tamarack

That's more appropriate if aimed at PWM TV mets, at least when on camera. Not thrilled at seeing the 12z GFS op for AUG showing 0.01" total thru March 23.

2010 doesn't quite fit that profile, as it was about average for sun/cloud and its 6.44" precip is 2nd only to 1999. That earlier month had 7.91" and 32.2" SN, with 3 big rain events and snows of 14.5" and 14". Worth noting that only 0.30" of 2010 precip came prior to the equinox. 2010 never got especially warm - max was 64 - but also never got cold - lowest was 11 and it's our only March without a subzero morning. Contrast that with the slightly less mild 2012 in which temps ranged from 80 to -10. That 90° span is the most I've recorded anywhere/any month. (2nd place is Jan. 1979 in Ft. Kent with 40/-47.) I can wholeheartedly say this was the worst “upslope” episode of the winter. While we weren’t expecting much, all we got was a few days in the single digits and teens, a dusting and not a ray of sun. At least the snowpack is strong enough that you can walk on it without sinking for the most part, which makes it easy as we prepare for tapping. When you do sink though, it hurts lol. Mostly easy snowshoeing on the woodlot yesterday, though some places had lost that last little storm and were surfaced by polished ice from the 2//16 sleetfest. (My racquets are modified beavertails made of ash and strung with nylon - no ice-grippers.) Few deer tracks post-sleet but some bobcat prints and a scat, and considerable coyote sign.

Farmington co-op recorded only traces in March 1905 and again in 1946 - be hard to beat that, especially as they probably recorded some frozen on the 1st this year. My lowest here, and since moving to Maine in Jan. 1973, is 0.6" in 2010, also my mildest March here. I'd say 1 in 10 chance we get less than that.

Many thanks. And not too long until you join the diamond anniversary club.

Correct about Maine and 70 - they're in cadre 1B, after first responders and medical workers. Now the threshold has dropped to 60. I would've had to wait a few more days if I'd been in Mass.

One caution I'd offer - if I get any reaction beyond minor and ephemeral soreness at the injection site, it will be my first. Many others are not so fortunate.

83-84 in Ft. Kent had the longest run of snow cover, 169 days - Nov 11-April 28. Then two days of frozen stuff (more IP than SN, 2.2" from 0.71" LE) on May 4-5 that added another 2 days. 81-82 was the only season that carried cover into May, Nov 18-May 3, 167 days, helped mightily by the April blizzard. 1984 had only 8.4" after the big dump on 3/14-15 as the late month event stayed south. Each of those snow seasons totaled 173 days with 1"+.

Moderna is what Franklin Mem Hosp ha been given so far. Have to modify the "costly lunch" comment above. The Icelandic krona was about 100 to the dollar when we were there. It's been running closer to 130 for the past couple years, so our $30 (apiece) lunches would be 21-22 now, not cheap but plenty and excellent.

On our longer stop in Iceland we spent one day walking around Reykjavik, including a great but costly lunch on the shore, then took the touristy but fun Golden Circle trip. One little highlight for this forester was when the host on our vehicle said, "If you're ever lost in an Iceland forest, stand up!" Lots of scraggly head-high birch saplings clinging to the young volcanic rubble.

Nearly 4 hours after the stick, so far not even any soreness at the site. Tomorrow might be different according to the literature - we'll see. Nice upper teens and windy March afternoon, not quite in Tuesday's league but no evening obs spoiler this time. Skies suggest there's flakes up there but none reaching the ground here.

Don't need dry soil for "spring" fires, just the revealing of last season's dead grass/leaves. Soil below could be soaked or even frozen while the surface litter blazes.

I've never flown nonstop from coast to coast, but we were airborne 6-7 hours EWR-KFL both ways on our Norway trip in 2017. (Icelandic allowed indefinite stays before the 2.5-hr continuing flight to Oslo - we stayed there 2 nights. Had an 8-hr layover on the way home, just enough to visit the Blue Lagoon but alas, they were booked solid. Went to the Viking Museum instead.)

Ten top years for that. Since my obs time of 9 PM, the years are ranked by the March 31 number, 3 hours before entering April. Year 3/31 4/1 2001 48 47 (Even in Ft. Kent we never entered April with more pack. 46" in 1984 was tops there.) 2008 35 34 2014 34 32 2019 26 26 2017 25 28 (3.5" on 4/1) 2015 20 20 2018 15 14 2005 14 13 2011 13 25 (15.0" on 4/1) 2020 10 10 22-yr Avg 12.5 12.8 median 9.5 9.0

The potential volcano is between Reykjavik and Keflavik Airport on a relatively narrow peninsula, so there's the (probably low) possibility of the capital being cut off from the island's major AP.

