tamarack

I read Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" about his AT adventure - found it a bit disappointing and not just because of his rant against forest management. A lot of the book addressed the first 100 miles or so, much of it about a late-season snowfall at elevation which was interesting but overlong. I kept reading in part because of wondering what he'd think of Mahoosuc Notch (has been called the AT's toughest mile) and the Maine woods. The Notch wasn't mentioned, and since he was continually skipping ahead I suspect he didn't set foot on the Maine section of the Trail until Monson, at the start of the "Hundred Mile Wilderness". He made it maybe a dozen miles before running into a trail-blocking beaver pond, thrashed around that, then tucked tail between legs, walked out a logging road and headed home. Never had a dangerous bear encounter, though 15 minutes watching 3 critters 50' up 2 beech trees chomping down calories was thrilling. When mama finally spotted me she came down the nearer tree at top speed but I knew I was safe unless she mixed up direction and trampled me on the way by. The 2 2nd-year cubs split up, one ambling after mom and the other climbing 15' up a big maple. I walked over to that tree and the cub's whimpering was so poignant that I quickly left. Bears generally breed at 2-year intervals, abandoning the 2-year olds before hibernation, so I wonder if the three ever gathered together again. Did have a bull moose in rut walk toward me in hopes I was the cow of his dreams, but much hollering and thrashing convinced him otherwise at maybe 20 yards distance.

Haven't looked at eastern Maine, but CAR had 106.7", which is 95% of the 1981-2010 norms but only 89% of 1991-2020. Fort Kent reported 108.1", one of the few winters when they show more snow than CAR, which IMO is due to measuring technique not actual snowfall. FK co-op consistently reported less than I did in our 9 full winters there, by an average of 36" (134 vs. 98, with CAR having 118" those winters). The gap was 24" when we lived in town at similar elevation as the co-op site and climbed to 51" when we moved about 450' higher in the Violette Settlement, a logical increase. Since my measurements for 13 winters in Gardiner closely tracked that co-op and 23 winters here have run about 1.5" less than the Farmington co-op, 89.0 vs. 90.5 for the same winters, I think my measurements, while far from perfect, were more accurate than the Fort Kent co-op, a one-a-day recorder and sometimes it seemed they would merely look at the snow stake and record the difference as the previous day's snowfall. (My total is 6" more than the New Sharon co-op 3 miles away, but he's also a one-a-day observer that misses settling and snow-then-melt events.)

No nice graphics, but here are my numbers for those same years. My average starting with 1998-99 is 88.97". However, thru 2005-06 it was just 80.45" with 6 of 8 winters below the current average. For the period of your records my average is 93.51 - will use 93.5 as I don't have hundredths for annual snowfall, only the averages. Winter Snowfall +/- average 06-07 95.3 +1.8 07-08 142.3 +48.8 08-09 101.4 +7.9 09-10 64.8 -28.7 10-11 100.5 +7.0 11-12 68.0 -25.5 12-13 90.4 -3.1 13-14 101.3 +7.8 14-15 112.8 +19.3 15-16 48.2 -45.3 16-17 125.3 +31.8 17-18 105.5 +12.0 18-19 109.2 +15.7 19-20 85.1 -8.4 20-21 52.5 -41.0 Except for this past winter, our relationships to average showed only relatively minor discrepancies, perhaps worst in 14-15. But the 20-21 difference is stark, 103% of average versus 56%, near average versus ratter. As others have noticed, "normal" wx is merely the average of abnormal wx.

Their restrictions on travel, in or out, have had major effects on border areas. Historically, the majority of Old Orchard Beach summer tourism has come from PQ. It's like they won't open their eyes until new cases drop to zero, both there and here.

When Sen. King was governor of Maine, he once joked about seceding from the US to join our northern neighbor, and become the "Florida of Canada".

Great 1950s sci-fi, first movie role for "Marshall Dillon?"

0.02" overnight, soaked the car windows. Out of 76 Maine cocorahs reports (as of 8:30) only a site in Palmyra had less, with zero, though a 2nd obs from that town about 4 miles north of #1 reported 0.04". That town is about 35 miles east from my place. 40 miles west of here, Andover had 0.37", tops for the state.

BWI 78", CAR 71". For period of return I'd rank Baltimore getting more snow than Caribou right up there with Thirty-Eight and the Octobomb.

A WV observer at that kind of elevation reported over 160" for Feb. 2010. The only greater monthly snowfall I've found in the East is 172" on the Rockpile exactly 41 years earlier. That WV site had mediocre retention that month, considering over 13 feet of snowfall, but still . . .

Those striper pics remind me of a time several decades back when those big "cows" were right behind the surf chomping on fish stunned by the waves. F&S had an article "First Catch a Mackerel" describing how anglers would motor out a half mile, catch a bunch of tinkers then go back to a few yards outside the surf and heave the bait into the maelstrom, and would pull out 40-50 lb fish right and left.

I've read "Lucifer's Hammer" several times over the past 20+ years, also "The Mote in God's Eye" which is my favorite ET novel. Enjoyed the follow-up to "Mote" - "The Gripping Hand" - but not as much as the original. I also love the galaxy and characters of Niven's short stories, in "Neutron Star" and successors.

