tamarack

Only previous September without a frost was 2011, and it broke the schneid with 25° on 10/6. I don't think we'll have a frost until several days beyond that date.

September 2021 wx Avg temp: 58.57 +1.79 Avg max: 67.57 -0.43 High: 76 on the 18th, ties with several other years for least warm Sept high Avg.min: 49.57 +4.01 Low: 34 on the 29th, mildest Sept low and 2nd Sept (of 24) w/o a frost. The 18.00 avg diurnal range is the smallest for Sept. and the 3rd month this year setting a new smallest range, along with July and January. Precip: 5.13" +1.52" Greatest calendar day: 0.85" on the 15th. 9-10 total rom Ida was 1.50". YTD: 28.52" -5.88" 83% of average.

And would be most unlikely to be implemented unless there was already a human benevolent dictator in place, one who was willing to cede authority to machines.

More on water year trivia: Checked on water year peak flow dates for 4 Maine rivers - St. John, Kennebec, Sandy, Carrabassett. St. John was by far the most consistent, with 2% in March, 60% in April, 37% in May, plus August 1981. The other 3 were fairly similar to each other. By quarters: JAM: 15% AMJ: 52% (Top 3-months: 57% for MAM) JAS: 5% OND: 28% Although February was the least likely month for peak flow (only Carrabassett in the mega-mild Feb. 1981), JAS was by far the lowest in peak flows of any 3-month span. Other regions may have different timing regimes, but for that trio of rivers, Oct. 1 makes a natural break point.

Or maybe base the period's timing on averages? August 1955 must've really messed up the peak flow data in west/central SNE.

The most efficient form of government might be a benevolent dictatorship. Problem is that history shows such dictatorships never remain benevolent.

About 40% color here by eyeballing, heavier to yellows than reds. Unfortunately, near the house it's also 25% leaf drop.

For my records, it needs to be 32 or lower and there needs to be some frost/frozen dew on the vehicles. Unless 1st "frost" is accumulating snow. Never been even close to that happening.)

Don't know how September yellowjackets relate to winter severity, but in 2 consecutive Fort Kent winters the old "height from ground of hornet nests = height of snowpack" theory was refuted. Nests in 1982 were all 6-12 feet high and that was followed by the January when snow cover dropped to a single icy inch and winter's 24" max depth was lowest of my 10 winters there. In summer 1983 all the nests I saw were 6-24" off the ground, low enough to be destroyed by skunk attack. The following winter not only had the biggest snowfall of my experience (26.5") but was the only one in which pack exceeded my 61" snow stake. (In late summer 1984 I saw a huge hornet nest that probably started at 7-8 feet in a yellow birch sapling but had bent the tree over to the point where the nest was about waist high. Not sure what that might mean. )

Yesterday's 34 will be September's coldest, for our 2nd fall with 1st frost in October. 7 miles NNW in West Farmington close to the Sandy River, my wife had to scrape ice off the windshield. (She was staying overnight with a 93 y.o lady with health issues.) Color here is in the 30-50% range but leaf drop is way ahead of average as related to color.

A week either side of the average seems a valid range for fall color. I think spring leaf-out varies more. Last year there was barely anything greening up in mid-May and whatever buds had broken were not encouraged by the 5/9 snowfall. In 2010 everything was greening up with even the late starting white ash having 4-6" new shoots when they got blasted with low-mid 20s on 5/11. I'd guess those 2 years were at least 3 weeks apart in green-up, probably more.

Colors may be late in places, but late Sept/early Oct is indeed the average peak in the western Maine mts. When I was in northern Maine the average peak was the last week of September. We're running a bit late but within a week of average.

If "Yes" wins, the corridor is dead, pending all the lawsuits of course. To me, the first part in my earlier post intends to correct what was seemingly an unconstitutional lease approval by BPL - changing well-managed commercial forest to a powerline corridor sure passes my straight-face test as "substantially altering", and thus the lease should've been subject to the 2/3 majority in the legislature but instead was never submitted. (Leases that don't result in substantial alteration need no legislative approval.) And it's always confusing when voting yes means no. Many years back there was a referendum for local metered phone service, and my wife and I plus our staff biologist and his wife all had the same opinion but voted 2-2 due to the very confusing language. I find this whole affair very sad, as 33 of my 36 years in state employ was with BPL and those were great years working with great people. Now I see two people I call friends and for whom I have great respect, on opposite sides of the lawsuit challenging the lease, the BPL director whom I've worked with for 20+ years as he was formerly the forest specialist for the Maine Natural Areas Program, and my state senator, with whom I've worked on maple products from public lands (He has several thousand taps and strongly encourages more sugaring in Maine) and who was Maine's and the Northeast Region's tree farmer of the year in 2018.

