tamarack

LOL. (And a pox on such thoughts!) Actually I was trying to push 8" of rain-enriched 3:1 glop off my thawed-surface driveway with a snow scoop as my snowblower was dead, and trying not to push too much of the surface gravel onto the lawn. Much much harder than scooping the 24" dump a year earlier, even though I didn't have to slide the stuff up a 7-ft bank like in 2009.

Lots of things ending in fall, but crisp clear mild days with technicolor forests make it very pleasant for me, even as I scramble to get all my firewood stacked and/or under shelter. Then, as Jeff noted, there's the late fall chase to fill the freezer. (And that's after the early fall bump in fishing action.)

Then there's the reverse gradient for another ice storm, the one that hammered western parts of SNE in mid-December 1973. While my parents were enjoying 15° with ZR/IP in NNJ, we had RA+ at 56° in BGR. Couple hours later BGR temp slid all the way to 51 but NNJ was down to 9, with all IP.

Farmington got 1.5" RA and mid-upper 30s with "T" snow from that one. We were still in Gardiner then, records there not at hand but probably 38-40° RA. That was the winter of no cold air. None that got very far to the south. The region's temp layering during the Jan. ice storm is fascinating. South to north: NYC/NNJ: 60° rain SNE: Rain, 30s/40s. S.Maine: RA/ZR and low 30s, little ice impact. C.Maine & Downeast (inland): Disaster - 2-3" qpf @ 26-30°, essentially all ZR Mts/foothills: 20s with significant ZR but mostly IP, 2-8" accum, little ice damage. Aroostook: Singles and teens, 5-6 days of near continuous snow, 18-27" of 8:1 sand.

During all but the final winter of the 1990s we lived 40 miles to seaward from that co-op rather than the current 6 miles, and had mostly moderate storms there as well. In 13 winters, 85-86 thru 97-98, the largest storm was 17.5" of pre-Christmas powder in 1995 - not even one 18-incher. Total of 8 events 12-17.9" and 55 more in the 6-11.9" range. Never reached 30" depth, got somewhat skunked by the Superstorm (10.3" of gritty 6:1 stuff at near 20 temps, have not found a station in Maine that reported less) and the strongest storm was probably the 8.5" thunderblizzard in Nov. 1989 that ushered in the record cold of December. The bust discussion brings to mind the 2 most contrasting busts in my memory bank. Worst was the VD massacre of 2015. When the blizzard watch was posted the afternoon of 2/13 maps were giving our area 18-24 and discussions hinted at even more. By the next afternoon that had abated to 12-18 as watch became warning. Verified at 1.5" while BOS got 16 and Machias 25. Best will always be April 1982 - could not imagine a better one for snow weenies. Late evening on 4/6 CAR upgraded their forecast of cloudy/cold/windy to include flurries. Less than 4 hours later we had SN+ and I "measured" (a very generous verb in 60 mph gusts) 17" while the flurry-forecast site had 25.3", at the time their greatest snowfall on record. (It's now in 4th place.)

The Farmington data I hinted at. No attempt at storms under 6" as I have only the daily records, good for discrete storms especially since we moved to within 6 miles of the co-op. However, trying to untangle things like Feb. 2008 when we had 4 separate storms in 6 days with several days having accumulation early from one event and late from the next. I could do that in 2008 from my own records, but earlier similar multi-storm periods are pretty opaque. Bigger storms tend not to be "interlocked" in the same way. The data below comes from winter seasons rather than calendar years, so the 2010s include anything in OND of 2009. (Wanted to use existing sorts rather than going through entirely new ones.) The 1890s include most of 7 winters as POR begins 1/1/1893. All others are 10 years, thus the averages are based on 127 years. Decade 6-11.9" 12-17.9" 18"+ All 6"+ Largest 1890s 26 12 1 39 19.0" 1900s 46 9 2 57 21.0" 1910s 45 4 0 49 15.5" 1920s 43 8 4 55 23.0" 1930s 33 10 2 45 25.0" 1940s 30 5 2 37 30.0" Nov. 22-23 1950s 25 8 1 34 22.8" "Their Finest Hours" 1960s 38 9 4 51 43.0" 1970s 42 16 4 62 22.0" 1980s 41 6 1 48 23.0" 1990s 50 12 1 63 18.0" Superstorm 2000s 34 4 9(!) 47 40.0" (or 26.6" I still consider that 40" report for 12/6-7/2003 to be inflated.) 2010s 36 9 4 49 24.9" Totals 489 112 35 636 Avg/Year 3.85 0.88 0.28 5.01 #Yr w/1+ 125 75 29 126 1952-53's largest event was 5.5". 1954-55 had one storm of 6"+, a 15.6" dump in Feb. %Yr 1+ 98.4% 59.1% 22.8% 99.2%

ORH totals for all 3"+ in 60s. 70s, 00s, 10s look pretty flat, separated by the 80s/90s crumminess. I'll have to play this game with the local co-op, though due to its POR back into the 1890s and significantly greater snowfall I'll probably limit things to storms 6"+.

Tomorrow's version of the 60-day will probably include some significant color changes.

August RA now just 0.10" below my average (4.02") for the full month. Weeds in garden about to go nuts, but it's all good. Unless we were to get a major heat wave, garden moisture is probably all set for the remainder of the growing season. (And I'm really glad I picked heavily on the cherry tomatoes Tuesday afternoon, or things would be bursting all over - may still be but not the 60-70 I already plucked.)

Didn't get the 7-10 split this time - 2.38" reported to cocorahs. Between 6 and 8:45 last evening 2.25" fell, and it's been a long time since we had that intense a rain event with no thunder and no connection to a TC. Sandy River has hardly risen at all overnight, so I don't think the downpour was all that great in extent.

