tamarack

Dog is still upset.

One farther north hit here 12:10-12;25, no wind, maybe 0.10" RA (in 2 minutes) and a strike less than 100' from the house, which I described in a spotter call to GYX. A fuller description is in the March thread, as I need to leave on an errand in a couple minutes.

Had one go thru here 12:10-12:25, only a few minutes RA+ but immediately before that had a strike within 100' of the house. I was looking out the front window when everything lit up with KA-BOOM-BOOM (2 near-instantaneous crashes, maybe including an echo off the house.) Looked out the side and saw a sizable puff of smoke (or condensation - was not out there to sniff which) about 20 yards away. No visible sign of what it struck but there's a 90' white pine 10 yards farther from the house and directly behind that puff of whatever. I can still feel the adrenalin and our dog is panting like she's just run half a mile. Temp was 47 before the TS nd 46 after, and have had solid clouds all day though the earlier fog was gone before the storm.

2015 was Feb's year. March was also cold then but it was 2014 when the Farmington co-op recorded its coldest March since data began in 1893. Their 2nd coldest was in 1984, the year before Will's chart begins. Upthread I noted the variability of March snow, but temps are also wild. March 2012 had 90° between highest and lowest at my place, 80/-10, the greatest calendar month range I've recorded anywhere. At that co-op March temps have a 108° span, 83 to -25. Next highest are Jan/Dec, each at 101, and Feb's is 98. At the lower end, the met summer months are all 72 or 73.

March is easily the most variable for snowfall of our 4 "snow months" here, with CV nearly twice that of January. Switching to biting bugs - my black fly season is mid-late May and last year saw the least I can recall since moving here. At Randolph I'd guess late May would be he black fly peak, early June in a cold spring. In Fort Kent the first 2 weeks of June were generally the worst, and far worse than here but quite variable. 1984 was terrible there; even in moderate wind enough critters would stick as they blew past to cause significant damage. June 10-14, 1996 on our men's retreat at Deboullie was in a class by itself - even 500' from shore on Deboullie Pond I was getting hammered. Maybe insufficient air space over land for the hordes. At 90° they were active all day; usually they go hide in the shade if it's much past 80 - big heat is for deerflies.

Midges (purely vegetarian) naturally come out weeks earlier than mosquitos, and the two are nearly indistinguishable. With some magnification (or 20/15 vision) one can detect that skeeter antennae are single spike and midges' are branched like mini-feathers. I can't see what you're seeing, so neither will I state which diptera species they are.

After only 0.6" in March 2010, we had 3.6" of morning paste on 4/17. Unless we get more than white rain Sunday night, this month will have half an inch less than 3/10, and I'm certainly not optimistic about getting April snow.

Across western NNE, as the cocorahs map shows. One final kick to the groin from my most frustrating winter anywhere. Even snowy Hartford (northerly of the 2 Maine sites shown) with average snowfall only 6-8" lower than CAR, got only cold RA.

IMO, lawns are mainly a product of suburbia, a phenomenon much less common in other countries, where living is urban or rural with little gradient between. Hoping to get a good season from our 3 apple trees - last year the Haralred was apparently resting - not a single blossom after a 3-year run of gigantic/branch-bending; good; then very heavy crops. We'll see. The other 2 (Empire, Ultramac) had good blossoms but terrible fruit set. I ate one scabby Empire as the year's entire crop. We'd planted Reliance peach trees, one in 1998 and a 2nd the next year. A week after the 1999 tree went in, a late frost killed all of its leaves. It tried to recover but died prior to spring 2000. The 1998 tree would double in size each summer then get killed back each winter, until the 01-02 winter failed to get colder than -12. Several hundred blossoms and 100+ tennis-ball-size luscious fruit in 2002 made us optimistic. Then JFM 2003 brought a dozen mornings between -20 and -29, some with wind. The tree produced a weak sprout that spring from below the graft, thus useless, and it died in midsummer anyway. We were thankful for that one crop before it became clear that our frost-pocket location wasn't peach country.

Finally seeing the sun trying to burn thru. Mid 50s here and 72 at BML, less than 60 miles away.

. Depends upon direction of travel. North - wet, East - OTS. NE - go to next page.

