tamarack

12/2019 had a nice pack up there early in the month but the RA on 14-15 wrecked it. Then it was mostly dry until NYE.

Just went to GYX and got the 10 AM AFD for yesterday, so I hit the #2 version and got 10 AM today. #3 was the 5 AM AFD for today. Weird.

Not the biggest snowfall of my experience, more like 20th, but the most powerful blizzard by far. Also the absolute best positive bust I ever expect to see. On the evening of 4/6, with snow headlines to the south and an OTS forecast for N. Maine, CAR upgraded its cloudy-cold-windy forecast to add flurries. By 2 AM we had S+ in Fort Kent, the wind howled for 2 days and our Chevette (little car, but it was black) had just one hand-size bit in view, within a drift. CAR measured 26.3", at the time its biggest snowfall on record. (It's now 4th.) Some "flurries". 1981-82 had 185.8" snow, a January morning with -34° and wind 30-35 with light snow, "All roads north of Houlton are impassible" in late Feb (not true but intended to keep more people from needing rescue) and other goodies.

0.35" of 33-37° RA from ~9:30 last evening thru 10 this AM. A bit surprised that there was no IP at the start as it was closer to 32 than 33 when I was out with the dog at 10 last night. Very November-y day.

Best 12/25 event I've seen. 1978 in Ft. Kent had the same 8" (and another 8.5" thru sunrise on 12/27) but much of that earlier 12/25 accum came after dark. 2017 was all in daylight.

8 AM limit and I try not to run noisy equipment at all on Sundays - personal conviction only - though I'll snowblow so we can get out to church. Would fire up the chainsaw if that was needed for egress, too.

And 12/22. We were too far north for the 19-20 event but got 15.5" on 21-22, one of only 4 events in 23 winters here to meet blizzard criteria. Was great fun driving my son to Farmington at storm's height for his 11-7 graveyard shift at Big Apple. All he did that time was stock shelves and watch the snow - maybe 3 customers in 8 hours.

We had exactly 20° three times Nov 4-7, haven't been below 23 since. Mildest for Novie's coldest temp is 17, in 2 different years. 16 of 23 have gone below 10° and 7 have reached zero or below. Can we get a November than fails to reach the teens? Average minimum for 11/30 is 20°.

Counted a handfull of flakes just now, first ones I've actually seen this season. Yesterday's cloudy 44 max was archetypical November wx. (And the clouds hung around until after the eclipse - makes 4 consecutive lunar eclipses behind clouds here. Really hope April 8, 2024 is clear.) Edit, Saturday morning: Scattered graupel on the leaves, first time even a "T" on the ground. Wife hit a white-out in Strong (next town north of Farmington) yesterday afternoon.

Heavier stuff all staying to my south. Not that 20 flakes is all that much better than the 4-5 I saw earlier.

Our first house in Fort Kent, circa 1900 (had newspaper articles about the Boxer Rebellion inside one wall) had glass fuses, a main panel with a 4-fuse drop box (in use) that fed a 2nd such drop box, not currently in use. Lacking real tools, I used a screwdriver and plug-in light bulb to test whether box #2 was hot. A loud blue flash ensued, also arc-welded both objects to the box, fortunately no longer touching each other. My electrical engineer dad guessed I'd drawn the entire 100-amp service with that stunt. If my current Husky 353 dies the next chainsaw will be on batteries. Given our snowfall here, I think an electric snowblower is years away. As for electric vehicles, maybe when high-clearance critters are available on my retirement income, or when the new smaller-than-new-Ranger hybrid has enough years that a used one is priced reasonably.

Average is a couple inches but what's the median - can be more realistic in November snow expectation. Average here is 4.9" but median is 2.6. Oct-Nov average is 5.6": but the median is that same 2.6". In 2006 we had our 1st measurable on Dec. 7 and only 11" total thru Jan. 13. Then got 84" rest of the way. Had zilch for Oct. '17 and only 0.1" for Novie, finished with 116% average thanks to the big March. (Definitely a 4th winter month at this latitude.)

Ask them to paint the house gray, or dull green?

Counted a handfull of flakes just now, first ones I've actually seen this season. Yesterday's cloudy 44 max was archetypical November wx. (And the clouds hung around until after the eclipse - makes 4 consecutive lunar eclipses behind clouds here. Really hope April 8, 2024 is clear.)

