tamarack

0.46" thru 7 AM and about a tenth since, thus the greatest one-day precip since April. Forecast for tomorrow is 0.5-1", so a nice 2-day drink for the garden.

I'll buy residence time but not intensity (at the extremes, anyway.) Most recent day reaching 95 at the Farmington co-op was on Sept 9, 2002, and Sept 1999 featured several days with dews 70+. Marc 6, 2007 had an afternoon high of -2 at my place (spoiled by a cheap evening max) with strong winds, and 3/11/17 was even windier with an afternoon max at zero (also spoiled by the pervious evening.) On that latter blast, Jackman with its 7 AM obs time showed a high of -6. Those 2 cold March days were the bitterest (aft high and WCI) of their respective winters.

April here had a lot of cloudy days and had 18 days with rain, but in May I counted 15 sunny days, 3 more than any other of our 24 Mays here.

They're past peak here though the skeeter population remains high and deer flies are ready to take over the day shift. Huge amount of flowers on the white pines, so that pollen is ready to explode. Picked up a tick during today's fishing at North Pond, obviously not while ON the water. Bit of a mayfly hatch on the pond, lots of swirls as smaller fish took advantage. Caught a 27.5" pike (prob 5.5 lb) but the real trophy was a 9.5" pumpkinseed sunfish. I've fished since I was 6 y.o. (that's a lot of years!) and that's the biggest sunny I've ever caught, by a full inch.

Finally planted much of the veggie garden this morning, accompanied by the continuous whine of mosquitos, also feeding more than a few. Some seasonably mild RA later this week would be a bonus. Latest I've begun planting since our Fort Kent days.

Our family visited Maine when I was 6, Spruce Head (part of Boothbay Harbor), and my dad took 8 mm movies of my older brother and me swimming in the ocean there - had to be cold but many years have dulled that memory, especially because all my other memories from that trip were great. I'd go down to the shore before others were up and find sand dollars, old crab shells (that stunk but so what) and other treasures. Even was given a fresh "bug" by a local lobsterman, who was surprised when I just reached in and grabbed it. (I'm sure the critter's claws had been pegged.) Typical late spring post-frontal wx, lots of cu passing by and a brief shower about an hour ago. Visibility nearly endless, we take.

Saw some brief sun that pushed temp into the 60s, now cloudy and breezy. Aroostook under a flood advisory, radar shows some real bright colors in the western part of the County. Also shows nothing upstream for our area. Edit: Some 60-65 dbz a few miles south of Allagash village.

Looks like a 30-35 lb critter. That dark mulch should keep those eggs nice and warm.

November's nice there too - only rains once that month. Unfortunately, it starts on the 1st and lasts thru the 30th. SEA wx here yesterday, high of 56, things stayed wet, but only 0.15" RA. Less than 2" since May 1. Gardens just love cool, cloudy, dry.

No bag limit in Maine on perch of either color. I'd caught nice one 10" but tossed it back. Had I caught another like that one, I'd have started keeping them, but the other 2 that got caught were 7-8"; for me that's too small to be worth cleaning. I also caught an 18" pike that jumped like its junior cousin; I'd never before seen a pike much longer than a foot jump clear of the water, while I've had 20"+ pickerel do it. 20 years ago I'd catch as many pickerel as pike at North Pond, but only one in the past dozen years as the bigger guys took over.

Methuen may still be cold enough to be on the plus side of the warmer/wetter snow futures. However, models generally show more variability, so an increased chance of 5 straight BN snow seasons, and also for 5 straight AN? And oddly, my records show fewer large precip events in recent years, and fewer extra rainy months. We've had 20 months with 7"+ precip in our 24 years here, but none since October 2019. October '17 hit the mark bot the next most recent is July 2014, so 18 such months in our first 17 years and only 2 in the next 7+. It's similar with calendar day dousings; with 21 days having 2.50"+, only one came since October 2016, the 2020 supergrinch. Thus 20 in our first 19 years and one in the next 5+. SSS, but still odd.

