tamarack

My 0.1" overnight kept the ground white almost until noon. Biggest snowfall since 12/20. I think that continuous snow cover begins tomorrow night.

Same storm (21"): Our Subaru Forester, well buried.

I remember only one significant ice storm that didn't begin with frozen precip, usually SN but a couple times IP. That one event, Dec. 11-12, 1970 in NNJ, produced the weirdest looking lawns ever, with grass blades encased in 3/4" ice and not a speck of snow on the ground before or during the event. Probably my #3 ice storm, vying with Dec 1983 in Fort Kent, but orders of magnitude below 1953 and 1998.

Good thing, after the grinchiest Grinch ever. Nice going from modeled cutter/whiff to perhaps 2 decent snow events.

Had 10" in NNJ, with pulses of heavier snow the evenings of 23rd and 24th, and flurries/S- between. Not all that many Christmas Eve/Day snow memories - 1961, 1966 (best one, with thunder), 1978 (Fort Kent) and 2017.

Pure sleet that one can shovel, meaning w/o ZR mixing in, has for me always melted out very close to 3:1, similar to snowmaking product. A situation like the Fort Kent ice storm in mid-December 1983 was different. At the end of that event, our yard had a 3" crust (atop a solid 24" pack) consisted of a 1/2" layer of clear ice sandwiched between 1.25" layers of ZR-welded IP. It was very difficult to get a core (had to somehow have the tube I use melt its way thru) and it came to 1.9". Thus the 2.5" of IP-stuff had 1.4" LE for slightly less than 2:1. (And with one half-decent snowfall on it, that crust would hold a running bull moose.)

Had a few graupel flurries this morning, partly to mostly cloudy this afternoon. Other than some small piles, there's zero snow cover here. Rivers have peaked and are on the downslide, with the Kennebec in AUG cresting on the midday high tide at nearly 4' over flood. (Big floods like 1987 overwhelm the tide cycle, for about 3 days in that one.) Decided to move the max-min after the heat pump was installed, as the exhaust is about 3' from the old site. The installer said the pump's exhaust would affect the thermometer when set for AC and that's likely to be about 95% of our use.

Usually. Long ago (1978) we had a sizable fire of incendiary origin NW from Allagash village. I was on patrol to prevent/report (I had neither training nor authority for law enforcement) any more suspicious fires when I saw some fighter jockey from downcountry come blazing down the Little Black River valley at nearly the same altitude as the 2 Hueys doing water drops. I heard later that the Maine Forest Service radios nearly melted from the commentary. I've only lost a 12" pack in January once, in January 1995. The snow had already compacted to 8" when we had 3 days that averaged 25° AN, with 0.4" RA to help. Only needed the 1st 2 to finish the melt, as day 2 was 51/45, by far (8°) the mildest Jan minimum I've experienced in Maine.

Our 17" only dropped to 13" despite an inch of low 40s RA. However, that 17" was compacted to 6:1 and very cold - the month was running 9.8° BN (23/3) thru the 22nd.

Yesterday's 0.8" locks in my 36th-place standing, 4th of 4 Mainiacs. Weird season - will climo assert itself?

450 miles of 24-44" - incredible.

Kinda hard to invert the big tube for a core. My Stratus lives indoors in the cold season, only let outside to take cores. Despite the claim of safety, I'm not confident that it would survive a heavy rain followed by freeze. Two years ago we had a 2"+ downpour while we were in SNJ for Christmas. When we got back, the 5-gal used for winter precip held an ice-discus that had bowed the bottom nearly an inch without breaking it - returned to normal once emptied and warmed. If there's much over 11" on the board I'll take the core in 2 steps, usually by carefully sliding my snow shovel (uncurved blade) at the halfway point, pushing the tube to contact and then very carefully lift/invert the shovel while holding the tube, taking care to swing away from the snowboard. I'll have a 2-gallon wash pail to dump the 1st partial core and just put the tube upside down into the pail with the 2nd. I do the melt/measure like dendrite.

I may be mad but I'm not angry.

I waited until some hours after last flakes to measure my 1.9". What an awesome band, both for intensity and length - Bradford County in north-central PA all the way to Oceanstwx. At least 350 miles.

That's something one might expect at Mammoth or Rainier! Both visibility (1/4 mile) and flake size are at their lowest in Augusta. I don't think there's as much outside the office here as that hourly average in VT.

Hawaii ought to have a record listed. Both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea get occasional snow, sometimes a lot, and the latter peak supports a ski club!

49.5? Did they toss Berlin's 55" in Nov 1943? Pinkham's 77" in 2/69 ("mountain" sites not admitted?) That said, this event may have the broadest span of 30"+ of any in the Northeast. Maybe not (or maybe so) for total area but for spanning from north-central PA thru NY, VT and NH and possibly into York County, Maine

Would not have furnished at MWN for the storm of late Feb 1969. (Close, though)

Then there was late Feb 2010, with 10.7" mush and 2.68" LE , followed by 1.1" for 33-34F RA. This left about 7" of stuff with perhaps 40% water atop an unfrozen (thus high-friction) driveway. Was far harder to clear with the scoop than the 24.5" a year earlier.

That worked well for me in 24", might be tougher in 30+ though it's the best choice. Also had to do 24" with a snow scoop- 1st task was to shovel out a place to start dumping with the scoop. Could not make a run with the scoop like the usual, but merely take off a scoop-size bite and run it up the snowbank. Maybe 3" in Augusta. Almost half came 10-11 this morning as we caught the north edge of the megaband and had some real flakes. Then it returned to the teeny-tiny ones that reduce visibility equally but don't accumulate nearly as fast.

Same for me, in Ft. Kent. All the other places we've lived seem to have a 24" cap. Did not even see a flake until 8 AM, 2/3 the way from home to Augusta. Moderate SN here though lighter than 15 minutes ago, maybe 1". Home front might get a dusting, about 40" less than BGM.

PHL reporting SN+ and 30/27. Might get a nice front end thump before the p-type issues arrive. Family about 30 miles SSE from there reported snow an hour ago - they're not forecast to get much more than a sleety coating.

Actually reached -2. Still struggling to get out of single digits but the wind is gone. (Except in the north - FVE WCI is -21.)

Zero or -1 (haven't checked the max-min) and latest GFS says maybe 2" tomorrow - broom snow.

I tried to squeeze 0.1" out of what was on the board, but it was probably about 0.03", so T.