tamarack

50%+ leaf drop after yesterday's howler, though that's augmented by the large component of white ash, all of which are sticks. Can't recall another fall with this much drop by Oct. 1.

Probably 80-85 at Skowhegan - they usually get a bit less than my 90 - and Jackman runs 105-110. The hills around there must do significantly better; our timber harvests at Holeb, 10 miles west from Jackman, and Sandy Bay, 20 miles north at the frontier, always have much deeper snow than in town. Edit: Saw 100k+ outages in Maine. Includes our place, so the gennie we put in last April gets its 1st workout.

Hope it chooses to wander west about 3 AM when Rt 1 and the Pike are almost empty.

In my NNJ days we had only one measurable October event, 0.7" on the 26th in 1962. High at my place was a cool 34° and football practice was quite chilly, especially as Fridays were only walk-throughs, not much to help stay warm. (Ironically, exactly one year later was my first game playing all the offensive and defensive snaps, in mid-80s heat - sweated off about 15 lb but that was one of only 2 wins for us that year.) The winter of 2006-07 sucked here...it was great for LES belts and good for NNE. Good for NNE from Jan. 14 on. Until then met winter temps were running about +8 here and the 11"of snow was exactly 1/3 of the average thru 1/13. The rest of that winter (thru mid April) brought another 84" snow with temps significantly BN. Most schizophrenic winter of my experience.

3 hours ago, powderfreak said: Yeah that was some impressive state wide rain in VT. Just heavy rain all night ripping straight up the length of the state. Any drought done. September rainfall went from record low to probably within 1 SD of normal lol. Still some work to do here. Thru July 2020 was almost exactly on the average, but August's 1.79" was 44% of avg and 2.3" low. If my 0.79" at 7 AM grew to 1.5" this morning then September will look a lot like August, 1.65" total, 45%, 2.1" BN. October has been my wettest month, averaging 5.68". If we meet that, Stein is in the grave.

In 22 Octobers here I've had 1"+ snows in 4. Two were ratters,05-06 and 11-12, and two were good to great, 00-01 and 18-19. The Farmington co-op has a weak correspondence between temps and snowfall - BN October/BN snow; BN November/AN snow. That co-op has recorded 27 Octobers with 1"+ in 127 years. Snowfall in those years average 91" and the overall average is 90". The 8 Octobers with 4"+ average 93". Since the 27 with 1"+ average 3" and the 4"+ years average 5", Nov-May seasons for each run 88", about 1" BN as Octobers overall average 0.7".

Skies brightening in Augusta, and the AP clocked a 49 mph gust for their 10 AM obs. Expect the wind to mostly go away during the next hour.

No PWS here but prior to getting the Stratus for cocorahs in 2009, I used a 5-gallon bucket which fortuitously had a catchment area exactly 20 times that of an old steel can (Welch's grape juice concentrate) and applied the expansion factor. Each year I'll run both a few times and they've remained within 2-3% (or less) of each other, with no trend of one always higher than the other. I still use the bucket when cold wx arrives; I've read many times that the outer cylinder is freeze-up safe but I don't really believe it. When we were in SNJ spending Christmas 2018 with family, back home we had 2.17" RA on 12/21-22. By the time we got home on the 27th it was an ice block in the bucket and had bowed the bottom down about 1" in its center, w/o breaking it, thankfully, so a melt-out measurement was possible. Has anyone actually tested an outer cylinder by freezing 2"+ in it? Color me skeptical, especially as the alternative works just fine.

0.79" at 7 AM, bringing Sept up to 0.94". Points just west had 1.10" and 0.95" and we'll certainly get over the 1" mark, especially if that narrow line of RA+ holds together long enough. It's a good start but no more than that. Very windy outside the Augusta office, especially with the Venturi effect between our building and the one about 100' to our east. Sandy River already responding, now 10 cf above the record low after owning it the past 3 days. Typical flow regime for a river without major lakes or wetlands in its drainage. Flow has been down to low 30s and record high is 51,700 in 1987, about 1,500 times greater.

Still some bright reds in the general area (never many right near the house) though leaves are flying. Those on the 3 apple trees are mostly green but thinning out, the usual sequence for them. After several years with loads of fruit, and considerable blossoms on 2 of thee 3 (the usually abundant-fruiting Haralred had nary a flower) the total output was one small Empire apple. Had a sizable bird-peck, such that in a normal season I'd have left it for the critters, but I cut out the damage and enjoyed the 5 bites.

