tamarack

The 1998 ice storm left a nice-looking white birch bent nearly 90°. The tree was 7-8" diameter and had been 45-50 feet tall. When I noticed it was lifting a bit, I tossed a rope over it about 25 feet from the stump, attached the rope to my come-along and to another tree. Every few days I'd cinch up the rope and by mid-April the tree was back to nearly vertical. We then moved to New Sharon on May 15 so I've no idea how that birch is doing now. About 2" here, with off-on light snow, temp low 20s.

56/72 were 50-50 Februarys at our NNJ homes (moved 8 miles south in 1971). Feb 56 was a nothingburger, only 4-5". That winter's peak was in March, including a 24" dump on 18-19, the first double-digit snowfall I remember (I was 21 months old for the Dec 26-27, 1947bomb) then a 12" paste bomb in early April brought the total past 60" (avg about 40). Feb 72 was the best of a mediocre winter, with a ~10" storm in mid-month and 2 lesser storms, the month producing more than half of the winter total. I had two of those, one on each side. Did lapro on one then 2yrs later had another on other side and went with open procedure. Also have shoulder impingement, that can go from one side to the next. getting older is not fun. No shoulder surgeries but I've damaged both. At 18, I tossed a baseball 270'. Today, I might not reach 70.

In Gardiner where we lived during 95-96, DEC thru APR, first parts of months were super, last parts were awful. Snowiest by 30"+ of 13 winters there but only 5th place for SDDs. temp precip snow First parts: 81 days -6.4 11.56" 127.2" Last parts: 71 days +4.8 14.58 9.2"

Way ahead of me - only the left knee last June (may your 2nd knee be as easy as my 1st) and neck fusion in 2011. Other surgeries - prostate, and ablation for A-fib - didn't require leaving any hardware.

Slight overperformer (forecast was ~0.5") with 1.7" fluff with 0.08" LE. Looks like mostly snow tonight, maybe some ZRDZ tomorrow, 3-5" total. Fri-weekend events look rainy from this distance but no washouts.

Only one site and farther north, but here's the season-progressive chronological sequence for our biggest (15"+) snowfalls, 18 of them in 27 winters. (But only 2 in the past 7.) Only 4 have met blizzard conditions here, marked by *. Not including 25-26, snowfall thru Jan 31 has averaged 49.2", Feb 1 forward is 49.3", but 72% of the biggies have come in the 2nd half. 24.0" 12/6-7/2003 * 22.0" 12/16-18/2022 15.5" 12/21-22/2008 * 21.0" 12/29-30/2016 20.0" 1/27-28/2015 * 17.0" 2/5-6/2001 21.0" 2/10-11/2005 (thunder) 21.0" 2/12-13/2017 15.5" 2/14-15/2007 24.5" 2/22-23/2009 19.9" 3/7-9/2018 16.5" 3/13-14/2018 15.5" 3/14-15/2017 * 16.0" 3/22-23/2001 22.0" 3/23-24/2024 19.0" 3/30-31/2001 15.1" 4/1-2/2011 18.5" 4/4-5/2007

Only where the snow is gone. Otherwise, the small rodents harboring the little beasts will be snug under the pack, safe from owls and other raptors.

That squall was the best I'd seen since living in Fort Kent. At RUM (for a meeting) it lasted less than 45 minutes and dropped 2" horizontally while chopping the temp by about 15°. Only 1" at home. Unfortunately, that was the last 'genuine' winter event for that cold season. The 10" of grayish-as-it-fell 4:1 glop modified by 1"+ cold RA doesn't qualify as snow, for me. Neither did the 3" of paste in the 3rd week of April. Nice if short squall went thru here just after noon, with a few minutes of visibility below 100 yards with some 20s gusts. Only 0.4" from 0.01" but fun for a bit.

Biggest snowfall that month was 1.9" on 2-3, at temps 10-12 below zero. Farther north, CAR got no snow but had their 2nd coldest daily max with -15/-28. Just had a quick squall, visibility briefly under 100 yards. It's letting up but might approach the forecast 0.5".

