tamarack

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.

Five minutes of partly cloudy and then the CF roared in at 4:30 with gusts into the 30s. RA underperformed, bucket caught 0.03" plus a red maple blossom.

Wet 40s, quite the change from yesterday's sunny 60/21 - couldn't quite get the 40° range. On another topic, yesterday the arborists did a great job dropping the 20" diameter/80-foot-tall basswood that was leaning strongly toward the house. It had serious internal decay about 12 feet off the ground, such that the first good NW breeze after leaf-out might've been a disaster. Now it's a cord of not very good (but close to the stove) firewood. The head honcho took 5 feet of sound upper stem for a woodcarver friend.

Fort Kent would do that sort of thing occasionally. Jan 11, 1980 had 38/-21. Day before that was 10/-30 and day after 44/4. Most spectacular, however, was Groundhog Day in 1976. At 11 AM it was 46, pouring and screeching. By 8 PM it was -11 with a 50° drop, 44 to -6, between 1 and 6 PM. CAR had 49/-7 for the day (with 957 mb) and BGR 57/1 plus 200 flooded cars in Kenduskeag Plaza as strong southerlies (gust of 115 mph in Stonington) blew water up the Penobscot estuary, raising the water in BGR 15 feet in 15 minutes.

Had a 39° diurnal range on Eclipse Day (62/23). Forecast max is 59, which would be a 38° range so that 4/8 span is in play. Greatest range here was 52° (29/-23) in Feb 2002.

Low of 21 here, tying 4/1 for coldest of the month. Just as fake as forest-enhanced dewpoints.

Numerous NNE sites with RH <20%. At 4 PM, PSM was 55 with TD 7, RH 14%. Chilly up in the County - FVE 32, west wind 20G35. Rest of NNE is fairly close to 50. If it were a Saturday and 10-15° milder with the breeze and low RH, we'd be reading about brushfires. Might be having some in the NJ pine barrens even on Monday.

I hope it was Whiteface that got some improvement cash. Back in the stone age (early '70s) I read an article about Whiteface in Ski Magazine, presumably compiled by an expert skier. At the upper lift the attendant had to let a few chairs go by before seeing one fit for the writer to climb on. The Ski guy said that the trail (Skyward? It's been a long time) was obviously ungroomed and w/o any manmade snow, with numerous dark things sticking up thru the snow. After several stump/rock near misses in 100 yards, the writer swallowed his pride, sidestepped up to the top and rode down on the lift.

Some forsythia starting to bloom next door in Farmington, but ours are still asleep. Chilly in northern Maine - FVE 24 with WCI 9. Nice day to summit MWN: 5F, wind 53G65, WCI -25.

Not sure whether tomato plants can tell the difference.

Norway maple is native to Europe but is widely planted in urban settings, as it's relatively tolerant of conditions there. It's also brittle and subject to frost cracks in cold climates. It is very shade tolerant and an early-season seed producer, characteristics that give it an advantage over native species. Since silver maples and red maples here have swelled buds, it's no surprise about the Norways being early. The most recent month with BN temps here was November, so phenology is understandably early, which to me is suspect. Somehow my apple trees dodged the killing frost last May 18 but many NNE orchardists were less fortunate. We've had major damage from late frosts in 1999 and especially 2010; that one toasted all the ash and oak shoots and some on the maples, along with frying every apple blossom.

Partridge drumming nearby, using the horizontal fir left after Dec. 18.

I think it's still the greatest vertical in the east. When I saw it way back in 1971 (rode the lift* during our June honeymoon) it was state-owned and suffering from chronic underfunding. It was spiffed up for 1980 but I've no idea what condition it is now. *Only the Little Whiteface lift was running for sightseers, and it was the scariest one I've been on - no footrest, teeny (9") lap "bar", and the final span was the scariest of all: About 2,000 feet between tower and summit so the catenary seemed almost straight up as we approached the top. Also, no trail beneath that span, just a sidehill 40-60 feet down and covered with the criss-crossed spruce cut and left when the lift was built.

Looks seasonal - average temp here on 4/29 is 58/34.