tamarack

"Either you forecast weather the way I want it to be, or YOU'RE FIRED!!!"

Iceland was beautiful when we were there in 2017 but Norway even moreso, in part because it has trees. On the "Golden Circle" tour in Iceland, one of the hosts said, "If you're lost in an Icelandic forest, stand up!" Lots of 5-foot-tall birches. Our Norway itinerary included the 3 cities where my wife's grandparents were born (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim) plus the western fjords. Outstanding!

Same for Gov. Mills. Fortunately the "public settings" definition for outdoor spaces lists places where people gather, though it also has the inevitable "not limited to" phrase. Keeping one's mask in place while bushwhacking thru the Maine woods would require attaching the mask with duct tape.

That winter also had Farmington being bumped out of 1st place for Maine's deepest snowpack (94", 10" above Farmington's in 1969(), though it's no shame to be topped by Chimney Pond at 2,920'.

Different location, different outcomes. (Duh!) Last year my 2 biggest snows came after the equinox and the bigger one was a modest 10.3". 16-17 brought 4 events with ~2" LE with 3 of them all snow. The late January one was 5" of mix'n'mess, but the other 3 totaled 57.5" with the smallest (Pi Day, 15.5") being only my 4th storm in 22 winters here to meet blizzard criteria for the required 3 hours - had 2 hr extra.

My federal tax returns post-Trumptax are $600-$800 lower than before. Of course my federal tax deductions are $1200-$1400 lower. Seems like a small win. (Thanks to my wife and I being well into SSI age, our household income is a bit above the Maine median, though close to the national. The endlessly repeated commercials in Maine's senate race claiming that the 2017 tax law hammered the middle class were a bit hyperbolic.) There is a very real scenario where this all comes down to that split electoral vote in Nebraska that went to Biden. Offset by Maine's 2nd district. Last I looked, 213 electors had been called for Trump. Electors in undecided PA, NC, GA, AK total 54 which would leave him 3 short if he wins those states. (Why is AK in doubt? Sure there's only 50% counted but Trump is up 66%/34% in a reliably red state.) If Nevada also finishes red, the White House stays that color. Some big "ifs" however. Edit: That PHL ballot "recovery" has a bad odor. Unless the election officials are putting Trump and Biden ballots in separate boxes (and why would they do that?) rather than merely recording and storing them, having a stash of 20,000+ ballots with every single one voting for the same candidate is beyond mere suspicion, even from a bright blue city center.

1st measurable 3-6:30 this morning, 0.6" on just 0.02" LE despite mostly small flakes. Probably most will evaporate during the day.

That's a late winter tradition in the St. John Valley, though usually done by snowblower so they can cover both lanes. A few flakes sailing by in the wind here. We've remained comfortably between the echoes to our west and those to the northeast. A few flickers on the lamp as well - waiting for a full blink to cut off my link to the state network.

Wife's a flight attendant. Planes are the cleanest they've ever been. Study compared risk of covid between planes, subway, being in a car and others. Planes had the least risk and was extremely low. Tests have shown that air circulation patterns in jetliners help to prevent possible spread of germs/viruses. I'd be more concerned with the terminal/security processes.

Some great hikes in that general area - Acadia to the west, Cutler coast to the east, Tunk and Black Mountains west of Cherryfield.

Where I grew up in NJ 1950-71 (moved there when I was 4) was a lake community and our place was at about 700' - the town had some hills 900+ but for 1000 one has to be several towns west or north. After the Feb 3-4, 1961 blizzard we had perhaps 45" pack while Oak Ridge and Canistear Reservoirs reported 50" and 52", respectively, by far NJ's greatest depths on record. Our current residence in the W. Maine foothills is death valley for upslope but one of the better CAD locales in NNE.

Low was 11 here, coldest (by 1°) morning I've had in 23 Octobers here. Even in Fort Kent e never got below 7° in this month.

