too. You can't fool mother nature.

Meh...ensembles look pretty seasonable to me through the first third of March to me after the freeze later this week/weekend. Seasonal works for me and the maple producers. That's perfect for another good run next week following the one this week.

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The lines were full to capacity and constantly flowing Saturday and Sunday with temps 44/20 and 51/20. It was 19 this morning and it's in the 50s already. I'll be boiling tonight and tomorrow night but only for a few hours. I do the bulk of my boiling on weekends at first but starting next week I split my time between jobs - 4 days boiling and 3 days IT.

I don't mind it as a break. I wouldn't like it every day but as a break from heat and humidity, it's a relief.

I wish I was off. Should be another great sap run today as temps were in the teens this morning. They've been running great the past few days.

Yeah, I'm not saying that snow in May "saved" the season. Far from it. It's just a cautionary tale to anyone calling for no more snow on 2/24. For a time it might look right and then feel safe when well into April it starts getting hot. You might even be tempted to even make an early call for the "hottest summer ever" but then a few weeks later the ground is coated with this stuff that you said wouldn't fall any more. I'm also not spinning anything. It's been crappy since 12/20 snow wise but the fact is when looked at it's totality we've had warmer and less snowier seasons. I think we're on to spring and that we'll add to our seasonal snowfall.

Forgot to mention, in 2012 (one of the winters worse than this one), we actually had one of our latest snowfalls in May. There was even a heatwave at the end of April but despite that we had snow in May and it was my latest snowfall on record for a while. I'm sure nobody saw that coming in February so good luck with your call of no snow the rest of the season.

Good luck with that. As for snow, we've had winters with less so I'll stick with New England. Sounds like you want to move back to your homeland...

Except that I've had more than 5" of snow - closer to 30" for the season and 8" for the cherry picked time after 12/20 and I don't live in Newark.

Not much you can do. Thankfully it's a mostly seasonal thing for most people. That's what happened to me in 2012 though. I was expanding right when the market collapsed. You're at the mercy of nature and it affected producers throughout the region. Bulk prices soured and many buyers stopped using maple syrup as an ingredient. It's come back some but I think there was lots business across the board.

Glad we don;t live there...

Who's the "we" that had 5"? You? And how can you include March which hasn't happened?

Yeah, it's been an incredible stretch but you can't cherry pick the periods that get factored into met winter. I think you're right though, I think in terms of snow It's 2 or 3 (possibly 1) at some locations for that 12/20 onward stretch.

'02 and '12 were worse. This winter lines up behind those those and '89 when you factor in snow and temperatures. '12 was particularly worse for me for the financial hardship it created for me that took me and others years to recover from. That doesn't exist this year. The average temp this met winter has been 28.9 while 2002 was 33.4 and 2012 was 31.6. Those are actually my warmest winters and 2012 had just about as much snow and we've had nearly twice as much as 2002. If you want to think that this winter is worse than a winter that was warmer and had half as much snow, you're welcome to believe that but while this winter has been crappy, I think looking at the data for my backyard that those were worse in totality.

Hmmm...It's not showing up on the USGS map: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

Yeah, mother nature is telling me it's early spring. Sap was flowing like a mo fo yesterday and today. I tap every mid-February and everything is running (pardon the pun) on schedule. With the exception of the lack of snow, temps look good for a great maple season.

Do you really wait till spring to clean-up branches? The grounds been clear 90% of the winter why couldn't you pick them up after the storm? LOL...and golfers as a sign like no courses are open year round. Meanwhile in reality land, the sap is flowing like it's early spring and the run looks to continue for a couple of days before freezing things up later in the week and then another run next week right on schedule. Spring projects...plenty of time to work on the lawn later in spring.

While it would be nice to put some snow on the ground, I'm focused on temperatures. It looks like a start of a pretty good sap run starting today into next week. Then we reset and have another run after that. I can live with that. Hopefully it's a rinse and repeat through March.

LOL

Every year I deliver syrup to a brewery in Charlotte around New Years. A couple of years ago they were expecting snow. I think it was forecast to be around 6", maybe more and I thought no problem. I'm from New England and I can deal with that. Then I discovered the real issue down there - lack of plows and more importantly, salt. People would drive around and pack the snow down and before long all the streets and interstates were sheets of ice and you could barely move. I took the interstate north and at some point climbing up the Blue Ridge the roads were plowed and treated and it was fine north of there. I think it's a budget balancing act. Does it make sense to invest in equipment and material you might use once a year or even a decade? Even here there's equipment that isn't as widely used as places that get more snow more often.