Our lawn is a product of benign neglect, and gradually disappearing as our 3 apple trees and the fir I transplanted in 1998 when it was 2 feet tall get bigger. Now that fir is closer to 35' and nearly 20' branch spread. Anybody want a really dense and big Christmas tree? If one has kids who like to play football/soccer/whiffleball, etc., especially if they have a bunch of friends join them, a lawn makes some sense, especially if there's a lack of public play space nearby. Otherwise, less is more.

Correct - my mistake. Clouds remain thick here though the fog is gone.

GY already has your area in a watch. Doesn't extend into Maine yet though the morning AFD mentioned the Swift River in Roxbury, which can reach flood stage if 2 moose pee into it at the same time.

And the "winter" didn't end until the 3" on 4/27 at our home. Then co-workers (actually my boss and his brothers) got smacked with sleet and snow while fishing in N. PA the 1st weekend of May.

Down to 13° at Central Park as the snow was ending. At our NNJ home we had a windblown 6" in 5 hours as the temp slid from 13 to 8, remarkable for so late in the season. (And minima the next 2 days were zero and -3; 10 and 8 a Central Park.) IIRC, the forecast for that clipper was 1-3 or 1-2, but it really grew up.

1998 didn't have 6 straight days in the 60s but had 5 straight in the 70s-80s, which to me is far more impressive. In fact, those 5 days (/27-31) had an average max of 78.0 and reached 84. The six consecutive 70s of 3/18-23/2012 averaged 75.4 (max 78) but as they were 8-9 days earlier their departures averaged greater than in 1998. In any case, both those March torches rise far above this month. So might 1986, 1962 and perhaps other years that I'm not about to sift the data to search out. I'll just enjoy this year's run, especially since before today it was full sun and light winds - perfect.

That 4" slop after RA looks like BML's fate on the 12z GFS. You would do better then they would if that run verified. FVE would get pounded - RA to advisory-level SN Friday night then 10-12 (or more if the ratio is 10+) Sunday night.

We had golden shiners up to 10" long at the NNJ lake where I fished in the 50s and 60s. My killer lures there were a large gold Rapala (silver was good, gold great) and a gold-colored hardware lure much like a phoebe but it outfished a phoebe 10 to 1. It was made by the Al's Goldfish outfit but I haven't seen one on the rack in 20 years as the lesser lure swept it off the market. I still have one, which I use only rarely - some day a big pike will engulf it so deep that the wire leader is in its gullet and the regular line in its teeth, with predictable results.

PWM hit 88 on 3/31 and 48 the next day. BD slam!

Then in July the deerflies take over. While mosquitos sip thru their straws and black flies scratch and lick one's blood, it feels like deerflies carve off a steak and fly away with it. I'll admit the greenheads at the shore are at least as bad, especially at late afternoon when the sea breeze dies and successful anglers have hands covered with fish guts. However, even at their worst I've never seen more than 10-15 greenheads around me while I've had 10 times that many deerflies lusting for my blood.

Cliff may be on the way here but it's not yet arrived. The 2 builder/carpenters (separate sole proprietors) at our church are regretfully telling prospective clients it would be well into next year before they could get to those clients' jobs.

Looked at Flying Pond yesterday afternoon, and what I saw convinced me to dump my shiners into the little tributary of Muddy Brook that runs thru our woodlot. (There was a good shiner population - otters sure thought so - in the beaver pond on the lot until the beaver left about 2010 and the dam failed 3 years later.)

CAR hit a record 73 on 3/30/1962, then their warmest March day - 2012 brought 73/75/73 on 20-22. Probably had a solid BD as 3/31 and 4/1 each recorded 3.3" SN. 3/30-31/98 there had highs of 51 and 44, with 0.8" on the 31st. On those days I was with 2 co-workers on state-managed forest a few miles outside the NE corner of Baxter Park, scoping out a later training visit. On those 2 days the 2-day temp range there was about 37/33, with occasional sprinkles and some IP on the 31nd. Some dense fog on that day as well. Had zero awareness that it was a scorcher to the south.

Too many fishers and coyotes around our place to allow cats to go outside - we've lost several in coming to that conclusion. Have not tried the permethrin-nest method here, mainly because we're in the middle of the woods and would need lots to have any effect at all. So far the grandkids haven't brought any in though dog and I have. (Ticks contrast well with a yellow Lab, especially one treated with a systemic anti-tick med, so the little horrors seem unwilling to burrow into the fur.)