tamarack

And October's 0.26" came on the 29th, after the fires were pretty much under control. Most of the fire damage came during the week Oct. 21-27 and the temps are shown below: 21 69 48 22 70 37 23 83 35 I think that's the latest that PWM has reached 83, though they hit 84 on 10/17. 24 59 26 25 65 20 26 65 37 27 73 39 The worst came on 23-24 when strong SW winds abruptly veered to NW as a dry CF passed thru, with gusts 50+ reported. Don't know the RH but the diurnal ranges give some indication. Forest firefighters know they cannot attack the head of a crown fire and only work in front of it from a distance when setting up fire lines and/or burnouts, but rather attack the flanks and clean up the rear (pun intended.) That wind shift turned the right flank into the head in a few minutes, putting a lot of folks in instant danger though I think the fatalities occurred elsewhere.

Our CAD kingdom is also a downslope dandy. If we get a moderate snow and the storm then sits and spins over Anticosti, Jackman snows for the next 3 days while I see partly cloudy. And the RA deficit is a bit more than 2" here. Cherrypicking the period May 17 thru today, our average is 6.35" and we've had 0.65". GFS op shows 2.5" over the next 8 days, most I've seen on that model since April - would be nice but I'm not holding my breath. Tomorrow we do the 7-10 and most of the rest of the qpf is out past 72 hr.

Nine years ago while we were visiting family in DEC, a storm like that passed 6-8 miles to our south. At least 100 strikes/minute and the thunder was like a drum roll - could rarely distinguish individual booms. Far beyond anything in my 99.9% Northeast experience, and next day even the locals were still in awe.

Maybe you should subscribe to the insect and disease report from the Maine Forest Service. They include reminders and procedures for pre-emptive control of browntail several times fall thru spring. (Among many other things)

The birch-beech-maple forest, aka Northern hardwoods, is also called the "asbestos forest". However, a similar forest but with more oak burned for over a month during October (but mainly before much leaf drop) in NNJ back in 1963. Much of the ground was a glaciated boulder field with tree and mt laurel roots and duff down within the rocks. Fire would follow the fuel and a firefighter spraying a blaze would sometimes have another pop out of the rocks behind him (all guys back then.) Good view from our HS, could see by smoke intensity (and smell) how the fire had progressed during the overnight. (NJ also had about 200,000 acres burn in one day that April, but the Pine Barrens are a fire type ecosystem.) For NNE outside that "asbestos forest", one should read "1947 - The Week Maine Burned" before getting overconfident. And perhaps check PWM temps/precip for that October. But even in the spruce-fir country it's extremely rare to have a crown fire in mid summer.

Haven't spent much time with the ticks in recent weeks, though I got one within a few yards of our lawn earlier this month. Mosquitos ae abundant, worse than average, but the next generation should be much reduced - current swarms grew up in snowmelt puddles.

Why am I not surprised? Morning AFD from GYX: .LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Unfortunately there is now significant doubt in the big rain maker that had given hope in some drought relief this weekend. The GYX discussion now has the Saturday event in 2 pieces, one staying mostly to our north and the other to our south. Had 0.14" in a shower about 6 PM with some brief but heavy showers while driving into Farmington, which reported 0.27". GFS op now gives Augusta 0.02" on Saturday (had been closer to 1/2" yesterday) with a moderate rain Sunday afternoon, which will likely get pushed back in later runs. At least my 1/7" came not long after I'd watered the garden, so some synergy.

After missing NW this morning. Felt that today's RA was slipping away when yesterday's GFS cut qpf in half and GYX dropped pop from 60% to 40. Today looked really nice for qpf when still out 80+ hours, just like Saturday looks now? Seeing would be believing. (Actually felt what I thought was mist about noon as I watered the garden and fed the mosquitos.)

Best NNE echoes I've seen in more than a month. Trajectory suggests it all remains to my west. GYX has the afternoon convection remaining to my south. Yay!

Stat padder.

Don't have to be on a mountain to be almost petrified. Back in the early 60s in NNJ I was fishing on the local 50-acre lake in a 10-foot aluminum rowboat (no motors allowed) on my day off from a 6-day week as lifeguard. It was midweek and flat calm so no sailboats; mine was the only watercraft on the lake. The day was cloudy and humid, the kind with occasional embedded TS, and the first bolt hit a hilltop 1/2 mile to my east. Within 30 seconds CGs were snapping all around and the surface was frothing in the RA++. Tried my best to get that super-conductor boat on plane heading for the nearest shore, my head the highest target on the lake. Only took about 3 minutes, but they were looooong minutes. Actually had a mostly cloudy morning, and even with sun it's only in the 70s here. The scattered TS are, as usual, not making any moves toward my place.

