tamarack

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%

22" in October is insane, and even that early in the season that much snow doesn't go away in a day or two. We had much less (4.5", with 8" in Farmington) and temps 35-40 on the next couple days after. One of those days I was in the Rangeley area helping our forest inventory contractor check on the accuracy of his crews. It was like a day-long icewater shower in the woods, and my job at each cruise point was to find a spot with little/no snow-dripping branches overhead so I could record the measurements on a dry (sort of) page.

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.

So would I if I still lived in NNJ - those 3 big storms totaled over 60" at my place. Not so good where I live now; for that winter the Farmington co-op recorded 0.7" less than EWR, a not common phenomenon, and those 3 events were key: 56.3" at EWR, 5.5" at Farmington. And all 3 of those election day clipper maps stop the snow a few miles south/north/west of my place. It's too early to whine about missing snow, but I hope the results so far aren't the pattern - snow in N. Maine and the mts on 16-17 then in SNE today while we see neither flakes nor sun in either.

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.

Pin oaks in Farmington are 80% (rough est.) leaf-retained and just reaching their peak color - they're the reddest of the oak species I see, though all near here are planted street trees. The large oak 100' from this computer has 30-40% of its leaves; beyond that one only the understory beech/oak have more than a few hangers-on. Zilch for acorns; scouted the 3-stem clump near my back line Saturday and found nada - that's been a decent area to hunt even w/o nuts but was hoping for even better.

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.

2nd at Farmington too, with 154", only 10" less than 68-69. Farmington's snowiest Dec was 1970, something like 54", and PWM's coldest for any month was Jan. 1971.

Have not yet had to answer a health survey for my job - closest was a survey of attitudes concerning working from home or at the office, as the former has increased more than 10-fold due to the pandemic. So far, my agency (Bureau of Parks and Lands) has had no positive tests. Since that includes many who routinely work face to face with the public (mostly Parks employees, like those collecting entry fees at the gate) it's somewhat surprising.

Maybe it's because of my job site (when not working at home) or something, but Maine - for all its protest-generating restrictions - seems very low key compared to what I'm reading about here. We have a sign-in site on the state website for when we plan to be in our office building and must wear masks there unless we're in a socially distant cubicle (like mine) but there was no other restrictions and I traveled all over northern Maine last week with no problems. (Our auditor from Vermont came and went freely; the other auditor is from Sault Ste. Marie, ON and "attended" the opening and closing meetings on Teams.) Maine has had some recent outbreaks but the overall case numbers are second lowest of any state. Vermont is lowest, and maybe they're going overboard to remain #1?

That's probably true but I don't think we can quantify the difference unless/until recreational marijuana is legal in most/all states. I voted against rec-pot in the Maine referendum, and having seen the tragic results of alcoholism up close I wish rec-alcohol were not a thing, but that ship sailed long since. So, apparently, has marijuana's watercraft. One positive thing I'd say about legalization concerns its reputation as a "gateway drug". If that was ever true, IMO it was because the pot suppliers were the same people who sold heroin, crack, and other things with a greater profit margin. Getting those dudes out of the process will close that gate (if it was ever open.)

Better than that here - Farmington's 2nd and 6th snowiest winters (also #112 of 127) and the 3-winter average is right on Raindance's 130% of normal. (For what all that is worth in October, of course.)

As a NJ expat I can understand that comment, but it depends on where in the state. We have family in SNJ farm country, well back from the shore, and there's little if any "Jersey attitude" there. Also as a NJ expat I realize I'll always be a "flatlander" despite having moved to Maine in January 1973 and worked in the Maine woods for 44 years. I've had almost no pushback, but I've also never carried on like I was a native.

Hope you're hunting not rafting - would be tough paddling while in a wetsuit. In our 3 days in Aroostook (also a couple hours in Piscataquis - Telos) for our forest management audit, we probably saw more than 2 dozen birds, including one that tried crossing the road with 2 pickups bearing down at 60+ on the St. Croix Road. Not enough left to be worth picking up.

Swamps always get filled before freeze-up.