tamarack

Might be 81-82. 80-81 was dry in Maine (Farmington co-op's least snowy of 130 winters) with very cold Dec/Jan followed by a spectacular February thaw - CAR had 14.5° for the month, including 9 days of +25-30, 7 of which were consecutive. 81-82 had scads of snow, capped by the April blizzard.

A bit noisier than my 5 minutes of broom work on 1.4" fluff.

Clipper produced only m0.09" LE but even with mostly tiny flakes that modest moisture brought 1.4".

Small lawn area with trees 60-80 feet tall. Mostly hardwoods but even they block about 1/3 of direct sun. That plus the frost pocket topography help to preserve pack. (Of course, our garden gets less sun and earlier frosts than most.)

Bit longer on the places I researched. Total 1"+ Consec. days CAR 134 120 Rangeley 143 131 Farmington 112 102 My short (27 yr) pack-retention spot: 123 total, 119 consec.

7-8 years ago, I wrote a short essay on potential effects of climate change on the Bureau of Parks and Public Lands' timber management. As part of it I looked at snowfall and temps for the northerly 2/3 of Maine where 90%+ of the BPL-managed acreage. I used CAR for the north, Rangeley for the mountains and Farmington for non-mountain inland areas. Temps have risen noticeably this century, particularly in deep cold - subzero mornings, important for freezing down winter roads. 21st century snowfall increased at all 3 sites, averaging 6% more. Duration of snow cover was lower (3-5%) at CAR and Farmington but up 5% at Rangeley - elevation helps, I guess. First subzero morning here - expected about -5 but reached -9, earliest in the season this cold since moving here in 1998. Maybe the wind quieted earlier than expected?

Reached -9 this morning, coldest we've had this early in the season. Saw -15 at HIE.

Squalls passed to the south, only a few flakes here, but wind is noisy and temps diving. Might go subzero tomorrow morning, would be the season's earliest since 2019.

Dover reported 7.0 and Rochester had reports of 8.0 and 7.0. PSM only 4.6".

Or use it very cautiously. After the 2.4" we had on Nov 16 the snow cover hung around for 7 more days, despite upper 30s maxima and sunny/PC skies. Move those conditions to March 16 and the cover is gone 2 days after the storm. Noting sun angle in December means holding onto the pack.

That was the max on 12/25/2020 at CAR. +35 anyone?

And any snowstorm bigger than a weak clipper is a bomb cyclone (looking at you, CNN). Usually those have some wind, even inland.

The 50-foot path between driveway and tool shed has the same effect, though closer to 4". Deep blue all morning, now solid clouds.

Had constant SN from 7:15 AM thru 11:30 PM as the temp slowly climbed from 17 to 23, finishing with 6.9" on 0.49" LE, 14:1 ratio. However, it was like 2 different storms; by 4:30 we had only 2" of tiny flakes. I didn't take a core then, but it was like walking on cornmeal, probably no higher ratio than 8:1. Then the dendrites began to look better and by 9 the total was 5.2" on 0.43" LE, probably close to 20:1. The board held 1.7" this morning with only 0.06" LE and given the fluff, the post-9 PM might've been 2" if I'd gone out at midnight. Very little wind as of now, so the fir and hemlocks are loaded.

Maybe a move to the south? Good for coastal snow, less QPF to the north?