tamarack

Dews around 30 in Aroostook; if tonight is clear and calm some gardeners there might get an unpleasant surprise.

Overcast here too, just like the 2 most recent lunar eclipses. Agree with the bolded. Back around 1970 we were shingling a roof in NNJ during a 93% eclipse and it was like a weird twilight near midday - strange to have short shadows and less light, but still full daylight. Dropping from 10,000 candlepower to 700 isn't all that impressive, especially since we read under electric lights at 100 c-p after dark.

In the early 90s we planted some 15-20" tall American chestnut seedlings from the Foundation, 10 at Hebron near some 1962 chestnuts (blighted/regrown repeatedly) and at Topsham near a large (15"x55') unrequited female chestnut that was producing hordes of sterile husks. Each tree was within a 2x4" by 4' cage and the deer only browsed a bit when the trees topped the cage. In the late 90s the Foundation pioneered a road (flat well-drained soil so easy access) to the lady chestnut to do controlled pollination, repeating it for 3 years. They also cut a few pine and red maple to give that tree more room. The biggest of the Topsham plantings reached 2.5" diameter and 25' tall before the blight got them in the mid 20-teens - some smaller chestnuts have avoided the blight - and the big female is gone as well. The Hebron plantings have disappeared, whether from deer, blight or shade I don't know.

My results in fall-planting of red oak acorns have been abysmal, both at the state lot near Merrymeeting Bay (6-8 miles from Pit 2) and on my woodlot. Between squirrels pre-emergence and deer afterwards, few of the 2,000 or so total nuts in those 2 plantings have made it past deer-browse height. (Note: I did the water test on those acorns, discarding all the floaters.) 30+ years ago a co-worker gathered some acorns on the state's Dodge Point lot in Newcastle (midcoast) and planted them on the Scraggly Lake unit just northeast of Baxter Park. There were essentially no oaks on that 10,000-acre tract and the plantings were on the site of a 1-2 acre fire so great site prep. No deer at Scraggly had ever encountered oak for many decades but they knew a good thing when they smelled it and pretty much wiped out the new seedlings.

Or Tom Clancy's ("Rainbow Six") though he undoubtedly borrowed it from Earth First!

Yup - tar spot fungus. It's especially prevalent on Norway maple though it's a visual issue that doesn't really harm the tree (unfortunately in the case of that species.) It's less of a problem with other maples and I don't know if it affects non-maple species. And I really like the "sleep/creep/leap" description. Only tree I've planted that didn't follow that pattern was Reliance peach, and peach trees are notably precocious. Mine would double in size each summer then get killed back each winter until 2001-02 when it never got near -20. That summer brought no dieback and a hundred-plus wonderful peaches. Then Jan-Feb-Mar 2003 brought a dozen mornings of -20 to -29 and the tree was cooked, permanently. (The variety is hardy to zone 5 and my frost pocket is 4B. We were fortunate to get that one crop.)

Hve you read Clancy's "Rainbow Six"? Only difference is intent vs. happenstance.

TD 38 at FVE, 71 at PWM.

2021 was the 4th time in 129 years that the Farmington co-op has had zero measurable snow - all 4 of those months had traces. Other than 1999 when December had only 0.1", none of Dec/Jan/Feb have recorded a month with less than 1". March has 2 fraction months along with the 4 zeros. In contrast, March 2001 had 58.3", 4th biggest snow month there, with #1-3 all in February. March has the highest CV of the 4 "snow months", not a surprise. Edit: March has had less than 2" eleven times in those 129 years, December once (in 128), February twice and January has never recorded less than 4".

Should've been in Machias last night - the area had 4-6" during the wee hours and several water crossings have taken out roads. Saw up to 3.65" on cocorahs in neighboring Hancock County, but all the reporting Washington County sites are 20+ miles east of Machias and had modest totals.

Fought my way this AM for the same "T" we had yesterday, 6th day of 8 this month with at least some raindrops, total 0.06". Local river continues to set new low flow records for the date. Dews into the 40s in the northern half of Maine. If it's not going to rain anyway those dews will be great.

Last winter's snowfall here was proportionally (40-45%) lower than yours for DJM, other months nasomuch. Month 20-21 23-yr avg. median OCT 0 0.66 0 NOV 2.1 4.92 2.60 DEC 9.2 18.97 17.35 JAN 18.2 19.58 21.40* FEB 21.3 22.89 21.30 MAR 0.1 16.70 14.60 APR 1.6 5.10 3.30 MAY 0 0.15 0 Total 52.5 88.97 90.40 *The high median comes from 1999-2012, a 14-year period in which 9 Januarys had snowfall 22.6" to 27.5", a rare consistency. The 9 subsequent Januarys had none within that range, with 2 in the 30s, one as the median value and 6 below it.

Co-worker from Waldoboro said yesterday they're up to the midcoast, though she and family didn't catch any bigger than 24", 4" short of the limit.

Reached 90 yesterday, not an easy feat in the woods.

Not much breeze here. (None at 8 AM when I watered the garden and fed the skeeters.) The remote thermometer read 90 when I checked 15 minutes ago. It's usually about 2° above the max-min.

Same here. My 86/62 was 16° AN, and crushed the (weak) record here for the date - was 77/55 on 6/6 last year. Got own to 60 this morning thanks to fewer clouds overnight, so it will need to work harder to exceed yesterday's mean. We reached 88 on 5/26 but the leaf-out was maybe 85% on that date and it's 100% now, so more transpiration means greater challenge to reach 90. Lots of mosquitos visiting me as I watered the veggie garden this morning - much of the June 1 plantings have already broken ground, 2-3 days quicker than usual. Deerflies are out but mostly flying solo - the hordes arrive later this month.

Seems like wearing a mask during heavy physical activity might be a greater health risk than transmitting COVID-19 in the open air.

Once the alewives arrive, the stripers should not be far behind.

They began flashing here in late May. Only 0.01" from the "strong to severe" storms last evening and not a flicker of lightning. Ten miles west Temple reported 0.19" but no place in Maine got a soaker. Measurable precip in 4 of 6 days this month, total 0.06".

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?"