tamarack

In Maine law, one of the penalty options is $3 per stump diameter inch. If the average stump was 10", that would add up to over $25k. (Triple stumpage is levied far more frequently.)

Best retention here was 07-08, also our snowiest with 142.3". Its 3,837 SDDs is easily #1. 2nd place was 18-19, though it was only 5th highest snowfall. Its 3,441 SDDs came from long duration, 11/10 thru 4/20, built on dense snow plus significantly BN temps in March and April. That winter's "retention factor" (SDDs/snowfall) was highest by far. The second snowiest winter, 2000-01, ranks only 5th for SDDs, because it had only 79 going into the new year. Tops for April, though. You must have been in NJ for this T-day event: If I had still lived in the Jersey Highlands where I grew up, probably would've seen 3-5". However, we began married life in June of that year and though we lived less than 10 miles from my parents, it was also 500' lower. Maybe we saw flakes but as my NNJ records are long lost, I can't remember.

Biggest Thanksgiving Day snowfall was 5.5" on 11/27/14, concluding the 13" event that's my only November storm with 10"+. 2nd place was 3.7" on 11/24/05, the weird event that spawned EF-0 and EF-1 tors on the midcoast. Even less common is Easter snow, with one exception. In 53 Maine Easters, none have delivered more than 0.4". However, 3/29/1970 in NNJ brought 11" of low-mid 20s pow. Even NYC got 4" from that one.

All NE winds here during that event as well, but modest velocity. After 10.7" with 2.67" LE interspersed with 1.14" of 33-35 RA, the 7" (2.7" LE) on the down-to-gravel driveway was far harder on the scoop than the 24" dump a year before, even though the earlier pow had to be pushed up and over the 4-foot-high snowbanks. (Snowblower was out of commission for both winters, but it likely wouldn't have been able to handle the 2010 mush.) First freeze this morning, 27° with a skim of ice on the washtub.

Average for 25 years here is 88.6" and for the first 20 we never had consecutive winters without a 12"+ event. Then we had 3, 18-19 thru 20-21 and only the 12.4" storm in early Feb 2022 prevented a 4th. The real end was last Dec's 22" bomb. Looks like we'll have our 9th straight cloudy/mostly cloudy day today, and probably the 1st sub-50 max of the season.

Depended on location, of course. 1981-82 and 83-84 (Fort Kent) were very snowy and 86-87 (Gardiner) had ~50" in January and a long deep pack. Then the pre-Thanksgiving blizzard that began the 6-week cold snap in 1989 included the 2nd of my 3 lifetime thundersnows. (Other 2 are 12/24/1966 in NNJ [thought the first crack was sonic boom because snow/thunder "couldn't happen"] and 2/11/2005 here.)

May threaten some daily records, but all-time? Fuggetaboutit. Most sites in the Northeast have October all-times +/-90. My short (26th year) record for the month is a mere 80° and we might get up to 70 in the coming torch. 40+ hours of near-continuous light RA added up to 1.87", month at 4.19". Oct avg is 5.65", so we'll finish BN.

In New England, below average colors are still quite pretty. The one truly bad foliage season here was 2005. the year with no reds. A week into October there was maybe 30% change, mostly to dull yellow. Then the 8-9 weekend brought nearly 6" of wind-driven RA and on Monday at least 80% of the leaves were on the ground.

Back in the day (1976 in Fort Kent) we had a 75° change in about 33 hours, -25 on 3/19 to 50 on3/20. (45 days earlier the temp plunged from 44 to -6 in 6 hours. That year had more dramatic wx than any other I've seen, from the -41 on 1/12 to 36" during the year's final week.)

Not too scared by AN temps after last winter, mildest DJFM of 25 here but with 114% of avg snowfall. Precip was ~3" AN for that period, with the 12/23 Grinch deluge (3.25") being the difference. I truly think people were just too early with the assessment. We continue to get decent orange and yellow now in the understory, even after the crowns have lost many leaves. Some sugar maples that escaped the anthracnose browning have that classic (and lovely) tricolor foliage. Sugar maples around our place all got hit by the fungi, color was weak and it's all sticks. had some nice red maple color but they're empty now as well.

First week's temp here: +10. Since then, right on the average.

Minima here have been all over the place, but maxima have been a gradual step-down, 1-4: 69-79 (That 79 [twice] is 2nd mildest Oct max here; top is 80 on 10/9/2011.) 5-7: 63-65 8-18: 52-58 Maybe today we get back up to 60?