Infinitely more than here.

90/60 yesterday, 87, 88 the two previous. For my location that's a heat wave. Maine rivers from the Saco to the St. John are setting new low flow records for the date. It's hard on the garden but better now than August/September when the water table usually hits seasonal lows.

Only 0.51" here for that period - planted the 3rd row of green beans (we stagger the planting as we eat most uncooked) and things were dusty dry several inches down. The GYX radar loop shows those storms, and some smaller ones in the W. Maine mts, are hardly moving at all, just wiggling back and forth a few miles. Yesterday's 88 tied May 28 for year's warmest. Already upper 80s today, might touch 90 if clouds stay away. Would rather skip the 90s in favor of RA.

Often the early heat is hottest, before the big dews arrive. Heating all that water uses up a lot of solar energy. The heat wave of early July 1911 set all time records for all 3 NNE states, and most sites were cycling from 60s to triple digits and back again. Dews were probably 50s to low 60s most of the time and didn't approach 70. Farmington co-op temps: 7/1/1911 94 66 7/2/1911 93 60 7/3/1911 99 67 7/4/1911 102 68 7/5/1911 98 61 7/6/1911 102 63 7/7/1911 88 63 7/8/1911 90 48 7/9/1911 96 55 7/10/1911 104 65 7/11/1911 102 68 7/12/1911 96 61

3-way tie: June 29, 1944; May 22, 1977; June 19, 2020. Forecast today is low 90s there, no record-breaking from this heat wave. Local rivers continue to fall. Checked the main-stem Kennebec at the North Sidney gauge, a few miles north of AUG, and they're at record low flow as well, though only 34 year POR, compared to 80+ for the Sandy and Carrabassett.

I'm guessing wide left. Hope I'm wrong. Potent-looking little storm on radar, seems to be moving just east of due north.

Could well be. PQI reached 99 in both those months. However, that site's hottest days are heavily weighted 1935 and earlier. Their POR started in 1893 though they have lots of skips during the first 50 or so years. One example is 7/1911 - they touched 99 on 7/11 but 7/1-7 is missing and elsewhere 7/4 was as hot or hotter.

Would seem the record was broken. However, temps/dews are all in Celsius whole numbers and I doubt the temp/dew actually moved that way.

RH 19% - desert dry. Unusual distribution (IMO) for CAR's hottest: 3 at 96 (assuming today didn't reach higher) all prior to 7/1, and 10 (with yesterday) at 95 with 5 in July and 3 in August, plus yesterday and 5/23/77. Five at 94, four in July plus 5/24/77.

Not all that long, had 91 on 5/18/2017. Last one before then was in June 2005. Battery-run indoor-outdoor now 93, but that's the instrument that has read 36 with accumulating snow - probably 87-88 on the max-min. CAR only 1F from their record at 1 PM so I think it's toast. No more bragging about insulating my attic in Fort Kent on the day they hit 96 to tie the record.

That's what the P&C has for CAR. Their low this morning was 65, FVE only got down to 69 - nice high launchpads.

About the most fireflies I've seen out at one time Wednesday evening, and bright as 1st-magnitude stars. Deerflies are here, in small numbers so far, black flies about done and plenty of skeeters.

CAR hottest in the Northeast, as usual. Missed their record by one, another shot today. Had 87/48 here - can't quite hit that 40° diurnal range, with 3 straight days at 39. Sandy River down to 150 cfs, lowest on record for the date. (83 year POR) Previous low was 155 in 1962. Carrabassett is 113, tied for lowest.

My take on subjective ratings includes grades for both temp and snowfall (latter weighted 2X) for each month Oct-May, though 90% of weight comes Dec-Mar. Then I toss in subjectives, like the record run of 1"+ cover in 2018-19 and resultant huge SDDs, or monster storms/cold snaps. Also give extra credit when either monthly temp or snowfall sets a new record at the Farmington co-op with its 127-year POR. Dwarfs my 22 years. Have had 2 each of co-op records, 3/2001 and 4/2007 for snow, 3/2014 and 2/2015 for temp.