tamarack

TS just finishing here, was warned but the real stuff was a few miles south. Front end gusts 30+ (heard one snag go down) and 10-20 strikes/minute but none closer than 2 miles to MBY, about 1/3" RA and temp chopped by 15°, 80 to 65.

Last week I ran the heat pump in AC mode after an hour of cutting/splitting elm firewood. 30 minutes and the sweat had stopped. Clouds dissipated by 8:30 this morning, now mostly sunny. 7th straight day with minima in the 50s; 4 days had been the longest such run here.

Low-mid 70s here with low rh, very nice for cleaning up the last of the usable wood that blew down last December and remained under the roadside plow piles into last month. Bugs were a non-issue when the saw was running but a couple drew blood as I split the stuff. (Crummy wood - basswood and fir - but less than 10 feet from where I could park the truck.)

When we lived in the back settlement west from Fort Kent, we made a curving tube run behind the house. 2-3 kids would climb onto an inner tube from a skidder and George the cat liked to stand in the track then jump up so to land on the kids' laps, fun for all. One time he was a bit late on the jump, though the soft inner tube caused no harm. The cat reappeared then sprinted up to our porch and sat there grooming: "Nothing to see here."

For me, the best part of a Maine lobster are the big claws - succulent and tender. Do any lobsters other than the North Atlantic species have the large claws? 0.33" over 9 hours yesterday, max 61 after 5 days of 69-74.

There's a lot of perception involved. As the local wx hobbyist, I get asked about the forecast. Given verification like today, different reactions: To NWS, "You blew it." To me, "You nailed it."

A few days checking out the buffet, then a week or so of casual dining (the current situation here) followed by a week plus of diving in teeth first - no wandering around looking for a soft spot, just eat and run. Sugar maple leaves about 3/4 grown, red oak halfway, ash and basswood lagging behind as always.

Another low 70s day, 4th in the last 5 with 69 on the one miss. TD is well below midsummer swamp level, but high enough for considerable sweat while working up some firewood. (The fact that it was elm added to the sweat, though my having killed the tree 2 years ago actually made the cross-grain a bit weaker.) Fair amount of black flies out and about, and starting to get hungry. Maybe we'll miss the worst of the swarms as we're headed to SNJ for the last week of the month - oldest granddaughter graduates HS.

Already into the 50s by 7 AM, and with near full sun we'll be up close to 80 unless clouds/RA intervene. Black flies irritating but haven't been biting - yet. Maybe today will open their mouths.

Red maples start their growing season by producing flowers and then seeds. Leaves are sort of an afterthought. Sugar maples start growing their seeds once the leaves approach full size. Many of the red maple seeds will sprout this summer, giving that species a head start on reproduction, while most/all of the sugar maple seeds await the next spring. There are a bazillion sugar maple seedlings popping up now, thanks to a huge crop last summer.

Made it to 72 yesterday. spring's mildest so far. Just missed a 40° range, and the 33 min made for a +1 day. May is essentially average thru yesterday (+0.05). Same for precip - 1.56" compared to 1.60" avg for 1-13. If the clouds break, we'll get warm again as the morning low was mid 40s.

It was there - spectacular pics from Eustis, 40 miles to our NW - but so were thin clouds that pretty much blocked the show.

Only +0.5 here after 2 BN days, but we've gotten only 25% of available sunshine thru yesterday and today looks to finish as mostly cloudy. Last night's aurora display was the best I've seen. Even in Fort Kent where we'd see it more frequently, the lights were only in the northern part of the sky. Last night it was all around with some of the best in the southern half of the sky. Only very pale pink and green, though a long exposure pic would likely show a lot more.

Low of 30 this morning, nothing special. May's coolest mornings have ranged from 21 to 28, except 1998 (32) but the New Sharon records began on the 17th.

But it's 6 weeks after that when the average temps begin their slide. Full sun and pushing 70, fiddleheads gone by, lilac and quince buds fat and ready to pop.

Old Woodsman works, though it also can keep one lonely due to its aroma. When the black flies are having a monster season, nothing works for long. In 1996 at Deboullie (25 miles SW from Fort Kent), Ben's 100 lasted less than an hour and I quit applying after the 2nd coating - slathering 100% DEET every hour might be a health issue. Even on Deboullie Pond 500 feet from shore I was getting hammered; maybe not enough airspace over the land? Usually, black flies turn the bloodsucking over to deer flies when the temp gets past the middle 80s, but that year the little beasts kept biting in 90+ sunshine. And of course, nothing works for deer flies, though I've heard that flaming kerosene helps, also remaining under water.

