tamarack

Here's my "friend of a friend" anecdote. It's our pastor's cousin, also a pastor but in the south. This fellow was on a ventilator 2+ week then another 3 in hospital and about the same in rehab. When he finally returned home he could only take 2-3 steps before having to stop and catch his breath. Last I heard, perhaps 6 weeks after homecoming, was that he was walking up to 200 feet without stopping and has resumed some pastoral duty. Had comorbidity - cancer survivor (don't know which kind) - and is late 50s. Doesn't seem to fit depression or anxiety only.

Maine cases exploded from <20 to about 70 per day! That's just over 5 per 100,000. Yikes!

When I would be in the inevitable midsummer traffic jam where Rt 1 and Rt 172 merge going into Ellsworth, I'd have plenty of time to count Maine vs. not-Maine plates, and the latter would run about 75% of the total. Farther south, say Ogunquit, the non-Maine proportion is probably even higher.

That low average lifespan is a bit deceptive, but in a way that makes health of the young so important. Might be more appropriate to say that 500 years ago people were fortunate to make it to 10. Those that survived into their teens probably had lifespans about 60, significantly lower than now but way more than half way. A well-known case in point - J.S. Bach fathered 20 children in the early 1700s and only 7 survived into adulthood.

Norway is experiencing a mini baby-boom, with 4.4% more births Jan-June 2021 than the same period last year. Of course, that might have something to do with shutdowns limiting some behaviors and enabling others.

Kastmaster would cut thru the wind nicely, especially in the larger (striper) size. July is -2.3 thru yesterday, with maxima -5.4 and minima +0.8. Still in the running for July's smallest average diurnal range (currently 15.5° and lowest is 16.8° in 2009), though I think these last 4 days may include some tall ranges, especially Saturday.

As you know, it's all about location. The storm that tore apart trees and crushed vehicles in Belgrade Village with gusts up to 90 (as per GYX investigators) produced little wind and 0.02" at my place 10 miles away. The same system wrecked part of a friend's woodlot 50 miles east in Dixmont while a former co-worker a mile or 2 away had meh.

We were way from the house yesterday afternoon, had some light showers in the evening, and since there were no puddles I went to the gauge thinking maybe 0.05". Surprisingly found 0.44", bringing July to just a penny shy of 5". The mid-afternoon echoes, which didn't look all that great on radar, must've overperformed.

Startling percentage increases come easier with a low launch point. I think Maine must have a similar jump, because they were posting 7-day averages under 20/day and it went up to 70. Still pretty low.

Maybe that's why it's Death Valley (people can die/have died there) rather than Dead Valley.

From GYX afternoon AFD: A glace to the Northwest shows what`s to come. The thickest portion of the haze ends at the St. Lawrence valley and just behind it convection is beginning to fire ahead of another short wave/cold front just starting to drop into southern Quebec. Timing out this boundary, we`ve still got most of the afternoon to go in the hot haze before any of the convection can reach the US/Canada border, which should occur around sunset. This morning`s sounding out of Maniwaki shows a region of steep lapse rates around 700mb which should help to increase instability. That said, there is also quite a bit of dry air aloft. Overall it`s a marginal environment for severe storms, but some gusty winds can`t be ruled out in Northwestern Maine late this evening. Well behind the front we have much drier air moving in but we`ll need it to get here first. While the northern parts of NH and western Maine may see that benefit tonight the Maine coast will likely wait out almost until sunrise, and thus continued fog overnight along the midcoast is expected. .SHORT TERM /6 AM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... Tuesday a second stronger short wave will push through the region. This will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to especially the southern Maine and NH south of the White mountains. Forecast soundings suggest some marginal severe storms are possible, with gusty winds being the main threat. Have kept a mention of gusty winds in for the highest PoP. Looks like another "leapfrog" front, that reaches our area too late then resumes next day to our south. We're a bit AN for rain this month but serious convection has been eaten by the cloudiness. Yesterday was cloudy day #14 this month, tying 2009 for the July max. Only 2 sunny days back then so 2009 will retain the cloudiest July title, but 2021 will easily take the silver.

My senior year in HS (1963) included a super smoky October as a fire was burning all month in the state forest 5-6 miles away. Each day we could track where the fire was hottest by spotting the thickest/tallest smoke column. Much smaller than the sources of today's smoke (~3,000 acres) but stubborn. Glaciers had dumped loads of boulders there and trees/mountain laurel had grown up thru the spaces between rocks. Duff and litterfall desiccated by the driest October on record (0.14" in NYC, 0.10" on the 31st) burned readily and with roots/litter among the rock gardens, firefighters would be watering down flames in front only to have more follow the fuel and pop up behind.

