tamarack

Had my chance when a friend dislocated his shoulder and couldn't drive his very hard steering tractor - 1940s vintage, red so maybe a Case. Pushing that April windslab - the place was at 1200' with a west aspect in Frenchville - was a challenge. Also helped the apartment neighbor who got his little backhoe too close to the embankment and dropped the smaller wheels over the edge. He pulled with the hoe while I did clutch/gas and flipped snow with the bucket and we finally got it back on the level.

The co-op in Fort Kent is a prime example. Folks from that area know well that FK usually has more snow and deeper pack than CAR but the records show the opposite. From 1989-90 thru 2019-20 (without 2-02-03 and 03-04 as FK has missing months), CAR's average is 120.3" while FK's is 98.1". In the 5 winters that we lived in town within a mile or 2 and 20' elevation, 76-77 thru 80-81, my average was 126.2", FK 102.3", CAR 117.7". When we moved to the back settlement at 970', about 450 above our former home, my average was 144.0", FK 92.9", CAR 118.7".

"Slightly" different point of origin and looks like the only one with any westward component at LF - like 90 degrees off from all the others. Expecting Teddy to be moving west of due N at latitude 40 is beyond a hail Mary.

Meanwhile we had 10.7" mush on 2.68" LE, by far my lowest-ratio met winter snowfall that included neither ZR nor IP. Then it was further cementified by 1.13" of 33-34F rain while NYC had its 20.9" snowicane. Almost impossible to move, especially as my snowblower was out of commission and the scoop was traveling on unfrozen driveway surface. Far more energy intensive than scooping out the 24.5" of 13:1 pow a year earlier. Worst double-digit storm I can imagine, and the fact that it was a near carbon copy of 41 years earlier on the same dates (just 5F milder) only rubbed it in.

Protocols were intentionally not followed at the York County lockup, "Don't wear masks, it might spook the inmates." Those 6 fatalities at the Madison long-term care facility are almost all those in Maine during the past month.

1.94" here, with 0.15" this month. My driest Sept is 2014 with 0.84". Driest at the Farmington co-op is 0.53" in 1948. (Driest I've experienced was October 1963. NYC had 0.14" with 0.10" coming on the 31st, keeping that month from tying June 1949 for their driest since records began in 1869. We had maybe a bit less in NNJ and the NJ governor totally closed the woods - even fishing from a boat was prohibited, sad because I knew the 80F temps would mean lots of action.)

We re-windowed with Andersen, price was competitive and they're working well, though only 4 years - so much better, unsurprisingly, than the 1975 originals (brand unknown.) Low of 40 this morning - actually well before sunrise as we had a breeze by then. Yesterday's 60/31 brought the month average back to a bit BN, will be very close to my average after tomorrow, then a 3-4 day dive.

Keg Lake? I'd rather not see that Euro run with the 973 mb Cat 2 coming ashore in Machias. We'd be facing tens of thousands of cords flattened, and probably unmarketable because private lands would have 20 times as much to salvage.

Kind of meh here other than the 15" dump on 4/1. Prior to that snow was essentially on the average (within 1/2") with 8.9" the biggest event. Was tough watching the AUG/WVL/BGR confirmed blizzards on 12/27 and 1/12, totaling about 30" for those places while we had nice 7-8" storms with modest winds. Temps ran slightly BN but with no notable cold snaps. Most memorable thing about that winter was driving into AUG on Boxing Day as conditions got worse and worse, leading my wife to cancel her PWM doctor appt. Within 5 miles on the way north visibility was up to 1/2 mile (was <100' outside the North Augusta Wendy's) and barely snowing at home. And 02-03 was cold and dry here, with only November getting AN snowfall. Suppression depression?

