tamarack

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.

It seems to be. The US Senate is a tight race as well, so money is pouring into Maine to pollute the airwaves. As of a couple days ago, $98 million had had been thrown at that race with the Ds tossing a bit more than half. I've heard that it's the most costly non-presidential contest in the country. After about 100 of the Collins/Gideon ads, one for Jean Shaheen sneaks thru. Getting back to wx, September stats. The month started warm, had a very cool middle (1st time here I've had 4 straight mornings in the 20s) and finished with dewey warmth - 27-29 averaged +15 and wiped out the last of the BN margin. Avg. High: 69.0 - 0.95 AN, warmest was 79 on the 10th Avg. Low: 45.0 - 0.39 BN, coldest was 25 on 20,21. The 64 on 9/28 was warmest by far for so late in the season. Month avg: 57.0 - 0.27 AN, 2nd consecutive month within <0.5F of average, both AN. Precip: 1.29" - 2.26" BN and 2nd consec month >2" BN. Aug/Sep total 3.08", avg. 7.52". Had 1.14" on the 30th, preventing this month from being the driest I've recorded since October 1963 in NNJ. 10th of 23 Septembers with no thunder.

Hope it chooses to wander west about 3 AM when Rt 1 and the Pike are almost empty.

3 hours ago, powderfreak said: Yeah that was some impressive state wide rain in VT. Just heavy rain all night ripping straight up the length of the state. Any drought done. September rainfall went from record low to probably within 1 SD of normal lol. Still some work to do here. Thru July 2020 was almost exactly on the average, but August's 1.79" was 44% of avg and 2.3" low. If my 0.79" at 7 AM grew to 1.5" this morning then September will look a lot like August, 1.65" total, 45%, 2.1" BN. October has been my wettest month, averaging 5.68". If we meet that, Stein is in the grave.

My preference goes to the Fay Hyland Arboretum spread throughout and nearby to the U. Maine campus.

The CBB trio. Anyone looking to attend one of those excellent schools should be diligent in seeking scholarship money. Like many well-regarded liberal arts colleges, full ticket (room/board/tuition) is frighteningly costly but there's a lot of financial help available. (I have no dog in the fight but my sentiment would be with Bowdoin, if only because the Bowdoin Pines east of the campus make up one of the most magnificent pine stands I've seen.)

10-15% of pedestrians were wearing masks when we visited our son/D-I-L in Japan (southern Honshu) in March 2016. Between that and Japanese culture, I highly doubt there was much anti-mask unrest there.

Finally found some pike at North Pond (Belgrades) after not seeing one this year. After 3 hours with just a single yellow perch, was drifting and casting my way back toward the landing when a 20-inch fish nailed the spinner 3 feet from the canoe. Dropped anchor there and tossed out the spinner a few times, then decided to try the much bigger (1 oz.) faux-Dardevle. Shortly thereafter got a 25" fish, probably about 4 lb. Fish stew upcoming.

He's north of much of the town as well. IIRC, he's less than a mile downriver from the Chops, the exit from Merrymeeting Bay.

Noted that someone evidently is still reporting snowfall (129.3") from Clayton Lake even though the co-op obs disappeared in 2011.

Back to back 25s here. Had two tarps over the peppers (tops portions killed, lower leaves and fruit protected) and abandoned the other warm-season veggies, with predictable results - annihilation. Another lesser frost/freeze tonight.

29 this morning, might be cooler tonight. Time to check on the garden carnage.

After a mediocre winter and the day before another 10-12"?

Most unexpected stat from 09-10: BWI 78", CAR 71".

Even more in Jackman and when we were having winter harvests at Holeb, about 10 miles to the west, the snow there was a lot deeper than in town.