Mid 40s under full clouds. CAD can be either good or bad.

Other then the kids (grandkids generally visit after leaf-moving time) that's a precise description of what I do, rake the heavy places into piles, move them onto the 12x10 canvas tarp my FIL bought at Morsan's (NNJ, probably long defunct) 50+ years ago, haul to garden. Had to pile down short of the garden this year because the leaves fell before the tomatoes got killed, a first for here. Later I dug part of the carrots and moved leaves to mulch the rest for overwintering. Fresh carrots in April are a real treat and Bolero (from Johnny's) are super storers. Edit: Obviously DIT = "most".

Laptop went back to the state upon retirement and the desktop is too gormy, but otherwise exactly on target. (Will never reach the late Feb horror of 2010, however.)

2001 is top 5 here for SDDs and one of 3 to reach 48" (2008 and 2009 the others and Feb 2017 hit 47), but the lateness of the peak was the most anomalous. The 19" dump on 3/30-31 produced that 48" depth and it was still 47" on 4/1 (as the strongest storm of all slid east and ripped up Newfoundland). Even in Ft. Kent we never had that much pack on 4/1, though 1984 was only one inch away. 2002-03 was BN thanks to consistent suppression and 2010-11 only average thanks to several near misses. 2007-08 is the clear champ with 3,877 SDDs with 2018-19 (3,441) the only other season above 3K. That latter season was built on 162 days with 1"+, nearly 2 weeks longer than 2nd place nd based on both the snowy cold Novie and consistent if not heavy snowfalls and BN temps. Low ratio but cold storms made for a solid pack. Other big years were 2000-01, 13-14, 16-17 in the 2,800 range; 08-09 and 14-15 in the 2,400s and 17-18 riding a big March to clear 2,000. Nobody else reached 1,800 and 05-06 the clear bottom at 557.

Last Feb really cooked for the NYC area. Several sites in NW NJ recorded more snow that month than my Maine foothills locale had for the entire season.

Definitely true for here. So far I've recorded 7 sunny, 7 PC and 2 cloudy days this month and today will be PC (sun morn, clouds aft). Never have had more than 8 sunny days in any of our 23 Novembers; never had more sunny days than cloudy.

Latest in the snowblower saga - went out this morning, hit the primer once, critter started first pull. I have absolutely no explanation for why it seemed locked up last Monday. Not just the starter cord, but the electric starter couldn't crank it either, just a click and hum. I wonder if the super-fast crank of the earlier use of e-start, before I'd gotten the new primer in place, did something bad. Seemed to run all right after that start and shut off normally, but it was my next try that I couldn't pull the rope. Tried again, pulled one turn then it locked up again. Later Monday I could pull the starter cord but no joy from the engine, and today's experience confirmed (to me) that I'd flooded it with over-use of the primer. May or may not be relevant: Many years back (1974 or 75) I was delivering pizzas in BGR with my '69 Nova coupe, 230 cu straight 6. The gas pedal occasionally would stick, and that evening I started the car and it answered with a roar that became a scream - car had no tach but it would've been scary if there was one. Shut it off, tapped the pedal, and on the re-start no stuck gas but a deep-engine bang-bang-bang. Took the pizzas back in for someone else to deliver, thinking car was wrecked, but when I tried again at closing time all was fine. I ran the car 2 more years/10k miles (to 105k) before it rusted out and I sold it to a chopper for commuting to his logging chance. Dad said it sounded like I'd 'spun a bearing" (not sure exactly what that means) and somehow it fixed itself. Same general idea, if different phenomenon, as the snoblo?

Stayed south of here. We've seen frozen on the cars twice now (a few dippin' dots on 11/5 and slush on Monday) but have yet to see any in the air.

Mild, wet and 118th of 128 winters for snowfall up here. Like last winter only wetter. No thanks.

The angle of repose on the bench/table edges suggests sleet or at least heavily rimed flakes. Lots different than the bulbous edges when it's 32° fatties.

We average nearly 90"/year but in 23 Novembers here, 8 have produced less than 2", 5 less than 1", and only 4 have reached double digits. Average is 4.9" but 17 of 23 came in BN. (Balanced by months like the 23.4" of 11/18.)