tamarack

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.

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

#2 at my place, 8.5" compared to 10.3" on March 23-24. Only 2006-07 had a greater percentage of snowfall in spring in our 22 years here.

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...

We had a pretty good winter last spring, but met winter was MEH!! No storms over 7", no sustained cold, mediocre pack, etc. CAR had about 150", however, though no real biggies even there.

Garbage for sure - 73-74 was my first full winter in Maine (BGR) and only a snowy April kept it from setting a futility record there. They had more after the equinox (21.0") than before (19.8") and my biggest pre-equinoctial "storm" was 4.5" of near-zero feathers that had 0.10" LE. The airport's biggest prior to spring was 3.3" in December that changed to RA and dumped nearly 3". That was the event that featured 56° in BGR and at the same time 15° at my parents' place in NNJ, while the western half of SNE had a lights-out ice storm. BGR's least snowy winter was 22.2" in 79-80; none came after the equinox.

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.

Though Maine's new COVID cases are up from a month ago, their active cases have been running about 550 and hospitalized 10-15, ICU 1-2. With newbies averaging about 30/day, that plus actives would mean about 18 days from Diagnosis to recovery, which seems a bit long given the low numbers in hospital. Seems like Maine CDC has remained pretty conservative about declaring recoveries.

That's why a winter with 112" snow, about 125% of average, was frustrating - I had 4 of those mega-busts, events that verified at 1/8 or less of the low end of the forecast range. In addition to the SNJ bust (sad because it would've been the biggest storm ever for the snow-loving grandkids) the other 3 were: --November 2: forecast 4-8 (had been 8-12 the day before) verified at 0.5". Meanwhile the midcoast north of PWM got 8-14" and places downeast about 20. --December 9-11: forecast 10-16, verified at 1.2" plus 2.5" of 33-34F RA. Meanwhile western Maine mts above 1500' got a 15-25" paste bomb. --V-Day massacre: Forecast had been 18-24 when blizz warnings were first posted but dropped to 12-18 just before first flakes. Verified at 1.5" while BOS got 16 and Machias 25. (That eastern Maine town at 20' elevation had pack climb to 74" that winter, more than 2 feet higher than any winter at my pack-holding site. Best I could do in 14-15 was 31", barely above my average.)

That was the only double-digit snowfall I personally witnessed that good-but-frustrating winter, and my only November storm of 10"+, anywhere. We did get 20" on Jan 27-28 but my only "witness" was behind the snowblower 12+ hours after final flakes. During the storm we were in SNJ, anticipating the forecast 12-16 there, which verified at 1.5", all of which was gone less than 4 hours after snow stopped.

Maybe "suspect" would be a better word. Or why we opened the wallet for an on-demand gennie last April, after several significant (up to 31 hr) and minor outages beginning last Oct. Ran for 10 hours last Wednesday - I can recall winder days in the "oughts" that did not affect power, or at most a blink or two.

That was the light-pillar storm at our place in Gardiner - vertical beams above the streetlights. We were getting rimey SN+ at 5° while 30 miles east RKD had 40s and SE gales. Then temps rose to 30 then dropped quickly to the minus teens. On I-95 south of BGR it had briefly risen above freezing and the snow plus cold froze lumps of stuff so solidly that one dared not exceed 10-15 mph, or risk having one's fillings shaken out. Even a grader was having trouble getting it off the pavement. That 12/12/2008 map is reminiscent of the "layering" during the Jan. 1998 ice storm: NYC area - 50s/60s and some RA. SNE - 40s and more RA. Southern Maine - 30-35 with cold rain and/or light/moderate ice. Central Maine (IZG-AUG and on downeast between Rts 1 and 9) - disastah, 27-31 with 2"+ ZR. Western Mts/foothills - mid-upper 20s and mostly IP, with some moderate ice. Aroostook - singles to teens, 18-27" of 8:1 cornmeal over a 5-day period of near constant precip.

I'd put that next to 3/1888 in the Hudson Valley, with April 1982 not far behind. 2/78 is right up there as well. (Not quite old enough to have seen 1888 but I'm 1-of-3 for the others - 2" in Ft. Kent from 2/78 and 4.5" from the Octobomb, while 4/82 blasted Aroostook.)

Maine's record pike was 31+ lb and 47", came thru the ice on North Pond in February thus fat with eggs. Back along I took a 30"/8 lb pike from Great Pond in March and the day before that Great Pond fattie a retired fisheries biologist caught a 33"/11 lb fish a few yards from where mine had come out. Years earlier I'd caught one 33" and 8 lb at North Pond in May - post spawn. 3 lb of eggs in that 11 pounder? No wonder pike populations can skyrocket.

Water year here finished at 45.88" which is 3.11" BN, all due to AUG/SEP which combined for 3.08" compared to the average of 7.52".

Unfortunately, not much if any of that has trickled back to forest landowners and loggers. Markets are tight and prices modest and not moving much.

If "going to renewables" means total elimination of fossil fuel use by 2035, IMO that would be a bridge too far - 70-80% seems more doable for this non-expert. The transportation nut will be a hard one to crack. I see moving to renewables for electricity generation as doable but creating the necessary technology and distribution system seems a bigger hurdle. For one thing, we'd want/need batteries in vehicles that charge a lot faster than today - it's moving in the right direction and I'm confident there's lots of research but wonder how far (and soon) it can go. We might need a nationwide effort in the same general manner as creating the interstate highway system.

March 1960 was 18" cold powder, and 8" was on the ground as we climbed aboard the buses for the midday release. That Dec we watched the Giants and "Washington Football Team" trying to play with 8-10" on the ground/tarps. (Field had 6 full width by 20 yard tarps, crew spent 45 minutes almost getting one moved off and the coaches said forget it.) It was well after dark when the real stuff reached NNJ but slogging thru it next day - opener of NJ firearms deer season - was an adventure. My friend and I slogged, my dad found a nice oak to lean against and dropped a little buck in its tracks, waited for us to return and handed me the knife. Eight years later when I finally shot a deer, no one in sight, I was glad for the lesson. The Jan/Feb storms were separated by more than two weeks of temps well below freezing - 16 consecutive days for NYC, longest such run on record - and depths around our place probably reached 45" as places within 15 miles recorded pack of 50"+, tallest in NJ records by nearly a foot. By late Feb it was all gone. 12/24/66 I was heading home from hunting (squirrels/partridge) in SN+ when I heard a loud noise - sonic boom? Couldn't be thunder, could it? In a snowstorm? Next boom made it clear, my 1st thundersnow and I've experienced only 2 since.