Especially in early fall. Many years ago in NW Maine on the first Monday of October I had a bull walking toward me and grunting. It was 1.5 miles off the road in mature spruce-fir with no understory, so no place to hide. Since he might be violently disappointed at my not being the cow of his dreams, I started whooping and tossing sticks when he got within 20 yards. He dropped his head to display the antlers - one of the biggest I've seen - then after a couple minutes walked a quarter circle to my left, resumed grunting and went about his business. After my heart slowed a bit, I did the same.

Fun times at large item pickup season - actual pickup set for 5/9: Several years ago, I built a solid doghouse for our rescue yellow Lab mix from Texas. However, she was highly insulted about spending a night outside, certainly fostered by the 60" of snow in her first 6 weeks here. I took the structure to the pickup site at the end of our short road today - was going to put a sign on it, "Never used, wimpy dog" but didn't get the chance. A middle-aged couple were perusing (scavaging) the things folks had put out on our road so I asked if they could use the doghouse. They said yes and it went directly from my little Ranger to their minivan without touching the ground, the wife noting that her ducks would love it. A first for anything I've set out at large item time.

Exactly. The problem was retention, thanks to mild days and rain.

A day with a 20" snowpack is 20 SDDs. If January depth averages 10", that would be 310 SDDs - 31*10. Current average SDDs here is 1,753. It's ranged from 3,835 in 07-08, which had 65 days with 30"+ pack, down to a mere 577 in 05-06, which maxed out at 11" and had but 4 days with 10"+.

Very odd winter here: 99.0" snowfall, 10" AN, despite the mildest DJFM of 26 here. 40.9" post-equinox, most I've ever measured, including the 10 years at Fort Kent. Greatest spring storm, 22.0" on 3/23-24. 3 storms of 12"+, tied for the most of any snow season. Included 3rd biggest storm, also 3rd biggest April storm. Only 1,177 SDDs, 67% of average with 111% snowfall. "Retention metric", SDDs divided by snowfall, was 3rd lowest and by far the lowest for an AN snow total. TS on Feb. 10 was by far the noisiest winter TS that I can recall. (If there was a stronger one in NNJ, I've forgotten.) The 4 "winter" months featured the wettest Dec and wettest March, also the driest Feb.

April 2024: Avg. temp: 41.7 +1.3 Avg. max: 53.1 +1.1 Highest: 65 on the 29th Avg. min: 30.3 +1.5 Lowest: 20, on the 26th, latest here for April's coldest. Previous was the 20th. The average diurnal range of 22.8 is 0.4 BN. The most recent month with AN range is May of last year - 11 consecutive months with BN range. Precip: 3.51" 0.58" BN. "Wettest" day: 1.38" on the 4th 95% of the month's precip (3.34") came 1-13. Wettest day of the last 17 was 0.07" Snowfall: 13.9" 8.8" AN. All came in the 4-6 storm. 12.5" fell on the 4th. The month had slightly above average sunshine and very few partly cloudy days. The 45° monthly range is 2nd lowest of 26. Other than our 3rd largest April snowfall, little of note happened in 4/24.

Sun occasionally burning thru the clouds, maybe 0.05" RA, far from any thunder. Had a brief crackling TS on Feb 10, strongest winter TS I can recall, but nothing like it since. Buds breaking on maples, hophornbeam, black cherry, even swelling on the white ash. Any time this happens before the end of April I'm concerned for a mid-May freeze. How we dodged the one last year, I've no idea. Precip has been back and forth compared to the average since last fall: Avg 23/24 SEP 3.69 4.37 OCT 5.63 4.74 NOV 4.21 2.63 DEC 4.74 9.35 Greatest of 26 Decembers JAN 3.31 5.47 FEB 2.97 0.95 Least of 26 Februarys MAR 3.68 8.67 Greatest of 26 Marchs APR 4.09 3.53 thru 1:40 PM today 1-13: 3.34", 14-30 0.19"

3.34" thru 4/13 but only 0.14" since.

Another morning at 21° but this one wasn't fake - air was stirring all night. Month is +1.8 thru yesterday and today's 8-10 BN will drop that to 1.4. Tomorrow's average is 57/33 and the fake cold will probably lead to a 60/23 day. We'll finish the month ~2 AN.