tamarack

2 hours ago, gonegalt said:

Nice maul. Mine has been through 2 fg handles. Ton of swing weight for big 'uns. Definitely an outside tool. Using it down at the tree house.

I've used the ubiquitous 6-lb maul since installing a little Jotul in our first house, in 1977, though only for about 1/4 of our wood the past 4 years, with the rest purchased cut-and-split.  That 1st maul had a hickory handle in a sledge eye and it lasted 3 years.  I whittled a sugar maple replacement, which lasted one year, and the same in the following year, before making one from hophornbeam, aka ironwood.  used that one for 2 years before my wife - noting the deformed maul head due to pounding on wedges - bought me a new maul, this one with an axe eye in 1984.  I wrecked the original handle about 10 years later and handle #2 is still in use about 120 cords later.  The old maul, with that ironwood handle, is used for pounding stakes and such.
Trees are totally loaded with 10" new snow, which fortunately is about 11:1 ratio so no siggy tree damage.

So far, Franklin County is the winner, just like the mid-Dec dump last year.  I don't mind a bit being the county's last place.

12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-FR-23	Farmington 4.2 NW	NA	11.0 NA NA	NA NA NA	ME	Franklin		Active | Static
12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-FR-2	Temple 1.8 W	1.15	10.5 1.02 10.3 : 1	12.0 NA NA	ME	Franklin		Active | Static
12/4/2023	8:00 AM	ME-FR-26	Farmington 3.9 N	0.92	10.5 0.92 11.4 : 1	10.5 0.92 9 %	ME	Franklin		Active | Static
12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-FR-4	New Sharon 2.0 NW	0.84	9.2 0.84 11 : 1	9.0 0.84 9 %	ME	Franklin		Active | Static
12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-SM-4	Solon 3.9 ESE	0.54	9.0 0.54 16.7 : 1	NA NA NA	ME	Somerset		Active | Static
12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-KB-53	Readfield 2.0 NNE	0.62	8.0 NA NA	8.0 NA NA	ME	Kennebec		Active | Static
12/4/2023	7:00 AM	ME-KB-55	Manchester 0.5 NE	0.95	8.0 0.95 8.4 : 1	8.0 NA NA	ME	Kennebec		Active | Static

39 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

You didn't get anything in the Dec 2020 storm?

If not, he was about the only one.  PVD had only 7.9" but BDL/BOX/ORH had 11.5 to 12.5.

Our 55 lb Lab mix wondering when I will clear the driveway.  Still some light snow after 9.2" from 0.84" LE.  After a trace of rain about 12:15 PM yesterday, it's been light/moderate since then.

40 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

Pats are pathetically bad

Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk
 

Late in Q2 a graphic noted that NE was 1-2 when holding opponents to <10 points, while the rest of the NFL was 50-0.  Now 1-3, having scored 19 points in their last 3 games.  I'd say their play was offensive but they don't really have one.

First inch down, light snow currently.

10 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Ratios are not going to be close to 10:1, but another elevational paste job seems likely for most of NNE. With the CAD bringing paste to lower els in NH/ME.

Last December's big dump here was 9:1 and came at temps 30-31.  Don't need 10:1 to have fun.  Current forecast for here is 7-12.

34 minutes ago, weathafella said:

That 57 storm was a foot for me. 58 featured 4 inches the first week and of course 1960 a full fledged historic blizzard the 11-12th.  

That 1960 event dumped 18" at our place and the heavy snow was tapering off as we ventured out on the opener of the 6-day firearm deer season.  After my friend and I waded thru the powder for 90 minutes, we came back to find my dad standing over a nice little buck, maybe 250 yards from our home.  That storm was also remarkable for the cold, as much of the snow fell while the temp was low teens.  The January blizzard was even a bit colder, so the biggest dog of all (Feb 3-4) felt mild as temps were upper 20s.  March 1956 thru Feb 1961 had the best run of big storms I'll ever see.  Even our years in Fort Kent couldn't match that NNJ run.

Edit:  Averaging the low end/expected/high end for Farmington and Skowhegan, our forecast is currently 4"8"/11".  Would be decent.

1 hour ago, weathafella said:

Some years it did.  Most years it didn’t.  I was also affected by impressions because growing up in the 50s in NNJ we had a string of years where we got decent snow in the first week of December.  Then we went 15-20 years without, then a string with,etc.  the early 2000s were good. The 20s have been bad.  Even the big dump of 2020 came in the 2nd half of the month.

