tamarack

Surprised at the C for temps. Here it was the mildest DJF and DJFM of 26 cold seasons. Pack was mediocre but the coming snowstorm will almost certainly push the total into AN territory, possibly well into AN.

Probably the strongest blizzard winds I've seen since April 1982 in Fort Kent. Our rescue Lab mix from TX, who had arrived here on Feb 4, was utterly terrified. However, the strongest sustained winds here were last Dec 18th; probably blew down at least 5 times as many fir as any other event here.

Only 1960-61 (NNJ) and 2016-17 have had a pair of 20s. Already notched our biggest March storm, would need to top the 18.5" of 4-5/07 to crack April as well.

Shooting for 100 here. Could be close.

Numbers for a weird March: Avg max: 40.9 +2.1 6th mildest Mildest: 51 on the 6th Avg min: 24.3 +7.5 Mildest min of 26. Coldest: 4 on th 1st Avg mean: 32.6 +4.8 3rd mildest. The avg diurnal range is 2.1° less than 2nd least. Streaky temps. 1st was BN, 2-20 all AN, 21-26 BN, 27-31 AN. Avg for 2-20: +9.6 (Min avg +12.4) Precip: 8.67" +4.99 Tops by 0.76" Wettest day: 1.53" on the 10th Snow: 29.3" +11.9" Snowiest day: 11.5" on the 23rd. The 22.0" of 3/23-24 is March's biggest and tied with Dec 16-18 for 3rd biggest. Pack avg: 5.3", well below avg but the 22" O.G. at 7 on the 24th is tops for the snow season.

GYX is bullish this morning, especially for the foothills along the Maine/NH boundary. ocation Snow Amount Potential Chance of Seeing More Snow Than Low End Snowfall Expected Snowfall High End Snowfall >=0.1" >=1" >=2" >=4" >=6" >=8" >=12" >=18" Portland, ME 0 3 14 87% 83% 77% 65% 53% 42% 23% 7% Brunswick, ME 2 9 17 93% 91% 88% 80% 70% 58% 34% 10% Cumberland Center, ME 4 11 20 95% 94% 91% 86% 78% 69% 47% 19% Gray, ME 9 15 24 99% 99% 99% 97% 94% 90% 73% 38% Bridgton, ME 13 19 27 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 97% 90% 60% Lewiston, ME 10 16 23 100% 100% 99% 99% 97% 93% 78% 40% Augusta, ME 8 14 19 100% 99% 99% 97% 94% 87% 62% 18% Waterville, ME 7 12 18 100% 99% 99% 96% 91% 81% 51% 12% Fryeburg, ME 13 19 28 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 98% 92% 66% Rumford, ME 11 17 26 100% 100% 100% 99% 98% 95% 84% 52% Farmington, ME 10 17 25 100% 99% 99% 98% 96% 92% 79% 46% Rangeley, ME 8 14 23 99% 99% 99% 97% 93% 88% 70% 35% Kingfield, ME 9 16 25 99% 99% 98% 97% 94% 90% 75% 44% Eustis, ME 7 13 23 99% 99% 98% 95% 91% 85% 65% 32% Jackman, ME 5 10 19 98% 97% 95% 90% 82% 71% 46% 16% Skowhegan, ME 7 12 19 99% 99% 98% 95% 90% 82% 57% 18% Belfast, ME 6 11 17 99% 99% 98% 94% 87% 75% 43% 9% Unity, ME 7 12 18 99% 99% 98% 95% 90% 80% 50% 11% Sanford, ME 7 10 21 100% 100% 99% 98% 94% 86% 61% 28% Kennebunk, ME 0 4 14 86% 82% 76% 64% 52% 41% 22% 7% Bath, ME 0 6 14 88% 84% 79% 68% 56% 43% 21% 5% Wiscasset, ME 4 10 17 98% 96% 94% 89% 79% 67% 40% 11% Rockland, ME <1 8 13 89% 86% 81% 71% 58% 44% 19% 2% Hope, ME 7 13 19 100% 99% 99% 96% 92% 84% 57% 16% Manchester, NH <1 2 13 91% 86% 79% 65% 52% 40% 21% 6% Nashua, NH 0 <1 11 77% 71% 65% 52% 40% 30% 15% 4% Concord, NH 3 4 14 100% 99% 97% 84% 67% 51% 26% 6% New London, NH 9 12 19 100% 100% 100% 99% 97% 91% 62% 18% Portsmouth, NH 0 <1 9 67% 60% 53% 39% 28% 18% 7% 1% Hampton, NH 0 <1 9 66% 59% 52% 38% 26% 17% 6% 1% Keene, NH 2 3 11 98% 94% 87% 68% 50% 35% 13% 2% Rochester, NH 4 6 18 100% 99% 97% 90% 78% 65% 41% 16% North Conway, NH 14 20 29 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 95% 71% Laconia, NH 8 11 19 100% 100% 100% 100% 98% 91% 61% 20% Claremont, NH 6 6 14 100% 100% 100% 99% 85% 64% 29% 5% Lebanon, NH 6 7 14 100% 100% 100% 98% 86% 64% 27% 4% Plymouth, NH 9 10 17 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 55% 11% Pittsburg, NH 4 7 14 99% 98% 96% 88% 73% 55% 23% 3% Berlin, NH 9 15 22 100% 100% 100% 99% 97% 92% 74% 32% Lancaster, NH 5 7 13 100% 100% 100% 96% 83% 61% 24% 2%

