tamarack

Snowfall now almost to moderate, nice parachutes, ground/snowboard whitening a bit. The really good echoes appear to have moved past W.NH so precip will probably get lighter here in an hour or two.

Started as RA about 3, gradually switched to light SN, no IP noted yet. Not sticking (temps still mid 30s) but were it full dark I think it might accumulate.

Pretty much a whiff in Fort Kent, though the day had a flake or 2. Can't whine too much after getting 26.5" on 3/14-15. Though the biggest snowfall I've measured anywhere, it was odd in that winds were light and our barometer was 30.4 as snow began and never dropped below 30" throughout.

1984?

Heard an anecdote years ago about a politician being asked to speak at the Firefighters' picnic. He asked "How long?" "Does it matter?" "Absolutely! If you want a 5-minute speech, call me in 2 weeks." "A 10-minute speech, one week." "30 minutes, about 3 days." "An hour, call me tomorrow." "Two hours, I'm ready right now!"

With many of our coastal state parks closed because they were drawing midsummer-like crowds, there will be Parks staff and forest rangers at the gates to tighten the closures. (If a handful of people walk in from the side, no one is likely to chase them away - 10 people on a beach isn't a problem, but 3,000...) DOT has numerous electronic signboards at the south end of the turnpike to inform northbound traffic of the situations, though some will ignore them of course.

Pack will drop below 10" today after 82 consecutive days in double digits. Average run is 74 days, median 77. Tuesday's snow is gone but 10" of 2:1 crust melts a lot more slowly. South facing slopes in hardwoods have bare patches, aspens just need a couple more days in the 50s to break bud and extend the male catkins. May be a week or more after today before another 50 shows up. I’ve never seen vegetation like this so early. We're 10-14 days behind 2010, which set the standard here for early spring awakening. Also 10-14 days ahead of last year's cold spring. Edit: WS watch posted for Maine mts, might get a sloppy 2" here tomorrow night.

Italy appears to have the highest fatality rate of any country, though that may be partly an effect of testing only the severely ill. In any case, whatever metrics were used to put Italy as 2nd best don't seem to be very relevant to COVID-19. Last week this time I'd hoped their curve would be significantly past peak by now.

Search showed 12 May ice outs in 129 years, only one (5/2/2001) since 1972. March 27 is 4th earliest, behind 2010,2012, 2016 - this last the earliest at 3/18.

Sad but necessary message this morning from the director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands: I want to let you all know about an important decision today regarding Maine’s State Park system. In consultation with the Governor’s Office, we have decided to close a number of coastal State Parks until further notice, effective tomorrow. The closure affects the following: Popham Beach, Fort Popham, Fort Baldwin, Reid, Kettle Cove, Two Lights, Crescent Beach, Scarborough Beach, Mackworth Island, and Ferry Beach. These State Parks have seen an enormous surge in visitation over the past week, and we believe closure is ultimately in the best interest of public safety and our staff. As you know, I am a big fan of these Parks, and I know the value of getting outside in these stressful times, so this is a very difficult decision. There were so many people going to some parks that local police were having difficulties in traffic control. Lots of out-of-state plates as well. Good story on MSNBC about fashion designers across the country getting together and shifting their production to make first responder masks, gloves, etc, instead. All for non profit too. A recent small start-up here in Farmington (Origins USA) has switched from their usual line, specialty athletic clothes and related gear, to making masks - 3,200+ daily. Folks working overtime, friends donating food for lunch time, some HS kids chipping in and gaining work experience while schools are closed. Saw an inspiring video about this on FB this morning. I'm confident that similar things are happening in a lot of other places.

A bit cooler to the north - GYX closer to+3 (same at my place) and thru 3/25 CAR was about +0.7. For the majors? I believe so. Most Coops though are 7a-7a. Farmington has been both at differing times in its long POR, recent years using 12:01-11:59. I'd look at obs time temp for minima "twins" and cross check nearby majors (or known midnight-obs sites) to see if those had one cold night or 2.

Checking the ice on Flying Pond while driving home today. Hope it's safe for one last day of hardwater fishing tomorrow. Had 17" ice 2 weeks ago, but open water at the edges may make entry/exit a problem even as most ice is plenty safe.

We'll probably be back to the pre-storm 10" by this evening, but that's near-glacier in composition with 5"+ LE. Melting the 0.83" from the early week event was easy.

Does anyone here know how many ventilators are in the SNS? (Or how many prior to any recent dispersals?) If it's 500,000 then many should be flowing to states with greatest need. If 50,000, that probably doesn't meet the combined ask of CA/NJ/NY. And we can search for whom to blame for lack of restocking, but right now I don't care - come this fall I'll care but at this time the pertinent question is, what's being done today/tomorrow/etc?

This points up an issue my math-friendly brain has with a lot of media reports - numbers and other data offered without context. Leaves me thinking, "How does that compare to . . . ?