tamarack

110 isn't beyond my imagination - a NJ town reached that decades ago and EWR touched 108 in 2011. (IMO, the recent EWR heat is due more to site than cc, though both contribute.) 120 seems like silly talk for the Northeast. I've not researched the freaky 110+ highs in western Washington a couple years back, but I'd guess that both an anomalous hot land wind plus downsloping from the Olympics and Cascades were in play. Land wind is already the prevailing direction here and downsloping can't compete with those western mountains. Sun fighting but losing to the clouds, though it was bright enough to push temps near 50. Still 2" at the stake but it's crying for momma.

March 2026: Avg max: 39.9 +1.1 Mildest: 65, 10th. Only 2006 and 2012 have warmer maxima. Avg min: 19.7 +2.6 Coldest: -16, 2nd Mean: 29.8 +1.8 Precip: 3.04" -0.65" Wettest day: 0.95", 16th Nine of the past 10 months have been BN. The 10-month total of 25.10" is 15.70" BN. Snow: 15.7" -1.3" Snowiest day: 6.5", 22nd This is the 3rd consecutive March in which the biggest snowfall came after the equinox. Avg depth: 11.3" 5.7" BN Tallest pack: 20" on 4-6. Another month with nothing of long-term note. It started cold, with lows of -16 & -12 on 2 & 3, then the 4th-17th had temp 8.1° AN. The next 12 days were -3.2, with 30-31 significantly AN to finish the month.

And that 80" had lots of meat. About 2/3 down thru the pack there was a major layer of IP annealed by ZR from a storm in mid December. Once there was snow atop that layer, it would support a bull moose. The 65" at my place had about 16" SWE; that 80" might've had 20". We figured that spring would be the test of the dike protecting the western part of Fort Kent, but little rain and many days with warm sun and nightly freezes prevented any hint of flooding. (The test came in 2008 when 3"+ RA fell during peak melting late in April, producing a flood that came within about 18" from topping the dike and causing much damage east of the dike. We had the same rains but our area, including the western mountains, had shed most of the snow a week earlier.)

Agreed. Today's max will be the 47 late last evening. Now we're mid 30s with -RA. Maybe we get enough rain to matter, though March will be the 9th BN month of the most recent 10, and the one AN month (Sept) was only 0.19" above. Precip for those 10 months is running 61% of average, might climb all the way to 62% by today's end. Grandkids are getting the torch in SNJ - 80 today and 83/65 progged for tomorrow. That mean of 74 is 25° AN for there.

That mid-March storm was remarkable both for the amounts in NNE and the relatively modest barometer. We'd had a very strong HP in the 2 days prior to the snow, and the pressure was still about 30.40" when flakes arrived at 9 PM on 3/13. We had 22" from 6A-8P on the 14th as pressure slowly lowered to 30.05". Rates peaked at 3"/hr 11A-1P, right when Fort Kent school admin decided to close schools at noon. All students got home safely, even those from Winterville, 25 miles and 2 major hills south from FK. My records for that storm (obs time 9 PM so nothing on the 13th): 3/13 10 -18 0 0 46 (Allagash had -32) 3/14 12 2 2.08 25.0 65 3/15 28 10 0.10 1.5 64 We had to retrieve a disabled snowmobile a couple miles south from Estcourt Station on the 15th. I found the depth was 80" there, presumably several inches less than when accumulation had stopped.

They'll get active here in mid-April, and except for the odd 6-week late summer hiatus, will be hunting for blood until snow cover arrives. My unfavorite-est arthropod.

Last frost/freeze at our frost pocket: Frost Freeze Year: </=32 </=28 2020 6/2 6/1 Only 2 of 27 years had a freeze in June. 2021 5/18 5/8 2022 5/19 5/9 2023 5/26 5/18 2024 5/11 4/27 Only year without a freeze in May/June. 2025 5/13 5/1

Hazy sun noon-2 PM pushed the temp to 48 before the clouds closed back in. GYX day crew upped QPF here from <0.10" to 0.10-0.25. Should've stuck with the lower call - got 0.02". Penobscot Valley towns reporting 1/4-1/2". Different air this AM after the CF, sunny with chilly wind. At 10 AM FVE 10° with WCI -7.

The only spring 3 weeks ahead in our nearly 28 years here was 2010 (had our mildest Feb, March and April), and it came to a crashing halt when May 11-13 had minima of 23/26/25. Disastah!

So far this year we're running just over 60% of average. I'll believe that 'ton' if it arrives. (Would welcome it, too.)

Male aspens are already spreading pollen up here, and a couple of 60s days will pop the flowers on red & silver maples. Looks like the pack (10" this morning) will survive into April, thanks to the cold weekend. Only 9 of our 27 winters have failed to reach April, 10 if I count 2024 as we were down to a trace just pre-equinox. I don't count it as we had 40.9" after the equinox, most spring snow of my 53 winters in Maine.

We lost our black Lab of 13 years on Oct 29, 2016, and with us past normal retirement age led to pondering whether to get another dog. We decided to wait until spring before making a decision. "Spring" came on Feb 4 a yellow Lab mix thru Maine Lab Rescue. Scrawny 32-lb 17-month-old fixed female from TX. (She's now in the 50s and not fat.) Might've never seen snow, and her first 2 weeks here included 5 storms totaling 45", then the Pi-day blizzard really spooked her. Now 10 yr old, turns 11 in July, still spry but achy when I do a reasonably long bushwhack on our woodlot, as she has to sniff everything - if I walk a mile, she does 3 or 4.

Yup. Had a 0.3" flurry on the 2nd and 2" paste on the 3rd.

2.85" here, 1" BN for March. This week's 2 midgets will close the gap, but the month will still be the 10th BN of the last 11. April 2007 broke the record for snow at the Farmingtion co-op with 36.1"; it's 50% above #2 at 24", POR 1983-2022. We had 37.2", with storms of 18.5", 11.2" and my only "5-by-5" event. The Patriots Day bomb brought 5.2" SN and 5.43": total precip. That said, my best April has to be 1982, as it included the most powerful blizzard of my 80 years' experience. For anomalous events, I rank that storm with things like the Octobomb, 4/97 at inland sites, 2/78 in eastern SNE, 2/52 in southern/central Maine and the 1998 ice storm. IMO, only 1938 and 1888 rank higher.

Central Park has had only 3 Aprils this century and 2 with 1"+ (4.0", 2003; 5.5", 2018). That would be 12% measurable, 8%. Extended to the most recent 50 years, it's 7 meas., 4 with 1"+ including the 1982 blizzard. The site's first 100 years (1869-70 thru 1968-69) had lots more - 32 meas., 23 with 1"+.