In about 2 weeks I start nipping the tops from our tomato plants, so that growth can focus on fruit already set rather than on setting new fruit that won't ripen in time. Fall prep. Average temps (slowly) begin the downward slide late this week.

47 at this rad pit.

The plate and 4 screws in my neck from fusion surgery at C-4 are also titanium. They've been there since April 2011 and I've had no issue with them (including with TSA) though the fusion is long complete and their only function now is to make for pretty X-rays.

It's far from new. In 1974, 2 years before I started with Seven Islands, 2 guys were bar-hopping in NH (takes a lot of miles to hop more than once) until they finally go cut off after a spell in Errol. Then they headed down Rt 16, not the straightest road, until the driver put his Beetle in the ditch at speed and crashed into the end of a culvert placed for a logging road. Driver had minor injuries (isn't that the way?) but his chum became a paraplegic and the lawsuits began. Started with NH DOT as the culvert was within the Rt 16 ROW but NH chose not to entertain the suit - most/all states have that sovereign option. The bartender in Errol settled out of court, while the badly injured guys lawyers went after Volkswagon of America, James River (road was built to access their forest land) and Seven Island, because JR had to cross a tiny corner of 7-I land (~40') to get to theirs. After several months 7-I managed to get excluded from the suits, but by then the legal bill was $27,000 - in 1974 dollars. My 1st year's pay as a graduate forester (started 1st Monday of Jan '76) was $10,000, by far the most I'd ever earned.

This is why I've voiced skepticism of the widespread use of dendrochronology to estimate past temperature regimes. It's most useful at the cold edge of a species' range, where a 1°C change can determine success or failure to produce viable seed. Elsewhere it's like you found - water is by far the bigger determinant. 10/10 for CoC today. Sun is strong enough for me to work up a sweat moving wood but dews low enough to evaporate it. Edit: July has already had 1/4" more rain than the full month average, but the Sandy River flow is slightly less than 25th percentile. Garden roots are fine but the water table has dropped.

The 7/4-5/1999 derecho broke some trees at Natanis Point Campground (Chain of Ponds Twp) and a large branch fell on a tent, injuring a boy and his mom. They tried suing the state (it's on BPL land) and did sue the camp owner. Mom said the injury ruined her son's summer, but he was running around like normal 3 weeks later at our church's VBS. The suit went nowhere - that system had downed trees from Boundary Waters (many thousands there) to BGR, Maine has lots of trees, the one causing the injuries had no outward defects, etc, etc. Don't know how much out-of-pocket for the camp owner before the case was tossed.

2nd cell thru about 3:45, looks like .10-.15" additional, and a strike at 1.5 miles distance. (Nothing else close) June had 12 days with measurable precip and only 1.05" total, while July is up to 14 days measurable and more than 4 times the June total, and above the average for the full month. Temps now 2.3° BN and given forecasts, looks like this will be the first BN month since October.

0.05" and no lightning near enough to bother our thunder-phobic dog. Those bright echoes clipped the was part of town. Better than nothing, however - precip May 1 forward now past the 7" mark, with 60%+ of that in July.

Old saying: Do right 1,000 times, not hear of it once. Do wrong once, hear of it 1,000 times.

We joined FB back when dial-up was our only option and wanted grandkid pics without a 2-hour download wait. I've found that when I stopped reacting to or commenting on the political-poison posts, I stopped receiving them. An FB algorithm that was actually useful? Who knew? Now it's back to family and friends, plus a few outside subjects, classical music, Maine Cabin Masters, the group for the lake community where we grew up, Friends of Norway (where wife's grandparents were born) and similar stuff.

Kind of misses the point. Being compelled to take the vaccine by the federal government smacks of dictatorship. What states, school districts, private sector entities do is something else. (Disclosure: I was fully vaccinated - Moderna - early last spring.) I wonder if the non-vaxx opinions will change once the drugs get full approval. Unfortunately, I don't think it will make all that much difference.

Decent here but pop-up showers around, so maybe 8/10. Two fairly intense cells crossed Rt 2 about an hour ago, one soaking Farmington and the other Mercer, skipping New Sharon. Glad we got yesterday's 3/10".

About 5-7 days later here, but it's more a plateau than a peak. The 30+ days 7/9-10 thru 8/9-10 all have average within 1° of each other. (Subject to change. Being in only our 24th year here, all averages are "live", potentially having slight changes with each entry.)