Look for the blue echoes between the areas of juicy green and yellow and you'll find my place. We'll see if anything significant makes it here.

After 4 hours of pulse running between 70 and 170 (normal for me is about 50) they had the little defib all set to go, and the very thought of it scared my heart into behaving. Had an echocardiogram which was as good as could be and then the catheter from the wrist - right coronary artery blocked but the left big and beautiful, having pioneered a "natural" bypass around the blockage. Nothing serious since then, other than having to quit using ibuprofen due to taking a blood thinner. Tylenol does nothing for me while 400 mg ibuprofen was quite effective. Minor first-world problem. What I did find out after getting home from hospital is that my older brother has had A-fib issues, actually fainted while on one of their European river cruises. And he's always been in better shape than I've been, even before he went through West Point.

That first bunch seems to be weakening as it hits the Maine mank. It stays south of me but might wet the ground in LEW. 2nd area now in ENY looks more promising, though it wouldn't surprise me to see its southerly "tail" disappear so the rest slides by to the north - kinda like Monday. We do fine with stratiform, generally terrible with convective.

Stupid, I know. I don't carry a cell phone, but the camera is only 3"/2"1". Even with my JD tractor, There are times i have had to break it down to get thru it on some storms because of the drifting, Which i wouldn't mind doing it every time............. Even having to chop the packed snow on the town road so I can get mail delivery doesn't change the fact that I'm playing in the snow. Of course, last time I had to do that was 1/6/18, chopping the nicely set plow pile from the 1/4 storm so the blower would digest it, on a day with strong winds and a max of -6. (As one of my forestry profs once said, "There's no such thing as inclement weather, just improper clothing.") No problems with the snow, but 8 hours later addressing letters at the dining room table put me into A-fib, resulting in my first meatwagon ride and two days in the hospital.

0.2 miles (or one second) north of my office. Probably I was just driving out of the RA+ in Belgrade Village when that was taken. Our garden was deluged with 0.02" from the north edge of that storm, but I did get to see some impressive towers from storms passing a few miles north of our place, and as pretty a sunset as I can remember. Dry air was moving in, giving a well-defined view of Mt. Blue 15 miles to my west, and the sun was setting right behind the mountain. The silhouette with golden glow behind and orange-to-lavender clouds swirling above would've made a lovely pic if I'd had the tools.

Only for snowfall. When it comes to lawn woes he stands above the masses.

In my experience, yellowjackets that survive early frosts become clumsy and stupid but incredibly pesty. Less aggressive toward me (though their stings hurt like always) and more aggressive toward the grill and the picnic spread. It's like they're focused on their final meal but ready to nail anyone getting between them and the food. I like some 46/27 days in early Oct - sweetens up my late apples (the Haralreds need a sub-30 night or two for the tartness to be under control.) And the 65-45 stuff is wonderful during peak color but can go away before the firearms deer season opener, which for Maine residents can vary from 10/27 to 11/2 - this year, with T-Day on 11/28, season opens 11/2.

Agree. I've gathered data on big, frozen (SN,IP but not ZR) events since moving to Maine in Jan. 1973, choosing 1.50" of frozen precip as a threshold which results in 25 such events. (Going with 2"+ drops that number to 9, too small a sample.) BGR had one "big" in my 3 years there, in April 1975. Fort Kent had 4 in 9.7 winters, Gardiner just 3 in 13, and New Sharon 17 in 21. Prior to moving here I'd not recorded 2 such events in the same winter, but there were 4 in 16-17, 3 in 06-07, and pairs in 2 other winters. The trend I've seen is for more high-qpf winter storms, not less, at least where I've been living the past 46-47 winters.

Cloudless here as well. This is the NNE summer of sunny days and (mostly) modest dews. Those two facets are not unrelated. Another benefit of mowing late is that ground-nesting birds have already fledged at least one clutch by now.

Just like last winter! (In the Maine foothills )

Gorgeous. Wish I'd had my camera driving home yesterday - looking NW there was Mt. Blue sharply (thanks to the drier air) silhouetted against the sunset glow with swirling multi-colored clouds above. I was barely a mile from home but knew that grabbing camera and returning would see the best long gone.

Strongest TS to hit within 10 miles my place was on August 30, 2007. No spinners but hail defoliated much of 7,000 acres of forest, partially debarking some, and damaged roofs, windows and siding on houses in Rome village. There were still sizable piles of runoff-gathered hail 24 hours after the storm. (6-8 miles NW, we had a moderate TS with zero hail - the usual.)

White birch at the head of the driveway is shedding a few brown leaves each day, like it always does starting mid August.

Out of curiosity I checked winter records for the Farmington co-op, including March and looking at records for both minima and maxima (fractions for ties), and both for the full 126-year POR and at 2000 forward. They have set only 5 low minima 2000 on and just one (3/25/14) since 2009. Given the 19 years 2000-on (2019 excluded), an even distribution would be 18.4 record lows for that 122-day period. It's perhaps telling that the same 19 years saw 25 record low maxima. There's cold air still, but the still clear winter mornings just aren't cooling off the same as in earlier times.

Before your head explodes, note that my thermometer location is transpirationally cooled in summer and is where descending cold air gathers for a party when radiational cooling is out and about. August 2008 had a max of 79 and June 2009 just 77, my only met summer months that didn't reach 80. July 2009 only got there once (82), in late month. (Those 2 months of 2009 probably had more days of stratiform RA than in an average OCT-NOV.) We wet Meh That's only 40 times as much as fell into my Stratus.