December 2025 Avg max: 26.5 -4.2 Mildest: 49, 19th Avg min: 6.8 -6.6 Coldest: -18, 9th Mean: 16.7 -5.3 3rd coldest (#1: '17, #2: '13) Precip: 3.85" -0.98" Wettest: 1.26", 19th Snow: 22.4" +3.0" Biggest: 8.0", 24th Deepest pack: 10" 24, 25 2025 YEAR Avg max: 52.24 -0.35 Hottest: 92, 6/24 and 8/12. Tied for hottest in June, hottest day in August. Avg min: 31.54 +031 Coldest: -19, 2/2 7th year w/o -20 or colder (Also, 3rd year bottoming at -19.) Mean: 41.96 +0.05 (Some illogic, can't find why.) Coldest year since 2019. Precip: 37.22" -11.61" 2nd driest year, only 2001 had less. Wettest day: 1.53" 9/25. 9 of 12 months were BN. Snow (calendar year) 70.0" -18.8" Biggest: 12/24 2025 had perhaps the fewest of standout events of our 27 full years here. No double-digit snows, no 2"+ rains, the fewest days with thunder (5, previous low was 8, average is 15), no especially heavy winds. Ironically, the only real standouts were the hot days in June and August, especially the heat wave of August 11-13, only the 2nd one here - in the coldest year of the most recent 5. The very low precip doesn't fit my idea of "event" - more like watching grass grow. Fortunately, we had no problems with our shallow dug well, though the garden suffered, as my late-June total knee replacement hindered my ability to overcome the lack of rain.

Winter 2013-14 was excellent overall, but January was major frustration. It was significantly BN for temp, AN for precip, and the 2nd least snowy of 130 Januarys at the nearby Farmington co-op. That's a near-impossible trifecta.

Depending how close to 2.0/winter, you're doing better than here considering our considerably greater average snowfall, currently 88.5" thru 27 full seasons. We've had 47 storms of 10"+ in those 27 winters, or 1.7 per. Maybe we do better on 20"+, currently 8 plus 19.9 in March 2018. Early January looks cold (~8-10° BN) and dry. Maybe, like December, it can be BN for precip but AN for snow (22.4" vs 19.3" avg).

Only tried once, Jan 2008 at Randolph, a half-dozen miles downstream from AUG. The 4 of us caught a few tommycod but nothing else. A kid about 10-y.o. was showing everyone a nice smelt. Might've been the only one caught among the 20+ occupied shacks.

Only a tenth of graupel, but it made the porch steps accessible without sprinkling ashes. Put most of the 5-gallons of the stuff on the driveway as water was oozing from the mess as the frozen precip landed. (Otherwise the mail carrier might not hazard to try.) Had 10" pack at 7 yesterday but 0.2" ZR and 0.5" of 32 (plus a tiny fraction) RA left us at the pre-storm 8". But it's a more bulletproof 8" now. Total precip 1.08". Family on the way south, roads are decent. I hope my son-in-law can send some videos of the Saturday sledding party. The audio is hilarious.

Our 0.8-acre houselot in Gardiner probably had more large branches on the ground than the 60 acres of forest on our current woodlot, as the Farmington area had mostly pingers. Elevation was often the key. On the state lot in Hebron, 10 miles NW from LEW, ice at the top of Greenwood Hill was almost the size of a Pringles can. I brought 2 pieces home to show family, each centered with a first-year twig. One was 3.0x2.2 inches diameter, the other 2.5x2.5 inches, about 2 lb per linear foot of branch. Some large white pines had a near-continuous sheet of ice on their NE exposure and others had cascading breakage on that side as top branches landed on the lower ones. OT: Sad your Cavalier was a lemon. Our 1983 wagon (1st year they had fuel injection, also our last new car) was wonderful except for its unibody frame. Just under 150k, 33 mph on average, engine never missed a beat, but the frame was rusted such as we might end up like Herbie in the Love Bug. Also the finest 2-WD vehicle in snow and mud that I've driven. With aggressive tread snows and spike, it would go thru almost anything.