tamarack

Should've written "6th season". Once the trees stop sucking water from the soil, the first multi-inch rain event usually shuts down timber harvesting almost completely. Only twice have I seen warm-season conditions progress into frozen ground without a mud time, 1976 and 2013. This year might be a contender if freeze-up comes early, given the drought. Bright sun today after 4 straight cloudy ones - that produced only 0.11" precip.

Mud season - mid-October until freeze-up, NNE's 5th season.

Maybe some graupel?

There are echoes overhead there, and it's at 47.3° lat. and 985' asl. Their average date for first flakes is probably about now. (Unfortunately, the airport apparently doesn't report snow.)

Our 20-foot-tall sapling is mostly changed. The 90-foot by 24" specimen is just beginning to turn.

Your B-Day in 2002 was memorable here, though with only a trace of snow on the ground. It was the first day of Maine's firearm deer season and at dawn it was 14° with gusts 30+. That would be ho-hum in January but was quite chilly in mid Autumn. (Punched my ticket with a nice critter the day after T-Day.)

Strongest gust, mid 50s, came in a June 2005 TS and toppled a half dozen popple trees. However, December 18, 2023 - four hours of 50+ gusts plus a storm total of 4.21" - was a far more destructive event, causing many times more tree damage on our woodlot. Floyd (Sept 1999) also had gusts approached 50. Greatest lifetime winds: 1-A: Nov. 25, 1950. the Great Appalachian Gale 1-B: Dec. 31, 1962, backside NW wind from the blizzard that ate BGR. Both events reached near 70 mph and caused major damage. 3: Aug. 19, 1991, "Bob" - 60+ gusts. 4: Aug. 28, 1971, "Doria" - near 60 5: April 7, 1982, East Coast April blizzard, also near 60

Southern Maine had powerful winds - was interesting watching (on the tube) the waves blasting water 40 feet high then near -instantly being carried off by the wind. We had little wind this far inland, just 33-35° RA on the same (modest here) NE wind that powered NYC's 20.9" snowicane.

We had the same 3° (57/54) on Sept 27 during the 2.64" dump - smallest diurnal range we've had in September, though we've had 2° ranges in some other months and June 3, 2001 had 54/53, our only "onesie". As expected, we had little rain or wind, 0.10" and maybe a "gust" of 10 mph. 90%+ leaf drop here. The big oak is still mostly green and there's a few sugar maples with 50% retention though most of that species is near leafless.

Thanks - but recommend starting simple. I enjoyed seeing the blow-by-blow records by participants, but I'm sure that added lots of formulas to make it work smoothly.

Still dry (as forecast, maybe a bit tonight). Just enough wind to wiggle the few remaining intact leaves.

Lots more "fake" readings in SNE than the "real" ones like Mt. Tolland. Maybe the hills are really the "fake" places. Low of 25 here with thick frost and 1/16" ice on the washtub.

MWN 16°, 54G61, WCI -9. Brisk. Last night's stove load retained enough embers to restart without needing the lighter this morning - first time of the season. We'll see which side of 25 tomorrow morning in our rad pit.

The juicy echoes to our west when I sent the above post fell apart before reaching here. Event total is 1.17", a modest overperformer as the forecast had us in the 0.5-1.0 bracket.

1995-96 was by far (29" ahead of #2) our snowiest winter of 13 at Gardiner, though the thaws left SDDs in 5th place. Five straight months began with cold and snow, finished with mild and wet. Cherrypicking the dates illustrates the contrasts. The top line shows the data for Dec 1-21, Jan 1-16, Feb 1-19, Mar 1-11 and April 1/14 - total of 81 days. Lower line combines the remainders of those months, 71 total days. Avg max Avg min Depart. Precip Snow SN/day 26.4 9.1 -6.4 11.56" 127.4" 1.57" 44.1 24.2 +4.8 14.58 9.2 0.13"

We lived in Gardiner then, 9 miles south from AUG. Oct. 6, 1995: 51/45, 2.33". Tiny shower about 8 last evening 0.01", almost mocking. Dumped precisely 1.00" from the Stratus this morning and radar suggests a final total near 1.5".

We had 2.64" on Sept 25-26 and the local rivers are nearly back to the levels before that event. Maybe 6" spread over 2-3 weeks would have a significant effect on rivers and groundwater.

Katahdin has been whitened above tree line and maybe the lower mts also, but here in the foothills only in 1999 did I see a trace this early. Average 1st trace is 10/28, 1st measurable 11/10 and 1st 1"+ 11/21. More recently, yesterday's high of 82 is the warmest in our 28 Octobers, 2° above the previous record set on 10/9/2011. That 82 is 22° AN.

That 45° range is usually found in late April and May, very uncommon when sunrise and sunset are less than 12 hours apart. We had 71/31; greatest October range here is just 1° greater.

This pic was taken on Sept 18. Sixteen days later it's past peak, with 60-70% leaf drop. Overall (not including places like this) we're high to peak, depending on species mix, about a week ahead of average.

Not here - it's our wettest month and Oct 2005 (14.09") is the most for any month. Our first full month here, June 1998, is 2nd with 12.81". Third place is shown below. J 3.23" J 3.96" F 2.95" A 4.10" M 3.71" S 3.70" (Despite 11.46" in 1999.) A 4.09" O 5.45" M 3.96" N 4.22" J 4.76" D 4.87" TOTAL: 49.27"

Late last evening the temp was 5° lower than same time day before, but this morning's low of 31 was 2° higher than yesterday morning. Warmer aloft - 8 AM at MWN: 46° (and TD -8!)

Our average water year is 48.89". This recently ended one had 38.08", only 78% of the average. 2025 thru September is 7.13" BN and last October was 3.56" BN, giving the water year a dry start.

29 and frosty this morning, tied with 9/21 for season's coolest. Cat lying in front of the woodstove.

Our rad pit didn't happen - low was a modest 39. We had 30 and 29 mornings on 20/21 last month. September numbers Avg max: 69.6 +1.5 Highest: 78 on the 28th, latest for a Sept max Avg min: 44.4 -1.3 Lowest: 29 on the 21st Mean: 57.0 +0.1 Precip: 3.89" +0.19", 1st AN month since May. Wettest day: 1.53" on the 25th. The 2.64" on 25-26 was 68% of the months rain. Other than the storm of 25-26, Sept 2025 continued the drought. Highest and lowest were modest, the availability of sunshine - 67% - was close to the most for Sept. The avg diurnal range of 25.2 was nearly 3° AN, this despite the 3° range on the rainy 25th, smallest diurnal range for any Sept day here.