Hoping November cools off after later next week's warmth. October is going to finish about 1.5° BN and BN October/AN November is bad news for this area, at least based on the Farmington co-op. The comparisons below are split because 1893 thru summer 1966 the obs sites were in town and since September 1966 it's been 1.5 miles north of town center where houses are scattered and the land is mainly fields and trees. The current site has been slightly cooler and snowier than those in the built-up section of even this small town. Percentages of average snowfall: 1893/94 - 65/66 (Avg. 88.1") 66/67 on (Avg. 92.1") All years (Avg. 90.0") OCT-NOV both AN: 98.0% (n: 19) 97.8% (n: 15) 97.8% OCT-NOV both BN: 102.5% (n: 20) 103.6% (n: 14) 102.7% OCT BN-NOV AN: 93.9% (n: 14) 81.4% (n: 12) 88.0% OCT AN-NOV BN: 102.4% (n: 16) 113.1% (n: 13) 107.2%

Thanks for the info. I grew up in northern Morris County - anywhere near your NJ place? Had some great winters there (some awful ones as well) including ~100" both in 60-61 and 66-67. Took 3" on April 27 to reach triple digits in '67. Down to 12-13° this AM. Hit 12° on this date in 2002 for my coldest (before today?) morning in October.

Two beautiful pics - love the framing of Stowe with that bright aspen. Had 0.24" cold RA yesterday and nothing today, October total now 5.32", about 0.3" BN as it's my wettest month on average. Looks like the month will finish about 1° BN for temps. November looks to be warm after the 1st couple days. Hope that changes after mid-month as a BN Oct followed by an AN Nov has a poor history for snow at the nearby co-op.

And then came to a spectacularly abrupt end with the March super-torch; loggers had thousands of cords stranded on winter-only roads by a week of 70s and some 80s.

Welcome back, though every time a new/returned NH/VT member signs in, I again ask "Where are the Maineiacs from the northern/eastern part of the state?" I think you will do better than 90-95. I average 90" in my CAD-rich/upslope-absent location at 395'. 30 miles to my SW, Hartford, Maine in the Sumner hills at 700' has averaged 108" for the exact same period as my record here, 98-99 on. At 1500' I'd expect you to get at least as much as they do, maybe a bit less from synoptics but more when the track is too close to the coast. Lazy flakes drifting down - ground is cold (low was23) but current temp is 32-33 and no accum likely.

The grass isn't tall enough to fall on them.

Had not heard this. Unless the Bears can offer the kind of package they sent to the Raiders for Khalil Mack, just say no. the spider is alive...someone please send help That one looks big enough to dip in batter and french-fry.

Bit of graupel as I type. Season's first frozen.

Reading all those grim reports in klw's post makes me wonder if NNE has the same disease. Maine's active cases have run around 600 in recent days, with hospitalizations ~10 and ICU patients 1-3. Count your blessings...

That storm dumped 10" of fluff in 4.5 hours at Augusta and was still <1/4 mile visibility when I had to leave - wife got rear-ended a couple miles from home and rode the ambulance to the hospital to make sure the clips in her sternum (double bypass the previous Oct.) White-out for the 1st 10 miles but down to SN after that. Had 8" at home, only 5" at Farmington - for hours, radar had a yellow "banana" IZG-LEW-AUG-Belfast and Franklin County was just north of the bright colors. GYX had 15" and AUG probably about the same.

I thought Baikal was the only freshwater lake that had seals.

Got fringed here, 3", but 9" (month's biggest) from the next one, bringing the month total to 46.5", 0.3" more than Dec 2007. (2017 is the snowiest Feb, 46.9" despite nothing during the final 12 days.) Feb 2008 had 11 days with 1"+ and 5 with 5"+, the archetypical endless snow period w/o anything really big. The 6 days 5-10 brought 4 storms of 4" to 6.4" totaling 20.9" plus a 1.8" 'dusting' on the 8th.

Same here. In the (draft) Parks and Lands newsletter for November, the director noted that Parks has set a new record for campers in a season and that's thru 9/30 so the total will be higher than what will be in that report. I don't know how that has worked out for the campers (no outbreaks reported) but to date, there have been no COVID-19 cases among Parks and Lands employees. Also, use of hiking trails on Lands Division (my agency) is way up, though exact numbers aren't documented.