tamarack

Snow stopped about 3:30, with 0.5" from 0.07" LE. The first half inch included some IP and had 0.10" LE. I'll learn how much ZR came down when I melt out the whole mess. Probably pounded Saturday's powder to leave the depth unchanged but more solid. Wind has turned to N and a bit of nice color from the sunset. Things should be rock hard by morning. Genny kicked on at 3:55 - nowhere near enough accretion for much damage to the trees, though it only takes one weakling.

After 1/2" snow and 4 hours of ZR, switched back to snow about 1:45.

Tiny flakes here, took 3 hours to reach 0.3" with temp about 21. Local school district canceled, probably due the ice forecast.

My short (23 years) record shows 17.6° for 12/20 and 24.1° for the 24th. Takes until the 30th before the average drops below the 20th average. Even with my 15-day smoothing there's a pre-Christmas bump. With the short POR, days like last Christmas (54/43 and 29° AN) and 12/29/17 (-1/-31 and 35° BN) have huge impact.

I've always used old-fashioned ash-frame snowshoes, usually modified beavertails with nylon webbing and leather H-type bindings, and since I'm not small I have 36" by 14" (and sometimes would still sink a foot or more shortly after a big storm.) I've also had some with neoprene webbing but have never used rawhide - others have advised that unless properly treated, the webbing can sag exhaustingly in spring snow conditions. A co-worker of about my size (taller but a bit narrower) found some army surplus shoes with aluminum frames and plastic-covered steel webbing. They weigh no more than my wood-frame ones and are all but indestructible. (I've twice had wood snowshoes break while in the puckerbrush. It's an adventure.) My advice would be to listen to those who have used modern material shoes.

Fortunately, CWD has not been observes yet in Maine or in any adjacent states. The critter is a meningeal brainworm (P. tenuis) that has gastropods - snails/slugs - as alternate hosts. Deer or other cervids ingest them accidentally from vegetation and the snails, etc. migrate to the brain. Deer tolerate this well but it's usually fatal for moose, elk and caribou. The ailment is sometimes called "moose disease" but its occurrence in Maine moose seems to have declined in recent decades, making me wonder if our moose have developed some tolerance. In non-tolerant animals the symptoms include lack of fear and running in circles. A few flakes in Farmington this AM and maybe here as well. We're glad the SNJ crowd headed north today rather than possibly encountering the messiness tomorrow.

From 1976 thru October 1985, we lived 45 miles northwest from Caribou. And the last native caribou in Maine was seen heading north into New Brunswick more than a century ago. There have been 2 attempts to reintroduce the species into Maine, both unsuccessful. Caribou re-intros have all failed in places with a deer population, due to a disease that's tolerated by deer and fatal to caribou.

LEW's UHI. Dipped to -3 here. Hoping the firs will remain loaded thru Wednesday morning for the grandkids to see, as there hasn't been a flake at their SNJ home. They're planning to arrive tomorrow, but it will be after dark.

-3 this AM, season's 1st subzero. Saw -5 for IZG and -4 for BML/HIE. Great night for radiating under a full moon.

Had 4.4" on 0.38" LE thru the dark hours, then 0.4" of 20:1 feathers 7-9 AM. Wind-driven snow is exciting but near calm means the trees are prettier.

0.4" of breakfast time feathers brought my total to 4.8". Looks like a white Christmas unless Saturday turns into a major Grinch.

On 12/26 you should post last year at the same date. I think it will look better this year. Echoes overhead but nothing on the ground here, unless it started in the past 15 minutes. Things seem to be moving straight east which would keep the best stuff south of here. However, GYX expects a band to pass thru the foothills later in the evening. Patience . . .

Maybe if temps rise another 3-4C by 2100. DCA has had 2 winters with only 0.2". Is SE Mass going to be warmer then than Foggy Bottom is today?

