tamarack

Mildest October (2017) - 105.5" in 17-18 2nd mildest (2007) - 142.3" in 07-08 Number 3 (2014) - 112.8" in 14-15 4th place (2010) - 100.5" in 10-11 We take. (Though it took the 15" dump of April Fools 2011 to crack the century mark.)

Another evening with clear 40s turning into a cloudy morning with mid-upper 30s. Happened about 5 times this month without dropping below the 34 on 9/29. Now 17 days beyond my previous 1st frost and unless tomorrow morning drops to 32 or below we may ride frost free into November. October is running +4.9 and is looking to our 2nd mildest of 24, slightly above 2007. The +6.3 of 2017 is out of reach unless we bag 3-4 days of 60s - not happening here. (And I'd take either of the winters following those Octobers.)

Soon as the leaves stop working, drain-off of rain pretty much stops as well. One big rain at this time of year and most logging jobs are on pause until they can work on frozen ground. (Either that or they're tearing up the ground and the roads.)

Good hyperbole but apt. At least most roads on those NH sites are paved. Once west of Dickey the nearest pavement is adorned with signs au Francois.

That outer bar probably had taken a hit in February 1952, "The Finest Hours" storm. For here, the main effects for the Perfect Storm arrived several days after the loss of Andrea Gale, on Nov 1. We (Parks and Lands foresters) were exploring the recently acquired Donnell Pond tract east of Ellsworth, in a 40° downpour. I'd intended to walk halfway around Black Mountain then down the notch between the 2 peaks, but missed the turn and walked the extra 2 miles around both peaks. Despite my rain jacket I was totally drenched. Several rain-free hours later we stopped for coffee in Ellsworth and when I pulled a dollar from my wallet there was water dripping from it. (One of my favorite walks ever. It included a magical looking spruce slope forest with the rocky ground covered in spruce seedlings or deep lush moss, the intense green made even moreso in the rain.)

Last winter I set the unit so it wouldn't run until the woodstove was no longer providing sufficient heat. 40 years ago I'd have gotten up about 2:30 AM to reload the stove but I'm now content to burn kilowatts instead. At any rate, the vast majority of our oil is for domestic hot water and for when we're away for a while.

Maybe at the Common. Logan only got down to 34.

Those wood/oil/coal combos seemed like a good thing at first, but the large firebox needed for the solid fuel destroyed the efficiency when burning oil. We had the heat pump installed last November, got a $1,000 rebate and a one-time $500 tax credit from the IRS that knocked a big chunk out of the cost. Used it mainly for AC so far but if oil keeps climbing we may burn more kilowatts this winter. We're in the shade here, our southeast-facing house isn't ideal for solar, and with near 90" average snowfall and good retention I wonder if we'd need to be cleaning off the panels after each significant snowstorm, with attendant hazard for me and potential damage to them.

PF: Sounds like the airplane trip I'm glad I missed when I worked up north. Co-workers were trying out 35 mm color infrared film to spot softwood seedlings otherwise invisible beneath raspberries, flying in early May between snowmelt and leaf-out. With no camera bracket, the photographer (our research forester) had to hold it while leaning out the open window, as the pilot was flying in circles wingtip down to enable a vertical shot. At 2000' it wasn't awful but when they went down to 500' the circles were so tight (with the stall horn blaring!) that the pilot began to feel ill and zipped over to the St. John to rest on floats for a few minutes.

Looked like 50%+ change in that pic.

That map shows my area "Near Peak" but everything except oaks, popple and understory beech is essentially bare. We peaked 7-10 days ago.

My first commercial flight was PQI-BGR on a 16-passenger airplane with the old Bar Harbor Airline in Feb 1976. The pilot asked the passenger across from me to help raise the staircase. Took off into a snow squall that had the aircraft dancing then climbed to 12k (I could see the altimeter) where turbulence was less, but the descent to BGR was quite rocky. However, my later rides in light aircraft - Cessna 185s/206s, sometimes on floats - included some interesting moments. On a very windy day flying from Chesuncook to Baxter, our 206 on floats was turned nearly on edge as we passed Soubunge Mt, I've hit my head on the ceiling of a 185 while firmly belted (no idea how that was possible) and in 1994 we heard gear bouncing off the walls behind us as we hit transverse rolls created by the Bigelow range. I noted that the pilot chopped speed from 130 kt to 90 real quick. On the ground I noted that fact and he deadpanned, "I thought it better if the wings remained attached to the airplane."

No, though I've read about it and seen the pics. All the victims were recovered but there was no purpose for hauling the other debris off the mountain.

Fall storms seem to peak in that month. 16 of 23 Octobers here have produced >4.3" and 2005 had 14.09", the wettest month I've recorded anywhere.

The weekend 0.91" brought the month to 0.95". October has averaged 5.70" here so a long way to go. Driest was 2001 with 1.12". Median is 5.52" with only 3 of 23 having less than 3.46" - easily the most consistently wet month.

The airplane never gained much altitude and pilots did a "Sullenberger" ditch but on pavement before ending in a field. The landing probably didn't do much damage but likely the tarmac scratch started a fire, which spread sufficiently slowly that all exited safely, though one reported respiratory distress (smoke or effort not noted) and one with back pain. Bummer for the luggage, though - when airplanes burn they generally do so thoroughly.

I guess it depends on where the overwintered queens find suitable conditions, and they're not telling us.

Evening temps say frost in the morning. Then the clouds come in and the breeze hangs around and we barely get under 40. Yesterday's 50/35 was 2° BN, ending a 14-day run of AN. We have slight chances of 1st frost tomorrow and Thursday mornings, after that it would be next week. Previous latest for 1st frost was 10/6/2011, and the other 22 years it came in September. Just can't get any good radiation to stick around.

My Fort Kent experience says that's bogus. The nests I saw in summer 1982 were all 8-12" off the ground, and the following January had a thaw that left grass sticking up thru an inch of armorplate. Summer 1983 nests were low enough to be raided by skunks, and winter 83-84 I had to add an extension to my 61" snow stake. Yeah not sure why he thinks blizzards are a norm. You can go years without one. I've had only 6 events meeting blizzard criteria in the 36 years since moving from Fort Kent. Probably 10-12 in my 9.7 winters up there, half of which were cyclonic NW gales playing with new snow.

My hope as a long time Repub is that the Big Orange will be sufficiently obnoxious that all but the most ardent Trumpanistas will come to their senses. Not especially optimistic, though.

Some of each but not much of either, and the PB is mostly bare, the aspen (all quaking) half empty and kind of dull. Still some beautiful bigtooth aspen in the general area, with leaves grading from yellow to deep orange. It's much less common than quaking aspen but IMO a prettier species both spring and fall.

95% leaf drop here. The 5% is the big oak (still mostly green), a couple half-shed aspen and some understory trees protected from the wind. Stick season has begun. (Except for places with lots of oak.)

Temp was 37 at 11 last evening with light wind, usually a gimme for frost/freeze, but clouds were edging in. Same 37 at 7 this morning. Maybe tomorrow morning or day after? If not, we wait into next week.

Four years ago NYC didn't fall below 52° until Oct. 16. Got a little chilly a couple months later.

Farmington co-op's latest date for 1st frost is the 290th day of the year, POR back thru 1893. Today is #290 and we're still counting.