tamarack

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.

10-15% of pedestrians were wearing masks when we visited our son/D-I-L in Japan (southern Honshu) in March 2016. Between that and Japanese culture, I highly doubt there was much anti-mask unrest there.

Finally found some pike at North Pond (Belgrades) after not seeing one this year. After 3 hours with just a single yellow perch, was drifting and casting my way back toward the landing when a 20-inch fish nailed the spinner 3 feet from the canoe. Dropped anchor there and tossed out the spinner a few times, then decided to try the much bigger (1 oz.) faux-Dardevle. Shortly thereafter got a 25" fish, probably about 4 lb. Fish stew upcoming.

Ill, maybe, but here at least it would take a week with 3"+ to inflict a fatal would. Not seeing it.

Our dug well is only 8' deep but has a good spring as its source; the normal level is at 5' but it's now down by 21". Was down 24" in 2002, but the 3' depth means about 300 gallons, though the bottom 50 may be below the foot valve. 0.15" for the month so far and 0.03" over the past 3 week. Some very nice reds and yellows in our area, though right near the house it's fairly dull, as always. Approaching 50% change, about 10 days ahead of average - 3 straight mid-20s mornings will do that.

He's north of much of the town as well. IIRC, he's less than a mile downriver from the Chops, the exit from Merrymeeting Bay.

A woman drowned Saturday on Flagstaff Lake, recovery only yesterday afternoon. Three people and a dog motoring their canoe back to their campsite from visiting an island, water got rough as the campsite was on a lee shore and they capsized. PFDs in the canoe but no one wearing. The 2 men each grabbed one that was floating nearby but the woman, 31 yo, headed for shore without. The lake is about 18 miles long so it doesn't take a whole lot of wind to build up the surf.

Low near 50 this morning, big change from the past 4 days which averaged 59/26 and 12.5 BN, taking the month to -2.7 after being +2 on the 10th. Now we go the other way, though I think the month ends up a bit BN. Morning GFS chopped yesterday's 1.4" for Monday in Augusta down to 0.5". A blip or a trend?

Noted that someone evidently is still reporting snowfall (129.3") from Clayton Lake even though the co-op obs disappeared in 2011.