tamarack

Beautiful! Only 35 at our Sunrise Service, which is high end for those meetings for our church. Did not expect to see the sun but it was PC rather than the expected cloudy. Brisk little breeze at near 32 but wonderful just the same.

At best (or worst depending on one's viewpoint), cut amounts in half on the blue and by 1/4 for the higher numbers except maybe the reds - ain't gonna be 10:1 for most.

1st half yes, 2nd half naso much. Since the Farmington co-op moved to its current location (July 1966), April 1-15 has average 5.12" and 16-30 only 1.30". During that time there have been nearly 20 storms 6" for 1-15, topped by 20.0" on 3-5/75, while only 4 in 16-30, with 11.0" on 18-19/67 being tops and no others bigger than 7". In the 21st century (2001 on) the averages are 4.32" and 0.89" with just the 6.5" of 28-29/02 reaching the 6" mark.

Nice pics. Your dad's smallie is significantly bigger than any I've caught. Probably the biggest largemouth I've had on a line was near Pomleau Island on North - my small canoe stays near the north end of the pond. Fish took a Kelly Worm and was on for a couple minutes, made one jump about 30' away and looked at least 2 feet, but only a one-second look so who knows as it got off a few seconds later. Glad that I at least got to see it.

Siggy snow after 4/15 is a rare commodity and seems very capricious. The 2 biggest late April snowfalls, 13" on 22-23/86 and 11" on 19/83, were in NNJ while we were visiting there. Next was 8.0" on 4/16/88, which complicated the snowtreads-removed trip toward our DC excursion. Then 6.3" in the 28-29/87 storm and 5.9" on 17-18/92. All 3 of those came in Gardiner, mildest place (along with BGR) where we've lived in Maine. New Sharon comes in 6th with 4.2" on 28-29,02 then 3.6" on 17/10. Also had 3.2" on 5/9/20. Bangor had 3.5" on 23/74 after 2 days of 60s-70s. Fort Kent's only top 10 entry was 3.2" on 4/30-5/1/78. Averages for 4/16 on: (NNJ not shown as I wasn't keeping records for most of my years there.) BGR: 1.20" FK: 1.21" Gard.: 1.70" NS: 0.95"

An hour farther north puts the Belgrades in play, if pike are the object. State record 31-pounder came thru the ice on North Pond, though it was 25+ years ago. I did see a 20-pounder on that pond's ice about 10 years back. My biggest there is a bit over 8 pounds, fun on my light tackle.

I assume GYX is reporting Central Park.

GYX hourly readings have NYC only 61 at 4 PM, while BDL is 77 and PHI reporting 83, this latter from another source. Someone playing tricks on the Central Park instruments while LGA/JFK bake? Drizzly 45 here, April at its worst.

BD must be sneaking to NYC, as they had 62 at 3 PM. Maybe the Palisades blocking the cool air? They're cooler than anyplace within 100 miles that doesn't have toes in the ocean.

Google Earth has the base lodge at ~2,450', and 300' higher than where the lowest lift starts. Summit lift unloads right around 4000, at least in GE's 2018 imagery. I doubt the new owners' improvements have changed that.

I assume they go thru South Arm Camps. Disclosure: I worked as a forester for Public Lands for 33 years 1985-2021, with a 3-year gap in the 90s when I was with Maine Forest Service and have spent lots of time on BPL's Richardson Unit, which includes the east shore of Upper Richardson and much of Lower. (And staying in the Rangeley area, I'm very happy that Saddleback has come back to life though arthritic knees preclude my skiing. Its NW aspect should give it Maine's best upslope and retention.) Perhaps if we wish to continue this discussion, it should move to the banter thread?

This site should get you to their website. www.gopinescamping.com I know no details about the campground itself, but it's in a lovely spot on one of Maine's truly unique lakes. Flagstaff is the state's 4th largest lake and was created by Long Falls Dam at its east end. The impoundment erased over 20 miles of the North Branch of the Dead River and began filling in 1950. Because of several reasons, this huge lake is nearly ideal for people-powered watercraft, though its size and the (gorgeous) Bigelow Range to its south means water can get rough quickly, though There's very little of the lake that's more than a mile from shore. If the wind is up. one can kayak north from the campground for several miles of flat water that's not much wider than the old river channel. Because most of the lake is rather shallow, it doesn't have a good cold-water fishery; it doesn't stratify in summer so forms no layer beneath which the temperature is trout friendly. It's more of a pickerel pond. Also, the clearing for the impoundment was less than thorough and did not include stump removal. It's a wonderful place to collect driftwood but that and those stumps create hazards for motorboats, especially larger ones - good place to remove the lower housing of one's outboard. Those two facets send most trout/salmon anglers and water skiers elsewhere, leaving the water to canoers and kayakers.