Numbers for a weird March: Avg max: 40.9 +2.1 6th mildest Mildest: 51 on the 6th Avg min: 24.3 +7.5 Mildest min of 26. Coldest: 4 on th 1st Avg mean: 32.6 +4.8 3rd mildest. The avg diurnal range is 2.1° less than 2nd least. Streaky temps. 1st was BN, 2-20 all AN, 21-26 BN, 27-31 AN. Avg for 2-20: +9.6 (Min avg +12.4) Precip: 8.67" +4.99 Tops by 0.76" Wettest day: 1.53" on the 10th Snow: 29.3" +11.9" Snowiest day: 11.5" on the 23rd. The 22.0" of 3/23-24 is March's biggest and tied with Dec 16-18 for 3rd biggest. Pack avg: 5.3", well below avg but the 22" O.G. at 7 on the 24th is tops for the snow season.

Wow! I've never seen more than 3", twice in NNJ. The 2nd time was in Jan 1964 and it was topped by 1/2" ZR. Kids were skating in their back yards on the impenetrable stuff.

The spreads in the GYX snowfall predictions are huge - 90%/expected/10% for Farmington are 4/8/20. MHT <1/4/13. Lots of uncertainty still.

This last event had little elevational variation in snowfall, which is odd for a late season storm though 2m temps were well below 32. (Highest spot had somewhat greater ratio, however.) Listed by higher/lower elevation: Temple 1.8W 1,224' 2.02" 22.1" Farmington 4.2NW 616' N/A 21.1" Farmington 4.8NNW 610' 2.14" 20.5" New Sharon 2.0N 392' 2.27" 22.0" Had 2.5 hours of sleety/rimey stuff before the death band. Don't know if the others had the same but friends in the area had some.

LEW co-op shows 7.5" for mid-April 1933, and 25.5" for the 1982 blizzard. Only CAR's 26.3" was greater, at least any I've found in Maine. Farmington measured a mere 10", the lowest that I've found in Maine for the 1982 event. I "measured" 17.0" in the Violette Settlement, the quotes because - what do you do when a major blizzard ends with 2" lower pack than pre-storm and most of the snow fell with temps low-mid teens? Guesstimate is an understatement. The drifts within 20 feet of the stake - on both sides - looked to be 5' or higher. Fort Kent co-op recorded 12" but they seem to record snowfall by how much the pack has changed.

That was the 2nd greatest peak flow on the Sandy River until December 18 kicked it into 3rd. April 1987 still #1 by a large margin. Measured exactly 1.00" for the 24 hr ending at 7 this morning. Both December and March are the wettest since we moved here 26 years ago, with the driest February in between. 24.40" since December 1, can't keep up with SNE however.

And 72% of the area is in NNE. SNE's population density is about 10X that of NNE.

Grandkids planting the garden in SNJ (they're about 10 miles south of "79") while we sit under the clouds hoping to reach 50.

April 2023 thru March 2024 is currently (thru 7 AM) at 63.52". 2005 had 66.67", hopefully out of reach, but #2, 63.73" will be left in the mud (no dust here). However, Feb 24 failed to get the message - its 0.95" is the driest.

