tamarack

We did that coming back from Japan in 2016. Flying west, it took 8 hours for 3,600 miles, Honolulu-Tokyo. Returning Tokyo to SF, 5,200 miles, also 8 hours. According to the tracker, we reached 801 mph ground speed while over the Pacific.

28 Aprils here, one (2009) had nary a trace and 2 others had only traces. At the other end, April 2007 had 37.2" - even Fort Kent never had that much. Average is 5". At Gardiner, 13 Aprils included one (1991) with zippo and another with but a trace, average 5.4". Fort Kent April average was 11" and all 3 Aprils at BGR had measurable snow. In fact, both 73-74 and 74-75 had their biggest snowfalls in April, with the 12.0" storm of 4/3-5/75 being the biggest of our BGR winters and the April average was 9". Maine totals for 54 years: 2 without a trace, 4 with only traces, 48 with measurable, average 6.2". Snow staying south so far. GYX says the CF passage with whiten things later today.

3rd biggest April snowfall at Central Park but easily its most wintry April event, POR 1869 on. Yankees' home opener had been set for April 6; at the 1 PM game time it was 25°, S+, 6" new. Their max of 30° on 4/7 is tied for their coldest April max. The storm was my all-time good bust. CAR forecast for 4/7 the afternoon before was cloudy, windy 20s. In the evening they added flurries. Final total was 26.3", at the time their biggest snowfall, now in 4th place.

Mostly sunny here after 3 cloudy days (that totaled <0.40" precip). Morning low was 35, first >32 morning since Dec 6. Maybe we can get more than 1/4" tomorrow, though the timing probably moves the sunrise service indoors - 30s with showers looks to be when the sun comes up.

Cold RA with 0.1" IP mixed in, currently (10 AM) very light RA and low 30s.

We've got a WWA tonight into tomorrow morning for IP/ZR and the AFD also has RA Saturday night into Sunday, but the P&C forecasts show 7 days with nary a drop for every place in the GYX CWA (at least Portland to Jackman). Computers are fun. CAR area forecasts are more logical.

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!