tamarack

Welcome back, though every time a new/returned NH/VT member signs in, I again ask "Where are the Maineiacs from the northern/eastern part of the state?" I think you will do better than 90-95. I average 90" in my CAD-rich/upslope-absent location at 395'. 30 miles to my SW, Hartford, Maine in the Sumner hills at 700' has averaged 108" for the exact same period as my record here, 98-99 on. At 1500' I'd expect you to get at least as much as they do, maybe a bit less from synoptics but more when the track is too close to the coast. Lazy flakes drifting down - ground is cold (low was23) but current temp is 32-33 and no accum likely.

The grass isn't tall enough to fall on them.

Actually seeing the sun occasionally, which has been uncommon this month (though Sunday was appreciated.) This week's mostly BN temps may pull the month down to about average here. Yesterday's high of 37 was the season's coolest max by 8°.

Our genny got a 10-hour workout thanks to the late September storm. It's like insurance - good to have but one is happy if it's never needed.

I filled the gas can for the snowblower this morning, which means snow will stay to our south.

Had not heard this. Unless the Bears can offer the kind of package they sent to the Raiders for Khalil Mack, just say no. the spider is alive...someone please send help That one looks big enough to dip in batter and french-fry.

Pin oaks in Farmington are 80% (rough est.) leaf-retained and just reaching their peak color - they're the reddest of the oak species I see, though all near here are planted street trees. The large oak 100' from this computer has 30-40% of its leaves; beyond that one only the understory beech/oak have more than a few hangers-on. Zilch for acorns; scouted the 3-stem clump near my back line Saturday and found nada - that's been a decent area to hunt even w/o nuts but was hoping for even better.

May work for his area but not for mine. Farmington co-op has recorded measurable in Oct on 1/4 of their years - 32 of 128 - and totals for those snow seasons average 101% of normal, no real signal. For 1"+ Octobers (n=27) it's the same and for the 8 Octobers with 4"+ it's 103%. In my NNJ years only 1962 had measurable October snow. 62-63 was poor in NYC (16") but inland areas had 30-40% AN - the 4 locations closest to my old home had 46-60" compared to norms of 35-42. Take your pick...

Bit of graupel as I type. Season's first frozen.

All gray here, skies and trees. Not much sun this week. At least it's mild.

Reading all those grim reports in klw's post makes me wonder if NNE has the same disease. Maine's active cases have run around 600 in recent days, with hospitalizations ~10 and ICU patients 1-3. Count your blessings...

For a good history, unfortunately w/o maps, I recommend the book "The Week Maine Burned". PWM temps during the worst of it: 10/23 70 37 10/24 83 35 Strong SW wind and very low humidity (assumed, from massive diurnal range) 10/25 59 26 Stronger NW winds, turning fire's long right flank into the head. Worst day of the fires. 10/26 65 20 Most recent measurable precip was 0.08" on Sept 30. Edit: The link is limited mostly to the Bar Harbor fire, which did its damage a couple days earlier than the above stats.

That storm dumped 10" of fluff in 4.5 hours at Augusta and was still <1/4 mile visibility when I had to leave - wife got rear-ended a couple miles from home and rode the ambulance to the hospital to make sure the clips in her sternum (double bypass the previous Oct.) White-out for the 1st 10 miles but down to SN after that. Had 8" at home, only 5" at Farmington - for hours, radar had a yellow "banana" IZG-LEW-AUG-Belfast and Franklin County was just north of the bright colors. GYX had 15" and AUG probably about the same.

Better creeping than in full sprint like last month. Up to 4.93" for October, may get the 8/10" next week to bring the month up to average.

I thought Baikal was the only freshwater lake that had seals.

Got fringed here, 3", but 9" (month's biggest) from the next one, bringing the month total to 46.5", 0.3" more than Dec 2007. (2017 is the snowiest Feb, 46.9" despite nothing during the final 12 days.) Feb 2008 had 11 days with 1"+ and 5 with 5"+, the archetypical endless snow period w/o anything really big. The 6 days 5-10 brought 4 storms of 4" to 6.4" totaling 20.9" plus a 1.8" 'dusting' on the 8th.

Same here. In the (draft) Parks and Lands newsletter for November, the director noted that Parks has set a new record for campers in a season and that's thru 9/30 so the total will be higher than what will be in that report. I don't know how that has worked out for the campers (no outbreaks reported) but to date, there have been no COVID-19 cases among Parks and Lands employees. Also, use of hiking trails on Lands Division (my agency) is way up, though exact numbers aren't documented.

2nd at Farmington too, with 154", only 10" less than 68-69. Farmington's snowiest Dec was 1970, something like 54", and PWM's coldest for any month was Jan. 1971.

One out of 2, unless 6.8" is "hammered". 8" on Boxing Day, 7" on Jan 12, fringed with 1.5" on Jan 25, lots of nice moderate snows while places within an hour's drive got pounded.

That winter was frustratingly average until the 15" dump on April Fools. That was the only event over 9" and my deepest pack was 28". Not many winters when Ginxy has a peak 10" deeper than here.

You ought to sign up for KevMA's snow table so we can see if your total competes with Alex and J.Spin.

Have not yet had to answer a health survey for my job - closest was a survey of attitudes concerning working from home or at the office, as the former has increased more than 10-fold due to the pandemic. So far, my agency (Bureau of Parks and Lands) has had no positive tests. Since that includes many who routinely work face to face with the public (mostly Parks employees, like those collecting entry fees at the gate) it's somewhat surprising.

Maybe it's because of my job site (when not working at home) or something, but Maine - for all its protest-generating restrictions - seems very low key compared to what I'm reading about here. We have a sign-in site on the state website for when we plan to be in our office building and must wear masks there unless we're in a socially distant cubicle (like mine) but there was no other restrictions and I traveled all over northern Maine last week with no problems. (Our auditor from Vermont came and went freely; the other auditor is from Sault Ste. Marie, ON and "attended" the opening and closing meetings on Teams.) Maine has had some recent outbreaks but the overall case numbers are second lowest of any state. Vermont is lowest, and maybe they're going overboard to remain #1?

That's probably true but I don't think we can quantify the difference unless/until recreational marijuana is legal in most/all states. I voted against rec-pot in the Maine referendum, and having seen the tragic results of alcoholism up close I wish rec-alcohol were not a thing, but that ship sailed long since. So, apparently, has marijuana's watercraft. One positive thing I'd say about legalization concerns its reputation as a "gateway drug". If that was ever true, IMO it was because the pot suppliers were the same people who sold heroin, crack, and other things with a greater profit margin. Getting those dudes out of the process will close that gate (if it was ever open.)

Better than that here - Farmington's 2nd and 6th snowiest winters (also #112 of 127) and the 3-winter average is right on Raindance's 130% of normal. (For what all that is worth in October, of course.)