tamarack

Sandy River is up near 3300 cfs, from its 130 prior to this RA and still rising. Oddly the Kennebec, 40 miles downstream from its confluence with the Sandy, is showing only 2200, and the impoundments in those 40 miles are small potatoes for holding back freshets. The Carrabassett puts in about 10 miles upstream from the Sandy and it's running near 2000 though its curve looks to be near its peak. The flow at the Sidney gauge will probably look a lot different this time tomorrow. Two-minute shower just ending. Glad I wasn't walking out to the pickup at the time - have a rain jacket but wouldn't have put it on unless it was raining as I headed out the door.

No sooner had I posted this but the sun burnt thru enough cloud to actually create shadows for a few minutes here. Not long afterwards came a 10-minute downpour, heaviest RA I've seen in this event though no toad-strangler. Back to just cloudy now.

Saw the sun trying to break thru over north Augusta this morning, but that was it - no precip beyond some dz but continuing gray. No matter as I'm working inside today.

Try Flagstaff? That's close to their July average and they get almost 100" snow. Pack retention probably stinks, however.

As one of my college professors would say (usually in a driving rain storm), "There's no such thing as inclement weather, just improper clothing." I also recently read a book about Scandinavian views on kids and going outdoors, title was "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." (Not by a college prof. )

About 2.8" BN for the year, less whatever lands in the gauge between 7A and 9P today. The 2.26" storm total thru this AM is almost 3.5 times more than what fell (0.65") in the previous 6 weeks. Head of Maine USGS stated last Thursday that while much of the state had moderate drought, water tables remained in the normal range, albeit near the low end of that range.

Barely and briefly reached moderate rates, but 1.08" by 4 PM, perfect erosion-free soaker. If it can reach 1.3" by 9 PM we'll have tripled the total over the past 44 days.

That stuff stayed just to my west until about 4 AM. Had 0.23" thru 7 AM while a few miles west Farmington and Temple cocorahs reported over an inch. Now up to 5 rumbles of thunder for the year, 3 more about 5:45 PM yesterday as RA+ dodged to the NW - almost got the ground wet here. Steady RA- at present is perfect for the garden; may it continue for 2 days.

The Kennebunk fire jumped not only Rt 1 but more than a half mile of ocean to torch a small island off the coast of Kennebunkport. In the 1963 Jersey pine barrens fire, a firebreak was set up on the Garden State Parkway - 4 lanes, shoulders and a grassy median. It worked for 4-5 miles of highway but jumped a mile long section. All that blackened woods was impressive a couple months later when my dad took us down to Tuckerton to fish on Great Bay. Updrafts of a hot fire can carry burning bits of wood a long way.

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.