Great field, too. I recall a 6-3 loss to the Jets (IIRC) in a howling SE rainstorm. John Stephens had about 175 yards rushing and got the Pats into the red zone during the final minute. However, the pond was ankle deep on that part of the field, making a figgie attempt near impossible especially into the 50 mph gusts, and they failed to convert the 4th down. When I'd tuned in during Q3 I wondered why the view was terrible - could hardly see the players in windblown rain/mist. Rod Rust, Victor Kiam, "Patriot missile" - consistent futility.

The whole winter was a bunch of whiplashes, some more violent than others. Farmington snowpack offers an illustration: Dec. 22: 32" after 22" in a week. Jan. 1: 24" after 10 days of meh, more settling than melting Jan. 13: 40" Jan. 28: 8" 3 cutters with temps 47-53, 4" RA. Biggest Jan melt-off on record there. Feb. 18: 21" Feb. 29: 7" more 50° and RA Mar. 9: 23" Mar. 24: Trace 6 days in the 50s.

34-35 here, lowest for the month, but this will be just the 2nd of 24 Septembers here w/o a frost. Currently running 2.3° AN, with highs right at average and lows +4.6.

The full language of the bill includes two main items. The first is limited to lands managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands and defines certain uses (including powerline rights-of-way) as substantially altering use of the land, and are thus subject to constitutional amendment 164 which requires approval by at least 2/3 of each body of the Maine legislature for such substantial alteration. The amendment was ratified in November of 1993 by referendum, with 73% of the votes approving. (Trivia note: The amendment was triggered by the bureau selling 2 acres (out of 1200 at Pineland) of "scarce public land in southern Maine", to the NWS for its new office.) The retro back to Sept 2014 is specific to BPL and has nothing to do with the items illustrated in the 'Vote No" ads, unless one subscribes to an exaggerated version of the "Camel's nose" theory. The second provision specifically prohibits a "high impact electric transmission line" (previously defined in statute) in the "Upper Kennebec region" (defined in this bill) and is directly aimed at NECEC. This section also adds a requirement that any such transmission line in Maine is subject to 2/3 votes of house and senate, and is retro thru Sept 16, 2020.

Not familiar with the term. Is that another name for heat pump or something entirely different. We put in a heat pump last November knowing 95% of its use would be for cooling, and it's done that very nicely. We got a big rebate plus a decent one-time federal tax credit that combined were more than 40% of our cash outlay. Electric bill went up some but not tragic given the increased comfort.

Some paints/stains are attractive to critters. When I worked up north for Seven Islands, town line boundaries got blue paint and interior ownership lines red, both with Benjamin Moore paint. The blue was never touched but bears coming out of hibernation often chewed most of the paint off red-painted cedar corner posts - wood chips scattered all over. All oaks, red group or white, hold some brown leaves until bud break in spring, but Jeff's pin oaks hold more of their leaves than the common Northern red oak or most other oaks. Pin oak also has the best reds of any of the northerly oaks.

I've yet to have a high above 76 this month. (Not unusual for September here - this month will make 9 of 24 w/o reaching 80.)

I'd thought that the co-op was at the old NWS office site at the Jetport. Or are there 2 co-op sites at PWM?

+2.4 here. Maxima right on average, minima +4.8. 3rd straight month with way BN diurnal ranges. 41 for the low but had bumped up 3-4° by 6 AM for some reason.

Same site, I presume.

Saw a number of Mac's throws that were catchable but dropped, some of which could've been better placed for easier catches. Lots of plays where he had <2 seconds before getting blasted. I miss Scar. So does the OL.

In Fort Kent the aspen peaked well after the birch-beech-maple peaked. The stark green-and-yellow stage was like a 2nd (though lesser) peak. Better if there's bigtooth aspen mixed in, for some of the brightest orange in the woods.