tamarack

Retention is also a significant part of my winter opinions, and barring a major white surprise, we'll finish BN again this year. However, SDDs are already 200"+ ahead of 20-21 and only 73 from the median of 1,444. The current average of 1,774 will slide down by about 10 or so after the books close on 21-22. Unless it turns cold with maybe some flakes, this morning's 16" pack won't last into April. 15 of 23 winters have lasted into that month and 2 others made it to 3/31. Bad winter but already 14" more SN than last one's ratter (though also nearly 2' BN). C'est la vie. 54 yesterday, going for 60+ today? I'm guessing warmth and rain means the Sandy River sheds its ice Sunday or Monday, should be little (not zero) chance of jamming as it's being eaten away from below.

Most our neighbor has seen in the (still-snow covered but with bare patches after today) field across the road is 15. We've had the Gang of Four - 2 large deer and 2 small ones - rotating clockwise thru our woodlot and the one across the road on a 3-4 day cycle all winter. Only interruption was when they were cleaning up the hundreds of drops from the apple trees, after hunting season of course.

Geese in the fields in Farmington this AM, about on schedule. Those critters gamble hundreds of flying miles on being correct about the weather.

The other side of that is the rare snowless early December in Fort Kent on a drizzly afternoon. Seems to be getting dark at 2:30.

April 2016 was the near-final kick in the teeth for that ratter, as we had cold clouds while SNE snowed. (And not as cold as ORH by a lot) Then in May another nudge as we were a bit too far south for the mid-month surprise. 96-97 in Gardiner had average snow but meh storms, none bigger than 8". Had the lesser northerly storm drop 7.5" on 3/31-4/1, worst homeward commute of my 2 years of Gardiner-Farmington drives.

That could result in a very confusing mosaic of differing time zones. One silly example: My younger brother has a main residence in FL near Canaveral and a 2nd home in AL. If those 2 states choose differently, Eastern FL might be on EDT while AL is 2 hr later on CST. Or maybe I've got the choices reversed and both the homes are on the same time, as EST = CDT.

Indiana's a bit weird, as about a half dozen western counties are in the Central zone and the remainder in Eastern. We have family in both Hawaii and Japan and neither practice DST, so when planning Skypes with our son/DIL in Nagoya we ponder "Is it 13 hours difference or 14?"

Trying each option and adjusting as necessary makes sense. When I had spinal fusion at C-4 (kind of behind the larynx) 11 years ago, I was sent home with an Oxycodone Rx. Took one at bedtime that first evening, woke up about 2 AM having to swallow 7-8 times a minute with each swallow rubbing the incision site back and forth across the cervical collar I had to wear. About an hour of repeated exquisite pain. Went back to my old Ibuprofin standby. Was very fortunate to have only that one incident and the surgery was totally sucessful. (Fixed spinal stenosis that had reduced my coordination down to where I could barely tie my shoes or walk a straight line.) In other news, 1.2" overnight from 0.10" LE. trees are dried off now but were gorgeous earlier. Now 5 snow events this month (good) for less than 10" total (back to the midget events of Dec-Jan).

Jan 11-31 ran -8.2 here, which is only 3 weeks but serious cold even for that short a stretch. Then came the February rollercoaster, with 7-8 "rides" of +/- 50°, either overnight drops or rises from morning to the next day's afternoon, headed by the -14 on 2/16 climbing to 51 on the 17th.

Next to that my heart procedure and aftermath was a walk in the park on a warm spring day. Are you getting the right pain therapy? Seems there would be ways to mediate even that level of post-surgery pain without diving deeply into opioids. Of course, I got my medical degree from UMaine forestry school.

I've always done my taxes save for one year we paid H&R Block as a check. They came out just like I had so they must've been right. Going thru an accountant this time because I've got both regular and pension income (hopefully will understand how to handle pension thereby) plus a nasty bite from SSI. Was aware of the last but it's still odd that a 40% cut in income counts as a "windfall".

Classic Yankee opener snow came some years before. Conditions at the 1:05 home opener on 4/6/82: 25°, S+, 6" new. Central Park recorded slightly bigger snowfalls in April 1875 and 1915, but for wintry appeal the 4/82 storm stands head and shoulders above the rest. IMO, that April event vies with the Octobomb for anomalously timed snowstorms. Maybe add May 1977 thought the extent of that one was far smaller.