Of course, we do it again tonight.

Where it was 10-20" it's the Octobomb, spring version, but 5/77 affected a relatively small area. I'd compare it to the BGR to MLT blizzard of Dec 30-31, 1962. In that area it might've been as powerful a blizzard as 3/1888, but in a much smaller area.

IMO, 4/82 is nearly as anomalous as 3/1888 and 9/1938, and equal or beyond with the Octobomb and Jan 1998. (This latter may not have been the absolute most severe of anywhere, but its massive areal severe extent may be 2nd to none.) Sun making a weak attempt to break thru the clouds, but the overall warmth has settled the pack from 15" to 10, and thoroughly ripened it.

Which is 24.5" BN thru 3/26. I'm currently 3.1" ahead of them, which is unusual. In 2000-01 we finished 5.0" ahead thanks to 55.5" in March. Ten years later we squeaked ahead by 0.2" after the 15.1" dump on April Fool's day. The 26-winter difference leaves my place averaging 33" behind CAR. Edit: Most of the above clowns would be quite frustrating here if they verified ("slim chance" is understatement). Seeing 20s and 30s barely 100 miles to the SW while we might reach 3" - even in April that would hurt, worse than 2016 when many SNE points had 5-10" of cold pow while we had cold clouds as the snow season finished 4" below the 2nd worst.

Later news is that the ship's rudder became useless, they called a "mayday", and the bridge was almost completely emptied, only 8 persons on it (maintenance workers?) with 2 rescued and 6 missing. If that's true, it could've been much worse. The Army COE is to be tasked to help on the rebuild but it'll still take a long time (a year plus?) before it's replaced. Pres. Biden said that the government (us) will pay for the rebuild rather than waiting while trying to get the shipping company to pay, though I could see a concurrent attempt being made.

Not just temps but precip, which has been wildly anomalous December on. DEC: 9.35" Wettest by 1.50" (26 year POR here) JAN: 5.47" 0.54" below the wettest (1999) FEB: 0.95" Driest MAR: 7.41" 0.50" below the wettest (also 1999) but likely to finish on top.

Heard this many years ago: What's the secret of business success? Right decisions. How does one learn to make right decisions? Experience. How does one get experience? Wrong decisions.

News said that the harbor pilot reported the loss of propulsion in time to have the bridge access blocked, though some vehicles were caught in the middle. Also, ships often head out with the tide, so the ship's speed would've remained relatively high.

We reached 31° on 3 different days that month but never got higher. 16th-17th had lows of -36/-34, the 2 coldest mornings in our 26 winters here. (And Big Black River in the far NW hit -50 for a new state record.) Then February had 33" from storms of 8.5" and 24.5" 19th-23rd, briefly raising the pack to 51", though it had settled to 49 by my 9 PM obs time.

A bit earlier than that. After 2.5 hours of heavily rimed flakes with some IP from 4-6:30 and moderate SN thru 9, we had at least 6" in 90 minutes, 9-10:30, and a total of 10.5" after 9 PM. I don't think I've ever seen a heavier rate - in daylight perhaps 1/16 mile visibility. We'd had only tiny flakes during the entire event, then came flakes of all sizes in that 90 minutes, then back to smaller ones though more than any earlier tiny critters. 22" total from 2.27" LE. Before 9 the ratio was 8:1, after was 12:1. Southern Franklin County FTW. (The New Sharon co-op always comes in low.) ...Franklin County... 3 SW New Vineyard 23.4 in 1033 AM 03/24 Trained Spotter Temple 1.8 W 22.1 in 0700 AM 03/24 COCORAHS New Sharon 2.0 NW 22.0 in 0700 AM 03/24 COCORAHS Farmington 4.2 NW 21.1 in 0700 AM 03/24 COCORAHS Farmington 4.8 NNW 20.5 in 0900 AM 03/24 COCORAHS 0.9 E New Sharon 19.4 in 0700 AM 03/24 COOP Rangeley 18.7 in 0800 AM 03/24 COOP New Vineyard 18.0 in 1046 AM 03/24 Public 2 WSW Kingfield 17.0 in 0630 AM 03/24 Trained Spotter 1.0 W Kingfield 17.0 in 0808 AM 03/24 COOP Stratton 17.0 in 1012 AM 03/24 Trained Spotter