I despise hats when it's warm/hot - uncomfortable, and when bushwhacking thru the Maine puckerbrush the hat would get knocked off about once per dozen steps. Every deerfly in northern Maine knows that the whorl toward the back of one's head is ground zero, and when I'd smack one there all her friends would come to the funeral, and of course would expect a meal. In those woods there's also a non-biting fly, like a 90% scale housefly, that I call a sweat-licker. Having a couple hundred of those circling along with 50 deerflies is the nearest thing ever to chasing me back to the pickup. They all look alike when flying and one cannot tell which ones are carrying butcher knives. (Note: I accidently found that deerflies tend to key on movement and lose interest if one stands still, kind of like T-Rex in "Jurassic Park" - feels like similar dental equipment too, on a much smaller scale.)

I just finished reading an old (1985) first-contact sci-fi novel, "Footfall" (Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle) and the book's aliens came from Centauri system - will say no more to avoid spoiling (though I doubt many would be interested in the book.) However, if a civilization could harness unlimited power - like the sci-fi standard ramscoop gathering interstellar hydrogen to feed a fusion engine - the jump from there to our system might be done in 10 years or so. A near-year of one-G acceleration would bring the spacecraft past 0.9C, then 5-10 years of free-fall with course changes, depending on how direct a course can be, then a year of one-G deceleration and hello to Sol system. Just a few technological wrinkles to solve.

4 stages of black fly season: --Checking the menu - they're irritating and flying into eyes and ears, but not biting. --Early meals - the critters walk around on one and if left alone long enough, will take a bite. --Peak season - Swarms of flies that get down to business soon after landing; tops for blood donation. --Late season - Not as many black flies but those still around dive in teeth-first. I'm glad not to be living 50-70 miles north of BGR in the region where the Mattawamkeag meets the Penobscot. There are black fly species there that continue to suck blood all summer, rather than turning the day shift over to the deerflies.

Agree fully with the top paragraph - we always have quick access to a mask just in case. Why cause unnecessary problems? The place where we bought plants Saturday had signs requesting masks; 90%+ complied and the many staff appeared to ignore those who didn't. We then went to the Maine Cabin Masters store half a mile away and didn't see a single mask, nor any signs addressing their use. As far as hand washing, I give auto mechanics and the like some wiggle room. Even with extended washing plus digging goop from under the nails with the tip of a screwdriver or something, the fingers don't look totally clean.

According to Climod2 data, they finished -0.2, thanks to 28-31 averaging 13° BN. They did reach 90° on both 22nd and 26th.

Had 0.96" from this past event, preventing 2021 from being my driest of 24 Mays. Monthly numbers: Avg max: 67.13 +2.59 Warmest: 88 on the 26th. 2 weeks, 14-27, with only one day (24th) failing to top 70. Avg min: 39.81 +0.08 Coolest: 27 on the 7th. Last frost was on the 13th and I think that will stand - not much chance this June for frost. Avg mean: 53.47 +1.33 Was about +3 thru the 27th before the clouds rolled in. Precip: 1.73" -2.11" 0.72" on the 31st for wettest day. YTD: 13.02". Avg is 17.71" Sandy River was setting low flow records for the dates (84 yr POR) until the rise last evening, still in bottom quartile. At least I can start planting the veggie garden now.

Only with shoulder-season paste bombs. Storm total 0.96". Had 10-15 rumbles of thunder 6:30-7 last evening but only the --RA/dz that had fallen all day - don't know exactly where the TS was centered thanks to the clouds.

Something falling from the sky all day, but only 0.04" since 7 AM. Just enough to keep everything wet.

9100 sq.ft. on 62 acres with near-circular views. Brings to mind the query about the cost of running a huge yacht (J.P.Morgan's?) to which the owner replied, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. 5 mil?

Unless those branches are actually doing damage at present, in which place stopping damage takes precedence over pruning seasonality, I still recommend waiting until first freeze next fall. Whenever you prune, maybe cut back to retain forks/twigs that point away from the house.

0.89" after 16 hours of mostly -RA, nice garden rain bringing the May total to 1.66". Still very light rain but not a whole lot upstream unless one of the forecast convective spots hits us this afternoon. If not, it will be the 3rd May in a row without thunder (was 17 of 21 before that) and the first when both March and April had thunder.

First, don't prune it now - should be done in the dormant season, both for setting new buds and because freezes cut the decay fungus spores to almost nothing. Second, what's the objective? Pruning is a lot different when done for shape than when done for fruit. I'm still in beginners' class when it comes to pruning, but for shape (my guess for objective) maybe prune toward the shape you want while taking less than 20% of the total live branch length. And that small cloud looks almost lenticular, though it's not in the more common places of that type of cloud. yeah the few times I went weather was iffy. Prefer south Jersey personally-about the same distance from here- warmer water better weather overall. We used to go to Long Beach Island when we lived in NNJ, but even then (~1970) the traffic on Rt 35 was a horror show - can't imagine what it's like now.

Good catch - I never looked at Saddleback. The highest condos south of the base get up to 2640'. Again, I suspect those are all second homes and I think the original question was for primary residences.

But not dewpoints?