Maybe the observers on the NW border of the state reported snowfall in inches but numbers were so high that the map builders thought it was in cm, so divided by 2.54.

Meaty for sure - we had 15.5" from 2.12" LE of all snow at 15-22°. Dendrites looked decent but maybe the wind destroyed them at ground level; there certainly was lots of wind slab to challenge the snowblower. 10" fell 4-9 PM with vis 1/8 between gusts, 50-100' in the wind. Only have had 4 events meeting all blizz criteria and this was the most recent and had the strongest winds. We're well sheltered in the woods but this storm had to have featured gusts near 50. Our Lab-mix rescue from TX had arrived Feb 4 and quickly learned to like snow, but wind and noise of this storm terrorized her -on her evening poop-walk she tried to glue herself to the storm door but I coaxed/dragged her far enough from the house to do her business. 2016-17 featured 4 wintery events with ~2" LE, one in each month Dec-Mar. The Jan storm was 4.5" of kitchen sink but the others brought 21" (twice) and the blizzard. I doubt I'll ever experience another winter with 4 storms totaling 8.15" LE and 62" snow.

I agree, though perhaps with some bias, as in - if the numbers favor them, they're good to go; if the numbers favor you, they look for mistakes. (Said he who worked for a public agency nearly 36 years, though my numbers were trees and those don't move as fast as money.)

That would be more logical, though it would be much too generous for our area, where SN to date is about 85% of average.

It's Tug Hill, measured at the top of the tallest LES pack.

Fascinating. Some oddities on it, or examples of my geographic ignorance. Not sure about what that color change means on the SNJ's Atlantic coast - it's mostly dead flat there, would need to go north to Absecon Highlands, closer to the coast's "elbow": for much elevation. Those low-elevation colors in NW Maine are bizarre, especially since there's no such color in NE Maine - would have the St. John flowing uphill from its sources to Grand Falls where it becomes wholly Canadian. Downeast has some bumps but it's mostly <500'.

Same situation as Gronk's retirement after SB53 - when Brady headed to TB and Gronk wanted to join him, Pats still owned his contract and got a 4th for him from the Bucs.

Great pic. "Only" 16.5" here, but a tick under 20 the week before, earlier-month version of 2001 when 35" fell 3/22-31. Odd temp trend considering wx and calendar, as 3/1-15 was +5.6° and 16-31 was -3.6°, and was nearly 3° colder than the first half. Would not be surprising in Jan/Feb but even here March snowfall amounts are moving from midwinter qpf-dependent to springlike temp-dependent.

No 10"+ snowstorm is bad, not even late Feb 2010, but the Superstorm was a bit of a disappointment at our (then) Gardiner home, 10.3" of heavily rimed 6:1 flakey things, among the lowest totals in New England. Far more had been forecast and it was supposed to continue well into Sunday, but it tapered to occasional flakes well before dawn. Warm nose then dryslot? One memorable observation was at 8 AM Sunday, when BGR was flat calm while Mt. Desert Rock was gusting near 70 about 50 miles SE.

I've been a fan since the mid 1950s and have read stuff similar to that last paragraph about 4 times since then. The particulars differ but the conclusions remain consistent. Maybe someday it will be accurate but I'm not concerned yet.

Almost up to 2" - will do the steps and clean the cars before they freeze, and the rest gets left to March away. Hope the plow stays away, at least until the temp is way below 32. If it came now the top inch of gravel gets piled next to our place and impedes the letter carrier. Trees are white but far short of limb-threatening load. Only way we'd lose power would be someone sliding into a pole. (Or of we get those 40 kt gusts later.)

Changed to SN here at 12:30 ater .30 RA. The P&C call of 1 PM for the switch was close, especially as I'm 2 miles NNW from town center. No accum until 1:20 but about 3/4" since then in moderate snow, about 3/8 mile vis. Probably an hour or so of this rate then lighter stuff. I'm somewhat glad it's not a big event here, as I'm still on light duty following Tuesday's ablation procedure - even running the blower would be outside recommendations. A couple inches of this every-twig frosting would provide beauty without hazards. (Other than for drivers)

RA now moderate. P&C had me at all SN by 18z (and mixing by now - oops).