tamarack

Pure sun here today, 16/-21. January 2026 numbers: Avg max: 23.1 -2.6 Mildest: 42 10th Avg min: 4.0 -0.7 Coldest: -23 28th Mean: 13.5 -1.7 Mildest mean: 10th, coldest mean: -5.5 24th Precip: 2.23" -0.97" Greatest day: 0.55" 25th Snow: 30.1" +9.9" Greatest day: 17.0" 25th We had 19.6" from the 25-27th storm and 12 other distinct snow events, 0.1" to 3.0" - a dozen midgets plus a monster. Temperature had 4 distinct periods: 1-6, all BN: 18.0/1.7 -9.7 7-16, all AN: 35.0/19.8 +11.3 17-23: AN/BN: 23.7/4.3 0.0 (Rounded up from -0.04) 24-31, all BN: 11.5/-11.6 -14.2

Check around the bathroom stack. We had a leak from cracked tar around that pipe one snowy winter. Shoveling the snow away from the stack was a temporary fix and when things warmed up a quart can of tar made it permanent. Reached -21 this morning but the max will be well above yesterday's windy 9. Maybe another 40° diurnal range today; the 28th was 17/-23.

Certainly not me. Monday morning's 6.0" with only 0.08" LE (75:1, unbelievably) is 5" of settling all by itself, and the rest of the snow was near 20:1. Average depth here for Jan 30 over 28 years is 15".

Depth has receded from 29" to 22" in 4 days, but no melting (warmest since last Friday is 18) and probably little sublimation. 19.6" of 25:1 SN is apt to settle a bit. If the wind quits soon after dark, we'll have another dive thru the minus teens.

Or 1960s galvanized steel.

Central Park hit -8 that morning, 3rd lowest since 1869 there and 6° colder than anything since then. CON touched -37 on 2/16/43. It's a good radiating spot, much better (usually) than PWM where an incredible-39 was recorded. I'd guess that among US towns on salt water, one would need to go north of the Aleutian Peninsula to find a colder morning. 2nd coldest at PWM is -31, at 11:59 PM on the 15th. 3rd place is -26 in Jan 1971. Both the 15th and 16th were 40/41° BN, with temps -2/-31 and 7/-39. NYC's longest 32-or-lower run of 16 is the same Jan 19-Feb 3 timeframe as at Boston, but in NY the mildest max of the 16 days was 29. BOS' max in that run was 31, on Feb 3, but had maxima 28 or colder on the other 15 days. Modest -3 here this morning, after -23 and -18 the previous days. However, the 15-25 mph wind probably puts the WCI near those 2 calm mornings.

"Why can't they be like we are, perfect in every way. Oh, what's the matter to kids today!" (from Bye Bye Birdie) IMO, it's more the lawyers that the kids.

The nearby Farmington co-op had -39/-38 in January 1994, their coldest mornings 1893 thru 2022. In 1994 they had 7 AM obs time so those 2 minima might've been registered 2 minutes apart. Other sites with midnight obs had the 2nd day 7-10° less cold. I looked into my Fort Kent records, and the longest run of subzero minima was 18 days, Jan 16 thru Feb 2, 1982. I'd expected a longer streak in that much colder climate; sometimes only a single-digit low would prevent a run of 25-30.

-15 at 7 AM, haven't checked the max-min yet. 6th straight minima below zero, will probably make 9 before next week's mild-up. Longest runs of subzero minima are 14 in January 2003 and 12 that February - a cold but dry (and BN snow) winter.

If we can get half of the big coastals, it's a win. March 2018 had 4 biggies; we had a trace from #1 and zero from #4, but the 2 middle ones brought 36.4". One could dream of catching all 4 but that merely spoils the pleasure of the ones that hit.

Was -2 at 10:15 last evening with some thin clouds. Temp then took a deep dive to -23 by 7 this morning. We're in a frost pocket but possibly being the coldest morning in NNE would be really weird.

Hit the rad pit jackpot this morning with -23, coldest since Jan. 2022. Temp wiggled between zero and -4 last evening with a very thin cloud layer. That cloud must've disappeared before midnight, and with fresh deep snow, dry air and no wind, the temp plunged nearly 20° between 11 PM and 7 AM.

Rare for sure. Closest I've come since 60-61 is 00-01 (3rd largest 16") and 16-17 (3rd largest 15.5). Our 10 winters in Fort Kent averaged 134", and 140" in our 4 winters at the back settlement, 450' higher than in town. We had 4 events of 18"+, one each in 76-77 and 80-81 and 2 in 83-84. T We now are up to a dozen 18"+ in 28 winters here, essentially the same rate as in FK. The difference between FK's 134" avg and ours near 90" is all the 5-10" storms in the north. Here the winters average 1.7 storms 10"+ and 5.8 of 5"+. Fort Kent's averages are 2.4 and 8.7.

