tamarack

We have paper wasps all during the warm season, but the yellowjackets have arrived in force once they had apple drops on which to gorge. Cloudy, near 70 and dewy. Light dz became light RA as I drove into Farmington for an 8 AM Dr appt and did the opposite an hour later as I drove home. The thicker dz hasn't reached here yet.

My memories of the cafeteria at Hopkins included the famous vile veal stew, green beans cooked to mush and soaked in bacon fat, cube steak with nothing but soup spoons with which to attack it, and frequent episodes of top-and-bottom misery - only once for me, from a veal cutlet, after which I consistently chose the tuna salad. And on the cube steak adventure, a friend was bashing it with the spoon when birdshot clicked onto the plate.

The social wasps - wasps, hornets, yellowjackets - all die in the fall except the queen, which hibernates (in the ground, I think). Yellowjackets in particular always seem to get dopey this time of year - more pesty about your food, less aggressive about stinging, easier to smack' Most yellowjackets we've ever had in a house where I lived came when I was 5 y.o and came screaming thru the door with some awful buzzing coming from my clothes. My mom had me strip to skivvies and hide in the bathroom while she did battle with a flyswatter. With 5 down she gave the all clear but as soon as I came into the living room another flew out from under a lampshade and away I scrambled - twice. Ended up with 7 lined up on the windowsill. Can't remember how many stings I had, but it was the first of many dozen painful encounters with yellowjackets, wasps, hornets (and the occasional bumble or honeybee.)

Salmon on the grill last night - love it. (Undoubtedly farmed, Maine, Maritimes, maybe even Norway as they're the world leader by far in farmed salmon.)

I've noticed the same and have had nurses make the same comment. I've also exhibited white coat syndrome, though not consistently. Earlier this year at the orthopedist (my cortisone for the knees) the BP was significantly higher than usual, then last month at my cardiologist appointment - one would think a prime WCS opportunity - it was my usual 130/70. (And after an EKG and exam, he referred to the visit as "dull and boring". )

Yesterday's low of 38 was the 2nd latest date to get under 40 in our 24 years here. In 2015 it took until 9/21, but that year did it with a bang - after never getting below 43 since June, that 9/21 morning was 32. Another beauty today after the early fog. Some leaves drifting by though we're at less than 5% leaf drop, maybe 15% color.

Bingo. I've had BMI over 30 since before BMI was invented and statins have kept things under control for 2 decades. My older brother, who is nearly as trim as when he graduated from West Point in 1965, has been on statins longer than I have.

Yesterday's +12 brought the month up to +0.8. Would not surprise me to finish the month +1 to +2, pretty modest furnace.

Yes, about 55 years ago. Fortunately I've forgotten most of it. (Though I've read that it was an intentional over-the-top satire on sex-filled books.)

A day 14 forecast failed to verify. Stop the presses!!

Looks like each year on that table should be one year later than shown, thus including 20-21.

Thru June precip here 2021 was 8.7" BN and 62% of average. Thru yesterday we're 5.4" BN and 84% of average. Gaining . . .

Don't want that kind of September. Would love that kind of Oct-May.

94-95 was the first time I saw a foot of snow utterly disappear in a Maine January, thanks to the second mildest (daily mean) January day in the Farmington co-op's 129-year POR, though well behind the 1932 record. Jan '95 saw temps go from 27° BN to 32° AN in 5 days. 2-storm winter, and the first was a major bust - even at first flakes near sunrise on Jan 2 the forecast was 1-3" and 2 hours later we were getting 3"/hour and finished with 12.

Ike would stay at the camps there during his presidency and fish Little Boy Falls on the Parmachenee River below the lake.

Hope this year isn't like 1983 in Fort Kent - got nearly 2 weeks into Sept without going below 40 then pow! 25° on 9/14. (Forecast had been u30s.) Could've played bocce with the green tomatoes. (Then had measurable snow in 8 different months, my 61" snow stake was overtopped and had 5,715 SDDs, more than 1,300 above 2nd place.)

Parmachenee FTW.

Posted by Jeff not me, but very impressive.

Heard yesterday on Maine news that Augusta and some nearby towns have been kicked into the 2nd district by the 2020 census. Areas north of Rt 2 have been slowly but consistently losing population for the past 30+ years while York and Cumberland Counties gain.

Least snowy of my 23 winters here. In fact, least snowy since 1973-74 in BGR, my 1st full winter in Maine. And a December that might retain the #1 spot for mild temp for the rest of the century even if warming were to continue apace thru 2100. Wonder how many sites in NNE have had their first frost. Of the 107 sites with published frost/freeze probabilities, 33 of them have passed their average first frost date based on the 1981-2010 normals. Median date for 1st frost here is Sept. 19 and we haven't yet dipped below 40. Maybe we frost week after next - only 2011 made it thru Sept w/o a frost here.

That's an absolute monster of a timber rattler. I thought the 43" specimen a HS friend killed (this was about 1962) behind a NNJ Shop-Rite was big. And a slight correction to the article. While timber rattlers were once in all 6 New England states, the last in Maine - on Mt. Agamenticus - were extirpated about 1900 and I've not heard that they've returned.

From looking at major I-95 cities RIC north, the absolute monsters may disappear more slowly than big storm frequency or average snowfall. Below are the current numbers I have for 10 sites RIC to HUL, biggest on record with dates, and 15th biggest. The first column values are remarkably similar once north of Potomac (RIC shown for contrast) but significantly different for #15s. Site BIggest Date Fifteenth RIC 21.6" Jan. 1940 10.9" DC 28.0" Jan. 1922 12.4" "Knickerbocker storm" BWI 29.2" Jan. 2016 14.1" PHL 30.7" Jan. 1996 14.3" NYC 27.5" Jan. 2016 17.5" PVD 28.6" Feb. 1978 14.7" BOS 27.6 Feb. 2003 18.2" PWM 31.9" Feb. 2013 16.7" BGR 30.9" Feb. 1969 18.1" HUL 29.2" Mar. 1981 16.6" I'm not sure if the progressively later-in-season timing as one goes north is meaningful. 2nd biggest snowfalls are all over the place: DC thru NYC all Feb, PVD and PWM Jan, and BGR in Dec.

Why? It was CAR's 2nd warmest August and 2nd warmest September, and easily the warmest for the couplet. It's a psycho-babble support group in here, period. Deal with it - Rich irony there.

Thanks. Makes sense.

Fascinating series. The 2020 pic is surprising given the Sept temps. Did they have a big wind event shortly prior to Oct. 2? Photoperiod is definitely the basic driver of both leaf out and leaf color, though each process can be pushed earlier or later, by as much as 2 weeks in my experience. Timing of leaf drop is often storm-related. Color vibrancy is likely a result of multiple factors, rain, temps (and timing for each) and probably others. I've read explanatory articles that often conflict with each other - it's kind of like using the color scheme on woolly worms to predict winter severity. One study of the latter by a (now retired) Maine entomologist found a weak correlation but far from statistically robust given the sample size.