Iceland is closer, 17,000 quakes in a week though none greater than 5.6.

About 20 hours of moderate snow here, 9.5" total for 3/5-6/01. The real action that month came after the equinox - 16" on 22-23 and then 19" on 30-31, brought the depth up to 48", Farmington's tallest on record so late in the season.

Secondary roads in steep country tend to be that way. The curves along the upper Sandy on Rt 4 are challenging (even after DOT bypassed the worst ones just north of Small's Falls about 10 years ago) , but IMO no worse than those on Rt 27 along the Carrabassett on the way to Sugarloaf. Saddleback is next to a tourist town (however small) of long standing; Rangeley tourism dates back into the 1800s. Whether that can translate into heavy winter traffic beyond snowmobiles waits to be seen.

Don't know how many skied there this season, but that place had more 911 pocket dials - usually from on a lift - than any other place/places in Franklin County, according to the sheriff's report.

Have had 11 snowfalls of 8-19" after 3/15 in 22 winters here, 4 of them in April with the latest being 11.2" on 4/12-13/07. Nothing reaching 6" after that, though it was different when we lived in Gardiner, with 6"+ storms after 4/15 in both 87 and 88. Didn't get the huge ORH dump in 87, however. (Encountered double-digit snows during visits to NW NJ in both 83 [11" on 4/19] and 86 [13" on 4/23] - we didn't think the state would ever again let us visit in late April.)

Learned early on that's a different area than where I worked when living in Fort Kent - more like the northern plains only with more snow. Can recall being in the woods between Allagash and St.-Pamphile on a breezy day following a modest (6") snowfall. Gusts were emptying the treetops but no problems, then while driving home I'd hear that Rt 1 was closed. In late Feb 1982 we had 2 straight days with highs near zero and gusts 50+ - thought the blasts coming down the St. John River would tip the office trailer, it was shaking so badly. Early on day 2 we heard from the State Police than all roads north of HUL were closed. Not exactly true, but the intent was to prevent even more drivers getting marooned in dangerous temps. (March 1 that year had a low of -32. Spring was less than 3 weeks away!) In other news, finally caught up with the vaccinators, 1st dose tomorrow at the Farmington hospital.

Good point - that's why the original area couldn't make it. Rangeley is an hour closer to populous places, also handy to the Whites for border crossers and a bigger mountain with better natural snow. Both Greenville and Rangeley are snowmobile havens but the latter has more of the organized sledder activities and is also more of a four-season tourist destination. I've never even heard of Big Moose Mountain. Until about 15 years ago it was Big Squaw Mountain. It's located just NW from Greenville near the south end of Moosehead Lake. As noted in the link posted by MRVexpat, "squaw" is a term offensive to many tribes so the Maine legislature expunged it from the state's place names. They even changed Squa Pan, a mountain near PQI, to Scopan because of the first 4 letters, even though that name supposedly means "where the bears den". Haven't gotten to Snowsquall Island yet.

Ever get up to Big Squaw when the lift was running its full length. The view from there must be right up there with BW though of a very different character. Instead of the MWN massif there's all of Moosehead, Kineo cliffs, the Spencers, forest, lakes and the great white tooth of Katahdin 50 miles to the NE. Except for Greenville, there's little sign of civilization in view.

Not surprising. Looking at the other end of the diurnal curve, the season's coldest afternoon here is 14. Only 01-02 with 16 failed to have a colder max. 18 of 23 winters here have recorded at least one max <10° and 5 have had subzero highs. Average here for winter's coldest max is 3.7°, median is 4.

Rt 1 between CAR and PQI? (Though there's other Aroostook drift-catchers.) Late in the least snowy of my 10 Fort Kent winters, a March snowfall was followed the next day (Saturday) by winds which closed the town's ski tow after a man was blown off the trail and into the trees. Monday evening we drove to PQI for a forestry meeting and there was 1/4-1/2 mile in that CAR-PQI stretch that still had massively packed 12-15' drifts, the traffic temporarily rerouted thru a potato field downwind from the pavement.

Morning GFS says nada thru equinox day. Can I "beat" 2010's 0.6" for least snowy March?