tamarack

More importantly (since they may have already bred by beechnut time), they make the bears fat.

I'd go with witch hazel for the left leaf. Their seeds mature in early fall and get forcefully ejected, sometimes falling 20 feet or more from mama. Witch hazel is a woody shrub that rarely gets over 20' tall. And you're correct about beech - their nuts grow in a spiky 3-panel package about 1/2" diameter, with a single triangular nut within a hard-to-remove hull. Quite tasty straight from the hull, though one might starve to death trying to free them from their covering. Kind of like celery - chewing that veggie takes more calories than it provides. Of course, if one eats beechnuts like a bear, spiky covering, hulls and all (and as fast as they can get crammed into the bear's mouth) the energy budget is more favorable. At least in Maine, bear reproduction is keyed to beechnut crops; lots in the fall, many cubs in the spring.

My youngest turned 41 last month so not facing that issue, but I'm still having fun at work.

Might depend on what "have AC" means. We own 2 window units and neither has been used since 2013. Is we is or is we ain't?

How much does the far greater atmospheric moisture affect departures? Air at TD 70 must have about 10 times the water vapor as at TD zero. Low in the 40s this AM, only the 3rd such minimum this month. 21-year average is 7, which includes 5 mornings sub-40, none since 2007.

Their highs are quite close to those at NYC - within a fraction of a degree. Maybe all the trees in Central Park have an effect different from grass plus tarmac. Of course, NYC minima are probably 5° or more milder than at BDL.

Just comparing Farmington's record warm/cold months to 1981-2010 averages (even if the records weren't set during those years) backs this up. For simplicity (in typing) the departure comparisons are between met winter and met summer. The differing departures are much more striking in winter. Record type Warmest Coldest Met Winter +10.02 -13.71 Met Summer +7.19 -5.27

For the local long-term co-op, on the 1966-on obs site north of town, the average is 3.2 days/year. In the 73 prior years with obs site moving 4-5 times but always in-town, the average was 8.6. This year will need to hit the mark at least 7 times to tie/pass the 1990s at 30 for lowest decade - was 23 such days thru last summer. Not sure if Farmington's reached 90 this year, though Saturday might have done it. Nothing in the coming week looks to add any more and recent AUG/SEP haven't done it often. In 2002 Farmington reached 90 ten times in those 2 months (AUG 7, SEP 3), but in the subsequent 16 years thru 2018 the total is also 10, four coming in the 2010 month-bridging heat wave.

Might already have begun here. Getting all of 0.07" Sun-Tues while nearly everyone else had 10, 20, 30 times that much, plus a forecast with no precip before next Tuesday's 40% chance . . . Not good signs. Water table is fine, upper part of soil is getting crispy.

Sunday PM models had 1"+ for my area. Yesterday's PM forecast reduced that to 1/4-1/2". 7 AM cocorahs report: 0.03" but we survived the flooding. That's after getting a whopping 0.01" from Sunday's cf while N/E Maine got clobbered. Seeing 2"+ in S. Maine overnight adds more salt to the wound. Might've gotten a tenth post-7 AM, but watched echoes die as they approached my area so maybe not.

Farmington co-op averages top out at 67.3 for July 22-25. Temps rise to within 1.0° of that peak on July 6 and remain within a degree thru August 11. My much shorter record (working on year 22) shows average temp climbing above 65.0° on July 9 and staying above that mark thru August 9 without ever reaching 66.0, so my peak is essentially same time as that co-op. Radar showing a nice split at last peek, with 3/4 staying south of my place and 1/4 going north. Doubt that will continue that way. Augusta airport, which reported RA- at 2 then reported partly sunny at 4. Neither the rain nor the sun arrived outside the office 2 miles away. Given relatively dry air (compared to Sat-Sun) I can understand the rain not getting here (and if I'd been outside 2 hours ago I might've been hit with a few droplets), but still am puzzled by the p-sunny as it's been slate gray here for about 3 hours.

GFS up to its old disappearing-QPF tricks - AUG-WVL-RUM triangle under 1/2" on 12z op run, after being 1"+ this time yesterday. AUG was reporting light rain at 2 PM, but it hasn't made it here, 2 miles SE from the airport. Radar just falling apart as it tries to enter Maine. Still time, however, as there's a long reach upstream.

On clear calm evenings during the cooler seasons, our car thermo will often drop 2-3° while traveling the 2,000' from tar road to home.

Read recently that EWR was voted as least favorite among major APs in the US. I was not asked, but would concur. Clouded over here in Augusta, rain not far away.

Those shorter PORs would also miss out on all the heat records of the 1930s. Nearly half (24) of state's all time hottest days came in that decade; no other decade notched more than 5. (My numbers are dated somewhat, so any state records since about 2012 aren't included.)

Looks more like a basswood. Aspen blossoms/flowers are long gone, generally before the leaves are fully formed. Basswoods near our house are full of flowers.

Yesterday's high launchpad was neutered by 2 hours of mostly cloudy centered on noon, with a teeny shower mixed in. Things re-warmed afterwards but dews were sliding down thru the 60s so the comfort level was improving and temps dropped to upper 50s this morning. Saturday's 86 was about 3° below what I'd anticipated, much like other Maine sites - saw 92s and 96s where forecasts had been 95s and 99s. Too much dew? My garden was sad that all that PWAT left the building with just 0.01" RA. Hoping tonight's event doesn't slide away south.

Upper 60s this morning, so no 70+ minima - only one in 21 y3ars so no surprise. Rock'n'roll in N. Maine this AM as convection stays north. Mon-Tues RA looks mainly S. Maine. Would be sad if all this humidity failed to put any water on the garden.

Topped out at 86 yesterday, a bit less hot than I'd anticipated. Dropped into the upper 60s this morning.

And none in the past 60 years. For the 60s onward, maybe look for -5 instead. It's like NYC - minus 15 in 1934 and minus 8 in 1943, but nothing colder than minus 2 since then.

AN October portends AN snow here, on average, though only 21 years of record and the relationship is modest.

Gotta do it when you can. That's how I found myself insulating the attic in our 1st little house in Ft. Kent while CAR was matching its hottest temp on record. (A modest 96 - attic was a bit warmer.)

Trying to make weight for a wrestling match? Guessing we'll top out 88-90 n the transpirationally-cooled woods. The only 90+ reading here since 2005 was mid-May 2 years ago, before the leaves were fully operational. Pretty oppressive even so. Morning low was about 63, probably about midnight as it was warmer in the pre-dawn. Only one 70+ minimum here, 7/19/2005; tomorrow's chances may hinge on when the CF comes thru and maybe brings the low late in the day.

If the wind blows a big enough hole in the woods, it ought to be visible. 33 years ago (9/30/86, meaning significant leaf drop) straight line winds began their damage a half mile north of Eagle Lake (just south of Fort Kent) and 4 miles/600 acres later blew trees into the west end of Square Lake. I'm sure that would've been visible from a long way off. At its height, the wind snapped 12-14" diameter sugar maple a dozen feet from the ground, hitting them too suddenly to uproot. I have no idea whether folks at CAR did a ground check to estimate wind speed, but my guess is 90-100 mph.

Whether it's transpirationally-fed dews or fake frost-pocket cold, the readings are real but are not an accurate reflection of the overall airmass. Those readings do vary proportionally with the airmass - DIT's dews will be higher when those at BDL are 70 than when the AP is at 65. And the sensations of dewiness or cold in each of those microclimates are just as real. IIRC, any "arguments" were based on some folks claiming their readings were correct and inferring that others' differing readings had to be wrong, when in fact both were accurate..