tamarack

Wow! For contrast, I was a lifeguard 4 years at the NNJ lake where I grew up and had one rescue - and on that I merely swam out to the swimmer in trouble and accompanied him in, never had to touch him. In the 90 years of that community, there has never been a drowning at either of the 2 beaches, and on a busy day there would be perhaps 300 total at the beaches. The only drowning was at a tenth-acre "feeder pond" one late winter 45-50 years ago when a 2-year-old went thru the rotting ice.

Have not gone swimming in the ocean for 25-30 years. With my spinal fusion at C-4 in 2011, I probably should keep it that way. When I'd body-surf at Reid or Popham, occasionally I'd mis-time a wave and get driven head first into the bottom.

Average temp here is 77/55 and that's the warmest average of the year. Over 22 years here, July's coolest mornings have ranged from 37 (2007) to 46 (2006) with no month having fewer than 3 sub-50 minima. This July the bottom will be 51, a quantum leap from the past. To date we've had 10 mornings at 60+ and tomorrow might make it 11. In 2010 it was 15. The month has had only 33° temp range from highest to lowest, and though it will finish with 26 days AN and 5 BN, the end result will be about a modest +2.3, currently 4th warmest of 23 and possibly 3rd (only 0.09° behind 2006 thru yesterday) but well short of 1999 and 2010.

Weak ENSO has generally been good here, with some obvious exceptions.

Two co-workers got filmed during the show's Maine run, one with the robo-partridge decoy (his son did everything right, plus spotting the wardens/film crew) and one with ATVs going past his home at 50+ on the town road. Neither made it past the "cutting room" floor.

You've seen enough "North Woods Law" shows to know what to do.

It's been the month with the highest proportion (not duration) of sunshine in my 22+ years here. Except for 2011 when first frost was Oct 6, that initial 32-or-below has come in September, with the median date the 19th. (Includes 2011.) However, with convection becoming rare (average # of Sept TS here is 1) and fall storms usually not yet cranking, it's hard to disagree with that 1st sentence above.

Can't say I've seen a hemlock over 100', or at least way over. However, there are superstory pines all over northern Maine that are 120'+. Some in southern Maine too - one spot that stands out is in the woods between Sabbathday Lake and the Shaker village on Route 26. Another is the Gardiner forest in South Gardiner -30+ years ago I tallied pines there that had 6 logs of 16' each plus 25-35' of topwood. I think those trees are still there.

Some oddities on that list. Balsam fir's shade tolerance is only a teeny bit less than that of hemlock, the only species on the list to earn an "S" for light. Also, seeing yellow birch listed as the tallest tree - 100' when nothing else is listed at over 80 - is weird. White pine is the state's tallest native tree by a significant amount. Also, the species with the greatest volume in the Maine forest, red spruce, isn't even listed. (Maybe like the St. John Valley Francophones, they lump red with black spruce, though they use the label "red spruce" - epinette rouge - for tamarack!)

I've read that great whites can partially thermoregulate, thus can remain active in colder waters than can most shark species.

88/74 at BHB, HI of 96 currently tops on the GYX list. Beautiful downeast breezes.

Those were great looking echoes then in about 20 minutes went pfffft- gone. That blob was running into 70+ dews which would seem to be good TS food - was it crappy midlevels that killed it?

If Maine can have 2 tornados during a Thanksgiving snowstorm (2005), anything is possible here. (Except a strong TC)

I doubt that a shark would make it past The Chops, but Pit 2 is downriver from there so you better not dangle your toes in the water.

And the other reported Maine shark attack was at Perry, in the cold waters of Passamaquoddy Bay. Folks have been catching large sharks not far off the Maine coast for years, so it's somewhat surprising that so few attacks have occurred here.

Low of 70 here yesterday, only the 2nd 70+ minimum since moving here in 1998. Had 71 on 7/19/2005. Low-noise TS 7-7:30 last evening, futzed around for 20 minutes then about 2 minutes after I finished grilling burgers, the skies opened, about 0.30" in 10 minutes, total cocorahs report 0.45". Noted 2.4" RA in Hermon, one town west of that BGR funnel, and 2.5" in Dedham, 3 towns SE.

The condition of our lawn would horrify you (and most others) but it's still green.

They touched 79 sometime between 2A and 8A, but their record high minimum of 76 is toast unless that convection moving thru NH has enough meat to splash down the temp. (or an evening cool-down.) Was 71 this morning at my frost pocket, only 1° lower than at 10 last night.

Black locust is also quite rot resistant; don't know if honey locust is similar. Black locust can also become an invasive in the Northeast, outside its native range, spreading mostly by root sprouts. And despite its spreading roots, a lot blew down when Bob came thru, whether due to weak roots or crowns atop a long lever arm I can't say. (Crummy color in fall, too.)

I think "Hardy to -20" may be conservative. The ones on the U. Maine campus in Orono were doing fine last time I looked and once the Stillwater River freezes it gets cold there.

Having February and December 2015 in the same year might be even stronger evidence.

It's what I would've said had I not gone to bed before midnight. White ash will do well in well- and moderately well drained soils and okay in somewhat poorly drained. They like fertility but one shouldn't fertilize a fall transplant until the next spring, as the fall fert. may cause a growth spurt that gets wrecked by frost. Ash seeds (from all species native to Maine at least) look a bit like tiny airplane propellers, and can get carried a long way by the wind. The Dec. 1992 storm that buried ORH produced nothing but wind at our (then) Gardiner home, but there had been a good white ash seed crop and next spring we had about 10 germinants per square foot, sometimes more, and also right in front of our house despite all the ash being out back.

And on Dec. 30 that year locations from NYC up to Van Buren set all time coldest maxima. (This is NOT a forecast. )

It's a "least harm" type of dilemma and I'm glad not to involved in making those decisions. We've seen that a significant minority of students are poorly served (or in some cases not served at all) by distance teaching, and it's often extremely hard on teachers as well. Finding the right balance between an inevitable spread of COVID-19, whether minor or huge, and tens of millions of kids getting a year (including last spring) of crappy education is incredibly difficult, since whatever decisions are made some people will be harmed by them.

38 44 54 (X2 or 3 - does Hazel count?) 60? (Did Donna make landfall in New England, or offer Cat 1 winds in the region?) long jump 85 91 That's 6-8 from 1900 forward (assuming none 1900-37) - looks more like a 20-year periodicity unless I'm missing something. Of course, 20 yr period isn't 20/40/60/80 due to the stochastic nature of wx.