Several vet programs on Animal Planet show dogs doing fine, cats even better. Most of those cases involved trauma rather than cancer, and were on young or middle age animals.

0.26" here, hoping for more after last month's deficit. May 2022: Avg temp: 54.7 2.5 AN avg max: 68.4 3.7 AN Highest: 90 on the 14th Avg min: 41.0 1.2 AN Lowest: 26 on the 9th Precip: 1.53" 2.21" BN Biggest day: 0.51" on the 28th. Nearly all came in 12 minutes from the afternoon TS From 2015 on, May has been dry, averaging 2.56". For 1999 thru 2014, the month's average was 4.34". Snow: No traces were recorded

Half right. 2nd trip to North Pond yesterday, some smaller fish and a pike a bit longer than 28", about 6 lb. (The "slim fish" equation - [length*girth squared]/900 - comes to 6.2.) An Amish couple was fishing nearby and filled a bucket with white perch

Cloudy now but was sunny thru about 1:30. Not too warm (60s after near 40 low) on North Pond with light variable wind, and the high sun angle reduces reflection from the water. Fish cooperated as well.

Low 50s and a shower just came thru. Glad I put off the North Pond pike-stalking until tomorrow. Skeeters are as bad as I've seen here, almost at Washington County badness.

Was out about 12-12:15, saw one dim and slow-moving meteor, but thin clouds covered much of the sky. meh

Or Day of the Triffids

Looks more like a defoliating insect, though neither Gypsy moth (can't recall the new name) or browntail moth. I don't think it's a bug that will strip the tree, but other than that guess, I've no idea exactly what it is.

The NE Aroostook rain blew out US Rt 1 last night - trench looks 15' deep.

Decent TS arrived here just before 2, 0.45" in 12 minutes, had to be some 3"/hr rates at peak. Thunder was underwhelming, 2-3 rumbles/minute and nothing remotely close - maybe C-C strikes? Just had another little shower but the best is past for this one, though increasing May rain by 50% is a win. Checked on the gauge at Dickey, St. John up to 17.2k cfs, quite the jump from 5.4k yesterday morning. The slope of rise is lessening, so I'd guess the crest will be ~18k unless another toad strangler hits. FB had a picture from Cyr Plantation (10 miles south of Van Buren) of a paved road with a gap 10' wide and 10' deep. Probably blew out the old logging road crossings on the township's public lot; last significant harvest there was 21-22 years go.

Maybe got a couple pennies from the morning shower, would bring May up to an even 1.00". Need to go north for serious rain, 2"+ past 24 hr at FVE and nearly 3.5" at Westmanland, west from CAR. The St. John gauge at Dickey was at about 5,000 cfs early yesterday and 30 minutes ago it was at 13,200 and rising rapidly, so NW Maine got dumped on as well.

Is that clear cut solution repeal of 2A and total elimination of gun ownership by private citizens, or something else?

Well BN in this part of Maine though the North is AN. Local river (The Sandy) is at 403 cfs, median for the date is 913, 25th percentile 525. However, the record low, 246 cfs, is still a pretty far away.

First fish stew in more than a year last night, after a decent morning on North Pond Wednesday. Caught a bunch of small (17-19") pike and lost several more, then when almost back to the channel toward the landing, a nice 4-5 pounder - 25" long and its weight augmented by the pair of 7" white perch in its tummy. That one's in the freezer along with 2 decent-size white perch while the smaller pike made for last night's dinner, tonight's as well. (Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has handled the pike invasion in an odd sequence. Initial reaction was dismay, then when big ones were showing up in Belgrade Lakes the species was considered a game fish, with a 24" minimum and 2 fish limit - only one fish at North Pond. Then 6-7 years ago, pike disappeared from the law book - no mention at all, became an "unfish". Now IFW recommends that no pike be put back in the water alive, which might be what the initial reaction had been.)