tamarack

Water year here finished at 45.88" which is 3.11" BN, all due to AUG/SEP which combined for 3.08" compared to the average of 7.52".

Unfortunately, not much if any of that has trickled back to forest landowners and loggers. Markets are tight and prices modest and not moving much.

Took about 9 hours to get 0.20" yesterday. Had it been the first RA in weeks the moisture would not have penetrated an inch, but with 1.14" on 9/30 moistening things, even 2/10" is helpful. Surprisingly cool (30°) this morning. Fortunately it was just wet in the garden (some shelter from the woods to its east) and the peppers are now safely inside w/o frost damage.

If "going to renewables" means total elimination of fossil fuel use by 2035, IMO that would be a bridge too far - 70-80% seems more doable for this non-expert. The transportation nut will be a hard one to crack. I see moving to renewables for electricity generation as doable but creating the necessary technology and distribution system seems a bigger hurdle. For one thing, we'd want/need batteries in vehicles that charge a lot faster than today - it's moving in the right direction and I'm confident there's lots of research but wonder how far (and soon) it can go. We might need a nationwide effort in the same general manner as creating the interstate highway system.

March 1960 was 18" cold powder, and 8" was on the ground as we climbed aboard the buses for the midday release. That Dec we watched the Giants and "Washington Football Team" trying to play with 8-10" on the ground/tarps. (Field had 6 full width by 20 yard tarps, crew spent 45 minutes almost getting one moved off and the coaches said forget it.) It was well after dark when the real stuff reached NNJ but slogging thru it next day - opener of NJ firearms deer season - was an adventure. My friend and I slogged, my dad found a nice oak to lean against and dropped a little buck in its tracks, waited for us to return and handed me the knife. Eight years later when I finally shot a deer, no one in sight, I was glad for the lesson. The Jan/Feb storms were separated by more than two weeks of temps well below freezing - 16 consecutive days for NYC, longest such run on record - and depths around our place probably reached 45" as places within 15 miles recorded pack of 50"+, tallest in NJ records by nearly a foot. By late Feb it was all gone. 12/24/66 I was heading home from hunting (squirrels/partridge) in SN+ when I heard a loud noise - sonic boom? Couldn't be thunder, could it? In a snowstorm? Next boom made it clear, my 1st thundersnow and I've experienced only 2 since.

It seems to be. The US Senate is a tight race as well, so money is pouring into Maine to pollute the airwaves. As of a couple days ago, $98 million had had been thrown at that race with the Ds tossing a bit more than half. I've heard that it's the most costly non-presidential contest in the country. After about 100 of the Collins/Gideon ads, one for Jean Shaheen sneaks thru. Getting back to wx, September stats. The month started warm, had a very cool middle (1st time here I've had 4 straight mornings in the 20s) and finished with dewey warmth - 27-29 averaged +15 and wiped out the last of the BN margin. Avg. High: 69.0 - 0.95 AN, warmest was 79 on the 10th Avg. Low: 45.0 - 0.39 BN, coldest was 25 on 20,21. The 64 on 9/28 was warmest by far for so late in the season. Month avg: 57.0 - 0.27 AN, 2nd consecutive month within <0.5F of average, both AN. Precip: 1.29" - 2.26" BN and 2nd consec month >2" BN. Aug/Sep total 3.08", avg. 7.52". Had 1.14" on the 30th, preventing this month from being the driest I've recorded since October 1963 in NNJ. 10th of 23 Septembers with no thunder.

Finished with 1.14". 12 miles west Temple reported 1.76". All that water gushing into the Sandy brought its flow from 41 cfs all the way to 70. Lots of dry dirt to saturate before much gets into 4th order watercourses. At least the river is no longer setting low flow records.

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.