We got 1.9" from the northerly fringe - less for the Grinch to destroy. Season's first warned storm, though low end at best - local forecast "most likely" is 6". Our church's Christmas program is scheduled for 7 PM today and tomorrow, and though the storm isn't all that big, it could hardly have worse timing for tonight's presentation. Good chance we scrub.

1st WSW of the season, though the snowfall maps appear to have accum starting to die off at my longitude. Will CAR get only an inch, or does most of their snow come after 12z tomorrow? GYX percentages for Farmington: 90% - 4"+ Most likely - 6" 10% - 9"+

3rd time in 3 weeks. Not quite the usual diurnal pattern when the high comes at the normal time for the low.

Only reached 34 yesterday and was 30-31 at 5 this morning as the wind was just beginning to increase. By 7 it was howling, lights were blinking, and the temp had risen 9°. For the period 1-7 AM, IZG went from 37 to 55 and then back to 50, with TD 18 while points east still had dews in the 40s. Three similar events at 5-day intervals, each with frozen start, cold rain at the end, and a quick up/down temp as the CF and its winds came thru.

Never got out of the mid 30s here. Had 2 separate periods of precip, 1.6" dense SN overnight from 0.38" LE with a trace of ZR on top, then 0.18" cold RA between 9 and 11 AM. Sun tried to show its presence shortly after noon but then hid for the rest of the daylight hours. Only light fog here so far. So far this month I've recorded at least traces of snow on 13 of 16 days, for the grand total seen on the sig.

Had 1.6" of dense white stuff, probably some graupel mixed in, with a trace of ZR for the cap. LE of 0.38" means a 4.3-to-1 ratio. Starting this snow season where the last one finished. 20-21 had by far the lowest average ratio of 23 winters here with 6.5-to-1 for events >1". 2nd lowest is 8.2-to-1 in 19-20 and the 23-year average is 10.1. Looks nice, however, even though the trees will probably empty this afternoon/tomorrow.

Programmed "differently" would be less judgmental. Some people are larks and some are owls, with each group working best at their chosen time schedule. Liking the late month possibilities. Last 3 Decembers averaged barely over half the month's norm.

Morning AFD talked 1-3 but P&C for my ZIP has 2-4. I'll take the under, though would rather be snowily surprised. Looks like the 3rd frozen to freezing to wet to pop-up temps and wind event this month, each 5 days apart. 5th, 10th, 15th

Ditto, especially the long, long time. Grandkids are wonderful.

I don't recall much rain in any of the 54 storms (though we probably had 2-3" each from the first 2) and we were too far east to get much in 1950. Doria (5.1" with a 3.8" PRE the day before) and Bob (6.41") were the rainers. We had 2" of wet snow on 12/29/62 and 2 days of gales piled drifts up to 6 feet, along with uprooting bare-limbed trees up to 2 feet in diameter.

Those 1954 'canes covered 3 relatives. Carol (cousin) was just a breeze at our place, Edna (aunt) was windy, but we were able to fly kites in it. Hazel (great aunt) was by far the most powerful of the 3 in our area, gusting into the 60s and toppling numerous trees. The oaks still held most of their leaves pre-storm, and our outside walls got plastered with leaf fragments. In my memory, Hazel's winds are about the same as TS Doria (8/71) and Bob, but a step or two below the 1950 Apps gale and the roaring NW winds of New Year's Eve 1962, generate by the snowstorm that ate BGR.

1983 wasn't much warmer, -12 in Fort Kent, but with modest winds. In 1980 the temp dropped from 9° at 9 PM on the 24th to -23 at sunrise Christmas day with 40+ gusts. Afternoon high was -16. I've read that Boston's afternoon topped at zero and NYC something like 7. At 1st CT Lake with their 7 AM obs, 12/26 temps were -24/-32. That max is the coldest I've found in New England except at MWN. Top snows on 12/25 are 8.0", in 1978 (Fort Kent) and 2017. The latter storm all came on the 25th but the '78 event continued into the 27th with 16.5" as the total.