19.6" here, but that pair of 18-inchers keeps you 3.1" ahead. I've seen 2 storms of 18+ in a winter only twice since moving to Maine, 83-84 (Fort Kent) and 16-17 here. Saw 2 such winters in a 4-year period in NNJ, 57-58 and 60-61 (had 18, 20 and 24 events that latter winter). Cat 3 KU? 10-20+ inches from NY metro to central Maine. Grandkids in SNJ had 6-7" with beaucoup IP and a thin ZR cap, so PHL likely didn't reach 10".

Finished with 19.6" with a mere 0.77" LE for ratio 25.5-to-1. Even without the freakish 6" of 75:1 superfluff yesterday morning, the remainder was near 20:1. It's by far the biggest snowfall with 25+ ratio; next biggest was Feb. 11-12, 2017, when a 1-3 forecast verified 8.0" feathers drifting on a steady light north wind, only 0.26" LE, 30.8-to-1. Nearest cocorahs (Farmington 4.2NNW, about 10 miles NW from here) reported 19.5".

The better echoes might stay south of here, unless the area expands to the north. Only traces here since 1:30. Easiest 15"+ snowfall to blow off the driveway that I can remember. 17.5" from 0.66" LE so far, a ratio of 26.5-to-1. Only 15"+ I've seen that's even close was Dec 19-20, 1981 in Fort Kent, with 15.5" from 0.68" LE, ratio 22.8-to-1.

If that were to validate, I'd be getting another 0.22" LE and probably another 3-5", eclipsing Jan 27-28, 2015 with a mere 0.88" LE compared to 2.17" LE from the 20" blizzard eleven years ago. (Another 0.05-0.10" is more likely IMO.)

Absolutely! We've had 6" of those kind of feathers in the 6.5 hours since clearing the board at 7 AM, with a microscopic LE of 0.08". Had only 0.01" from a 1.0" snow and two different times seeing 4.5" with 0.10", but 6" of 75:1 ratio is beyond what I thought possible. Very little wind and sub-10 temps were a big help. Hardly anything falling now, but the total now is 17.5" though the 13" pack of yesterday morning only gained 16". Given the fluff factor, unless we have several more inches of dendrites like the above pic (doubtful), the current 29" will probably be the stake's top reading.

Snow arrived at 4:30 yesterday afternoon and by my 9 PM obs time we had 2.0" from 0.17" LE, with small but sparkling flakes. Cleared another 9.5" off the board at 7 this morning, with 0.41" LE, about doubling the ratio. About 3" of feathers since, no core yet, making this our 2nd biggest January snowfall here - the 20" in 2015 seems safe. Temp stayed zero-2° until about 8 AM, 2nd coldest significant snowfall (behind the -1 of 2/2/15) since moving from Fort Kent. Stake level has gone from 13" to 27". Not much wind, but even a 10-15 mph gust produces a white-out as the trees shed.

Looks like Pittston, with view across the Kennebec to Mt. Tom (great sledding hill) on the Gardiner estate. The castle would be just to the left of the pic.

I'd love that 20+ but would prefer that the grandkids in SNJ got 10+ instead of that map's 4" of SN/IP/ZR mix. Current forecast for us from GYX is in the 10-16 range.

When we lived in Fort Kent, we saw the clear air sparkles several times. Needed to be flat calm and -20 or colder. There's a French term in the St. John Valley (perhaps other places, too) for the phenomenon that translates "the cold coming down".

Whiff? Or merely 8 hours later than current thinking?

964 mb bomb in Boothbay Harbor might be a bit too close for all snow in the foothills.

That's mainly because it's based on my personal obs and averages, and my records only go back to 1976. Some older 40(+) cold runs: Fort Kent (my obs): Dec 11-31, 1981 thru Jan 18, 1981: -11.5 NYC (Central Park) data, working backwards: Dec 30, 1976 thru Feb 7, 1977: -11.6 Feb 1 thru Mar 12, 1934: -12.6 (Add Jan 29-31, and it's -12.9. Mid-Jan was too warm to include Dec 29-31, 1933 in a '40'.) Dec 29, 1917 thru Feb 6, 1918: -15.0 Farmington, Maine co-op: Dec 11, 1980 thru Jan 19, 1981: -15.7 Nov 21 thru Dec 30, 1989: -14.7