Maybe. We're in grandkid mode and they all love the stuff. (And their SNJ area never had the ground fully white last cold season - "winter" should not be used for that one.) Maybe we all have a different opinion of what is a ratter, anything less than half of average with not even one biggie to me a ratter. What did you get in 21 Wolfie? Different for sure, as that threshold would be silly for CAR, where in 83 years they've never had a winter at 50% or lower. My place averages 89" and probably only 3 of 25 winters were true ratters, 05-06 (52.8"), 15-16 (48.2") and 2021 (52.5"). 4th lowest, 09-10, had exactly 12" more than 05-06 but had a far higher frustration factor than any of the bottom 3.

10-acre minimum in Maine as well, and legislators are always trying to fiddle with the law, thankfully unsuccessful so far. This past session's attempt was to raise the minimum to 25 acres and stipulated that the participants with 10-24 acres being kicked out of the program would be dinged for the penalty. A 24-acre landowner would've been on the hook for $10k or more.

That triggered a memory from 59 years ago in NNJ. Evening of 3/21 I'd been babysitting 5 neighbor kids whose parents said they would not be back until 1-2 next morn. NYC forecast was WSW (they had 4.9") and flakes came in occasional bunches all evening but didn't stick. Kids long abed when mom & dad returned a bit after 2 and heavy SN had arrived, 1"+ new paste on the road for an interesting drive home. Got to bed about 2:30 and slept until 10, looked out the window at blazing sun and the only evidence it had snowed was some white patches in the shadows of bigger trees. It had been a good winter - 50-55" - but that total melt while I slept was still disappointing. Actually saw the sun for a minute or two this morning, now socked in and mid 50s.

Does NH have some kind of current-use/open space tax system? We have 80 acres and 79 are in Maine's Tree Growth Tax Law status and our taxes are ~$275/year. (80th acre slightly more, ~$1,600, as our house sits on it.) TGTL requires a management plan prepared by a Maine-licensed forester, and should one later wish to withdraw and build houses, there's a significant penalty that gets costlier the longer one has been under TGTL.

April 8 in the north country is less than a sure thing for a sunny day.

Maybe. Looks like most the new growth is fine, but the browning is troubling. I wonder if a fungicide dowse next May might help, though an experienced nursery staffer would know more. No sign of that on our ~20-ft blue, planted as a 4-ft tree 20 years ago.

The path center appears to pass a few miles north of Jackman. However, that town of perhaps 800 might have 8,000 for the event. The Attean Lake overlook a couple miles south of town would be a wonderful place to be, but the modest parking lot would likely be filled 3-4 hours ahead of the event.

Gray and October-y here, low 50s with dz. Running slightly BN for precip, easy to do when the avg for Oct is 5.66", median 5.52", easily our wettest month. (from tunafish) supposed to do a first overnight camping with cub scouts Saturday. Should be interesting. Memories of my experience, both as a scout and as asst. scoutmaster. It didn't rain every time (Feb 1969 we got caught at Allamuchy Scout Reservation by the "Mayor Lindsey" storm), but it seemed like it.

Birds love them - maybe a partridge in a dogwood tree?

Not quite as extreme here - instead of BTV's +13 on Oct 1-7 then +2 Oct 8th on, it was +10 then -1 here. Looks like the next week here will continue dry and seasonable.

Those yellow dots in southern franklin County really stand out, and they're the result of one relatively brief event. On the evening of Sept 13, Temple and 2 Farmington sites had between 3.25" and 3.35" in less than 3 hours, causing some localized washouts, while my gauge 5-10 miles east had only 0.30". Heading into town about 6:15, I wished for a 3rd gear in the wipers and had to slow to 15 mph, and the oft-seen puddle in front of Giffords and McD was quite deep as I slowly drove thru about 8 PM that night.

Surprisingly little specific experience, though it's likely a significant factor in butt rot throughout the forest. I can't recall seeing the fruiting bodies as shown in the pic. Apparently, vigorous trees can often limit spread of the fungus and are thus tolerant, while stressed trees are quite vulnerable.

Location, of course. Last winter's snowfall here was almost twice that of 20-21. A couple of sites in NW New Jersey had more snow in Feb 2021 than we had in that entire winter. Last winter's base was the big dense dump in mid December - even the 3.25" Grinch deluge a week later couldn't take all the snow away, just left us with 12" of glacier that withstood the mildest of 25 January's here.