My memory for the 1950s, especially the first 5 years, was different so I "had" to check (using Oak Ridge Reservoir as my old records are long gone).  They had first-week storms of 8.0" in 1952 and 1957, and nothing else in the 1st or 2nd week bigger than 3.5".  The '60s were better, with 4 events from 5.0" to 14.0", but only that 5" was 1st week.   
(Nov 1968 had a 7.0" event on the 12th, well remembered as we were nailing felt to an under-construction house well past sunset the night before.  The windows hadn't yet been installed, and next morning the howling wind had covered the entire floor with white, even the interior hallways.  NYC had to close the Whitestone Bridge for a while as the 60+ gusts were causing too much sway.)

GYX had us getting WSW criteria Sunday night into Monday; should be able to see their new AFD soon.
Edit:  They've just posted a WS Watch for possible 8"+.

29 minutes ago, TheMainer said:

Got a new (to us) groomer to try out this winter, we still have an icy crust left, hoping for around 6-8 inches so I can drag an old bridge into a big water hole to fill it and get out and cut blowdowns on sleds. New sled hopefully will be here before Christmas. Definitely feels and looks as though we may break the trend of the past 3 crappy winters hopefully. 

Last winter was awful for temps but just fine for snow here, and thanks to the big dump in mid-December, was AN for SDDs as well.  Could've done without the 2nd mega-Grinch in 3 years, however.  A nice thump in early December and no Grinch would be an excellent start.

2 hours ago, mreaves said:

Here is how November ended in VT

BTV -2.1°

MPV -1.7°

MVL -.7°

November numbers:

Mean:        31.0   -2.4
Avg max:   39.8   -2.5     Mildest, 52 on the 7th
Avg min:    22.2   -2.3     Coldest, 11 on the 30th

Precip:  2.63"   -1.58"     Highest day, 1.03" on the 27th

Snowfall:  4.9"   +0.3"    4.6" fell on the 22nd.

Some pleasant (but small-sample-size) November temp/snow trends:
2023 was the 12th with BN temps.  The previous 11 had 114% of avg snow,
                                                            9 had AN snow and 7 of our 10 with triple-digit totals came with November having BN temps.
October 2023 had well above average temps.  The 5 years with Oct AN and Nov BN had 125% of avg snow and all 5 were AN, though 12-13 by less than 2".

I certainly hope the trends continue.  



 

1 hour ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yes. Really good look for last 10 days of Dec and first 10 of Jan. 

Another 2017-18 for those dates?  Would be tasty - 2 big snowstorms and cold worthy of Fort Kent.  Even a modest resemblance would be nice.

10 hours ago, OceanStWx said:

I think we can manually edit the naming convention in the system, but man it picks some random location identifiers sometimes. Like IOSN3 always defaults to 4 ESE of Rye, like just call it Isles of Shoals. And no location ever carries elevation, all that has to be added. What I don't know is if it has to be added each time, or if certain locations can be saved.

Some sites are far from the named town.  An example is NH-GR-47, Littleton 7.3 W, probably in the next town.  The lack of elevation can be confusing.  I wondered why the Temple observer always had much more snow in marginal events than next-town Farmington or at my place - until I found its elevation was 1,224', about 800' higher than its neighbor's site.

16 hours ago, dryslot said:

Draft problems are usually caused by height issues with the chimney pipe, There's a rule of thumb for how high up and how many feet away from the peak to draft properly to prevent downdrafts.

That's true for "chronic" back puffs.  However, certain wx can cause them even with the proper height.  At our first house in Fort Kent, a small (18'x20') 2-story with 12/12 roof, we had a Jotul 602 - their smallest stove at the time - hooked to the center chimney.  It furnished for temps down to about -20F, below which we fired up the leaky* old $20 parlor stove in the basement.  The Jotul's thimble was about 25' below the chimney's top and back puffs were uncommon but always came from the same conditions, a windy CF following a mild day.  I think the 70' tall balsam poplars just NW from the house would create turbulence, downdrafts in their lee that were strong enough to reverse the smoke for a second or 2.

* I referred to it as being as tight as a lobster trap.

49 minutes ago, iceman1 said:

fact is i got nothing  last year  if you dont like my post sorry move on i am just stating that my area got crap for snow all winter 

Can't argue about how bad last winter was for most of SNE, but your response to Ray, below, infers the same for this winter, with no evidence offered.  Too early to throw in the towel.
 

16 hours ago, kdxken said:

Yeah , it's just okay firewood. I never cut it. Super heavy when it's green and when it dries not much heat value in it. Although I'm spoiled with locust and red oak.  Better than elm. I wouldn't burn that s*** if I was freezing. Certainly wouldn't process it.