2007-08 had only 1.3" in November. Dec (46.2") brought 6 events 3.7-10.7. Three storms in Jan (27.5"): 1-2 had 12.5", season's biggest but somewhat localized. Then an even more localized event on 1/14 dropped 8" of fluff. In AUG we had 10" in 4.5 hours when I had to leave for a family emergency (hairy drive in SN++ but all was well) and AUG finished with 15" while Farmington had 5.5. Four days later another 5.5". Feb (46.5") had 8 snows of 3-9", including 4 totaling 21.7" in 6 days, 2/5-10. SWFEs galore! Only 3 snows 3"+ in March, in which the 18.8" was only 1.3" AN. Forecast for 3/1 was 10-14 from a "Manitoba Mauler" but only 6" came down, the last 4"+ event of the season.

At my current location only 5 of 22 winters even had both Jan and Feb AN and only 07-08 could do it for DJFM. In contrast, all 8 of those 81-82 months were AN.

2007-08 missed November but did real well DJFM. Not so for 2004-05 as all the serious storms missed us through the 1st week of February - nothing bigger than 3.4" which is pitiful for here. The 31 days Feb 10-March 12 made up for it with 60". Last winter was BN for snow but the first time I've had a 3"+ snowstorm in 7 consecutive months. 1981-82 in Ft. Kent had 1"+ snows Oct-May, only time I've seen that.

Two of the 3 trees had a fair amount of blossoms, which opened after the May snowfall. Did not see many bees round them during blossom time, though plenty in the jewelweed later, so maybe poor pollination or perhaps the June 1 freeze killed lots of baby apples. The complete lack of blooms on a tree which had produced bushels of fruit for 2 years (and 3 of 4) seems strange. I hope it's just a pause to recover, as the tree looks healthy otherwise.

Carrots and greens will grow almost until the snow flies, beans have done their thing. Terrible year for the 3 apple trees. The late-ripening Haralred had zero blossoms, resting after 2 straight bumper crops. Ultramac with about 2 fruits and the Empire's hundreds of blossoms resulted in maybe 6 apples.

Spotty colors around here with a few trees almost fully turned and many still green, maybe 15% color on average. 30% change on "early corner", some poorly drained land along Rt 2 about a half mile west of the Sandy River bridge in town.

31-32 this morning - had to scrape the windshield a bit at 7:15. Frost-free season 106 days, 8 BN mostly due to the June 1 freeze. Have not checked out the garden. Covered the peppers but not the cucurbits - too much area. They may be toast while the tomatoes and peppers may not survive the weekend.

Saturday morning should have colder temps than today. Couple of white patches near the lodge to get folks ramped up?

Lots less tree damage in Maine from 2019 than 2 years earlier, but we lost power for longer in '19 and I had to cut my way out of our road so I could meet the green-certification auditors for the final day of last year's audit.

Too young for the early '60s. In 1963 a town just north of my NNJ hometown had a forest fire start in late September that burned into November. It was only 2-3 miles north of the HS I attended and we could see smoke erupting from the hot spots out of the north-facing windows. Because of the rocky terrain and thick growth, fire would travel under the rockpiles burning duff and roots, such that a firefighter might be putting water to the fire in front only to have the bush behind erupt into flame. Finally quenched by a 4" rain a week into November; the storm also kept '63 from setting a new record at NYC for driest year, dropping it to 3rd place. (Now 5th, as '64 broke the record and '65 had over 6" less than '64.) Last evening's 0.02" builds September precip to 0.15".

Makes me feel for the people clearing 5 years worth of brush (so brush saw not weedwhacker) from the trails so Saddleback can reopen in December.

Going by snow at PWM/CAR/Farmington, weak Nino and weak/moderate Nina have done better than neutral.

Welcome aboard. It's great to see the NW part of NNE adding members and geographic coverage. I hope we can get some of the same for the NE part of NNE. 10-15 years back we had posters from Aroostook but now I don't think there are any east of the Kennebec. (Though MPM can see the east side from Pit 2.)

35-36 here, won't help ripen the cukes but otherwise no damage. Couple more threats over the next 10 days.

If there have been no fatwahs proclaimed, it would seem that Islam isn't too concerned.

Odds are that I'll escape tomorrow's frost (I'd give it 2 out of 3) but not 10 days from now with its below zero 850s. Median here for 1st frost is 9/19, so one next week would be close to that. 12Z GFS has no precip thru day 14 for my area.