Ash trees nearly bare, other species at peak except for the big oak thought it's partially changed. Yesterday's low of 64 was +22 and I have to go back all the way to September 8 to find a taller minimum. The day's 74/64 was +16 and drove the month average down to only 0.4 BN. Couple degrees less mild this AM but it's PC and warming, will erase that bit of BN. A pair 60+ minima this late in the season is beyond anything I've recorded in 23 Septembers here. My mildest minimum in October is 59, but the cooler air comes in too soon for that record to be in play.

There's a maple like that on Sand Hill in Augusta, a red maple street tree that is totally dependable for deep reds. It's a late changer, probably will peak this year on the holiday weekend. In late-change autumns I've seen it near full and beautiful on Nov. 1. Even in the near-zero-reds 2005 season it was the one standout. (That was the worst season in memory. Change was late and aborted by a windy 6" over 2 days in October 2nd week, went from <50% change to >80% leaf drop in 48 hours.)

Absolutely. 3 March storms, 56, 58, 60. 3 big 60-61 storms, DJF. Jan 64 cold storm, thundersnow on 12/24/66 (and that whole winter), Mayor Lindsey storm 2/69. Great stuff!

12z GFS has 0.68" thru day 16 for Augusta, more than twice that at IZG. Wednesday shows a real narrow strip of heavier precip that wiggles E/W with every run.

Of all Will's snowfall maps, 07-08 had by far the greatest latitudinal contrast. IIRC, 20" or less along the Sound to 140" in central NH. CAR's all time record 198" was too far north to fit on the page.

Some neighbors and friends with dried-up wells, often for the 1st time, might see it otherwise. Our shallow well is down, but a few inches above the level it reached in 2002. It's still a short-term drought, however - nothing like 62-66.

So might I, but for much different opinions: 95-96...Lots of snow, lots of rain, lousy retention, fringed by the megalopolis bomb. 05-06...Horrible winter, 2nd least snowfall, lowest SDDs, only winter I've seen w/o a 6"+ storm since the late '60s. 07-08...Great winter, snowiest one here, super retention but no big storms - just loads of moderate ones.

My preference goes to the Fay Hyland Arboretum spread throughout and nearby to the U. Maine campus.

Also the difference between high bush (there) and low bush (Maine.) The major blueberry acreage in Maine is downeast - Hancock and Washington counties - and most areas are on shallow and/or excessively drained soils. The plants themselves are tolerant of drought and low fertility, but lack of rain limits the amount/size of the fruit. The harvest runs late July thru early/mid August. I don't think the Maine harvest was a disaster (have not seen the numbers) but significantly down from recent years.

Maine's blueberry harvest took a hit also, especially for those fields without irrigation. In addition labor was scarce, as many growers downeast depend on First Nation folks from the Maritimes but COVID-19 made the border crossing nearly impossible for those folks.

The CBB trio. Anyone looking to attend one of those excellent schools should be diligent in seeking scholarship money. Like many well-regarded liberal arts colleges, full ticket (room/board/tuition) is frighteningly costly but there's a lot of financial help available. (I have no dog in the fight but my sentiment would be with Bowdoin, if only because the Bowdoin Pines east of the campus make up one of the most magnificent pine stands I've seen.)

First time I've seen yellow used for trail marking. Not the best for this time of year. However, when Great Northern Paper was Maine's biggest landowner, all their linework was done in yellow.

Some shoreline trees at North Pond look like they're on fire, though the oak-rich hill in Smithfield to the east is mostly still green (as to be expected.) Beautiful colors along Beech Hill Road in Mercer and almost as good after I turned onto Rt 2 on the way home. May be the best reds I've seen in 5 years or more.

Day 13 with nada since the 0.02" deluge on the 13th. Worked in late June after 6 weeks with 2/3" total - 3.5" in 3 days. Again in mid July with the remnants of Fay and some TS bringing nearly 4" in 4 days. Not much since then...

Was -2.7 after last Tuesday, 3 straight AN days have cut that to -1.8. Would need to average +9 these last 5 days to avoid the month being BN. Could be close but I think we end up about -0.5, essentially average. Mid 40s this morning so today should be +5-6.