Elmwood produces more warmth when one tries to split it than when it's in the stove.  About the only wood worse is balsam poplar.  In a lunchtime discussion about burning green wood among loggers long ago, one comment was, "You couldn't afford the oil it would take to burn Balm o' Gilead!" 

Two couplets from a poem about firewood:

Elmwood reeks of muck and mold,
Even the very coals are cold.

Ash wood green or ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.

25 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Walked the dog on the Rec path this afternoon and the amount of tree damage is pretty impressive from the paste.

The birches got destroyed almost uniformly ha.  There’s a half a dozen down over a stretch of a mile.

Gray birch, no strength at all.  Mediocre firewood, too.  The original "birch-bender" species - in the Jan 1953 ice storm in NNJ, my dad cut all the birch* tops from our road on the 8th, then had to do it again the next day as some additional trees had bent onto the road.  Six days w/o power.
* The "white birch" of NNJ were gray birch, except for the occasional planted paper birch.

2 hours ago, weathafella said:

The '66 Christmas event had my brother and I shoveling the front sidewalk of my Dad's pharmacy.  There was a wave of men dropping dead of heart disease then so if there were able bodied offspring they were the default shovelers.  It was nice snow-maybe 4-6 inches in the Englewood/Tenafly area.  Mostly occurred Christmas morning similar to 2017 here but not as cold.

We had close to 15" and mostly on the 24th.  I'd gone partridge/squirrel hunting mid-morning in light snow, and when I got to the 345kv towers a mile south of the house, I could hear the flakes being vaporized by the lines.  On the way home, game-less, the snow became heavy, and I heard a booming sound.  While trying to guess what had caused it (because, of course, it can't thunder in a snowstorm), a second boom of obvious thunder corrected my assumption.  That winter added up to about 100", the final 3 on April 27.

7 minutes ago, weathafella said:

1957.  I believe the storm was 12/4-5.  In those days kids came home for lunch and my mother made a nice little lunch bday party for me having just turned 11 on the 1st.   It was cloudy with the sky lowering and clouds thickening but temperatures were a problem.   We ended up with a foot+ from the dynamic nature of the snow.  So yes-12/5 was seared into my memory early.  It was within a few days of that date the following year for our first meaningful snow.  50s/60s were early winters really lasting into the early 70s.

I don't recall that early Dec storm in 1957, though we must've gotten 8-10".  It's the cold blizzard on Feb 15-16 and the paste bomb on March 20-21 that stick in my memory.  The Dec storms I remember came in 1960 (of course), and the near-Christmas events in 61, 63, 66(!) and 69.

Had a sun-flurry for a few minutes before the clouds caught up to the windblown flakes.  Dusted the leaves but no accum.

56 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Dry month. In my recollection , one of driest around here in many , many years. 1.57.  Good along with how some of us expected a drier than normal fall/ winter after the soaker summer.

Today's 1.03" brings the month to 2.63", with another 0.90" coming last Wednesday.  Novie averages 4.27" and the driest was 0.84" in 2012.  (Maybe Sandy sucked all the storms away from here.  Son of Sandy brought 2.4" SN from 0.56" LE and 0.24" RA fell on 11/13.  Only 0.04" for the other 28 days.)

Had 0.86" with moderate RA at 7 AM, another 0.17" when it stopped about 8:45 and by 9:30 it was full sun and low 40s.  Frozen, if any, was long gone by 6 AM, but road conditions in the Rangeley area were nasty.

1.03" here, and if there was any frozen at the start, it was long gone by when I looked out at 6 AM.  Franklin County Roads FB site noted messy roads about 3 towns to the north and northwest, including a loaded log truck jackknifed and blocking a road west of Rangeley.

38 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

17F.

Tonight looks like it could be a fairly decent elevation snow event for parts of VT and especially NH/ME.

Bit of slush here, 10 miles west (and 825' higher), Temple might have 6-8".

10 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

‘13-14 was solidly above average in our area for snow. It wasn’t a blockbuster but Boston had nearly 60” that winter. ORH was 85ish. 

Cracked 100" here, with 5 storms of 11" to 13.5", also Farmington's coldest March on record.  Excellent pack retention and the near misses to the south in March were a couple of good dumps here.

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

After more than 50 years of observing for us, Dennis and his wife have now both passed. As is the story with many of our coops, I'm not sure whether they can be replaced. I certainly wouldn't expect any observations this winter.

Four century-plus co-ops winked out in the past 15 years - Bridgton (though 2 separate co-ops for different periods), Lewiston, Gardiner (only Maine co-op I've found with data for 3/1888) and Farmington most recently, in October 2022.