A few forsythia blossoms near the heat-retaining low stone wall. I think they've misread the calendar, as there's no signs of colts foot, trout lilies and other such early risers. Firt time I can recall when the forsythia blossoms were the very first color of spring. Near 60 and cloudy, but the dry air is eating up the precip long before it gets here.

Trees grow. When my wife and I were there 2 years ago in early March, we had to walk down the road a ways to get much of a view, and were unaware of the better views from farther west.

Partly cloudy and breezy since 2 when the clouds broke. Nice and mild. Fired up the grill for some urgers last evening, 1st of the season.

Chain of Ponds is a lovely drive but not one for gazing away from the road for long - lots of curves, lots of trucks. Great campground, too, though it's not open yet. IMO, best view of the Bigelow Range is up the Eustis Ridge Road, which leaves Rt 27 near the north edge of old growth red pine (Cathedral Pines, some of which may have been saplings when Benedict Arnold's army passed by on the way to Quebec in 1775.) There's a scenic overlook at ~1.7 miles that used to have picnic tables - was deep in snow last time I went by, but I've heard there's even a better view ~3/4 mile further.

Forecast highs Tues-Thurs for Gloucester County (~20 miles south of PHI) are 74/75/79, then back to 60s. And "joisey" is for the NYC-metro part of the state - SNJ folks snicker at that accent.

First peepers heard last night at the nearby winterberry swamp. Wood frogs had started there a few days earlier. Bright sun and low 50s atm, 22 of the last 27 days have been AN and only 2 of the BN days were more than 1° below the average.

What is surprising about pack that winter is that Aroostook, with significantly more snowfall and colder temps, never reached the 48" I had on 3/1. Van Buren reached 47" and Fort Kent 46" but CAR, with their record 197.8" never had more than 36". (CAR reached 62" in 1977 and hit the low 50s in 3 other years. As recently as 2019 they reached 45".) All 3 topped out on 3/21 in the 3-day blizzard. My pack lasted thru 4/20 while the 3 sites above had 1" or more thru 21st, 22nd and 19th, respectively. The much more exposed and west-facing Farmington co-op reached 42" on 3/1 and still had 6" on 4/16 but reaching 70° on the 17th took it all except traces.

Beat me in both Decembers but not the Nov-Jan totals. Had 15.9" here in 12/19 and only 9.3" in 12/20, thanks to getting a 1.9" fringe from the 17th death band. Totals for those 5 months give you 4.2" more than here. Not quite according to climo . . .

Still had 27" at the stake here on 4/9/08. The winter of SWFE swarms.

Both December and March haven't been pulling their weight over the past 3-4 winters here. We've had 3 straight BN snow totals, and Jan-Feb have been 95% of average but Dec-Mar only 60%. Including 18-19, my most recent AN winter, the 4 Jan-Febs had 105% snow while Dec-Mar had that same 60%. Perhaps making up for 16-17 and 17-18, when both December and March had 2-year totals near 170% of average?

Not many in 95-96 except maybe for a day, as the January downpours blew away what was looking to be a real pack. Only time in 130 winters that Farmington lost 32" of depth in January, and probably no other January is close. (Depth records only began in 1941 but I'm confident of the above comment.)

I've read laments about the Boxer, mainly due to noise. Since getting our 1st Subaru in 1991 - the old Loyale though back then it was just "Subaru" - we're on #6, all purchased used, and have had almost no issues with the engine itself in 550k miles. #4, a 1999 Outback, blew a head gasket but it was also our only near-lemon, had several other major repairs plus being a bullseye for other vehicles and deer. Last 2 were Foresters and we've not put much money beyond ordinary maintenance. (Except for a November collision but that wasn't the vehicle's fault.)

Mothers' Day?