tamarack

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.

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...

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

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.

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.)

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.

Thanks again for this fun topic. Hope we all get to make a lot of significant entries.

We aren't big on the 4 big network stations, but the political ads have also corrupted DIY/Animal Planet/Discovery/Science to a disgusting degree. Some days back I read that Collins/Gideon total money-wasting was at 98 big big ones, must be into 9 figures by now, most expensive non-presidential campaign in the country. When Judge Kavanaugh was nominated for SCOTUS, opponents in Maine (and elsewhere I'm sure) assembled nearly $4 million in pledges for whichever Democrat would be running for that senate seat, and they told Collins that if she voted not to confirm Kavanaugh the pledges would be ripped up. Kind of like a bribe offering. And the battle was on...

110" at Logan is probably about 250% - said the numbers Nazi.

300% AN? 4 times the average? Wouldn't that be near 170" for BOS? 14-15 was super for the eastern half of SNE, but that super? (Just idle curiosity, which has gotten me in trouble before.)

About half of my 142" in 07-08 was "nuisance snow" but it kept building the pack. We take (unless my nuisance 2" is 12" both north and south of here.)

Got 2.8" here.