tamarack

In 22 Octobers here I've had 1"+ snows in 4. Two were ratters,05-06 and 11-12, and two were good to great, 00-01 and 18-19. The Farmington co-op has a weak correspondence between temps and snowfall - BN October/BN snow; BN November/AN snow. That co-op has recorded 27 Octobers with 1"+ in 127 years. Snowfall in those years average 91" and the overall average is 90". The 8 Octobers with 4"+ average 93". Since the 27 with 1"+ average 3" and the 4"+ years average 5", Nov-May seasons for each run 88", about 1" BN as Octobers overall average 0.7".

Skies brightening in Augusta, and the AP clocked a 49 mph gust for their 10 AM obs. Expect the wind to mostly go away during the next hour.

No PWS here but prior to getting the Stratus for cocorahs in 2009, I used a 5-gallon bucket which fortuitously had a catchment area exactly 20 times that of an old steel can (Welch's grape juice concentrate) and applied the expansion factor. Each year I'll run both a few times and they've remained within 2-3% (or less) of each other, with no trend of one always higher than the other. I still use the bucket when cold wx arrives; I've read many times that the outer cylinder is freeze-up safe but I don't really believe it. When we were in SNJ spending Christmas 2018 with family, back home we had 2.17" RA on 12/21-22. By the time we got home on the 27th it was an ice block in the bucket and had bowed the bottom down about 1" in its center, w/o breaking it, thankfully, so a melt-out measurement was possible. Has anyone actually tested an outer cylinder by freezing 2"+ in it? Color me skeptical, especially as the alternative works just fine.

0.79" at 7 AM, bringing Sept up to 0.94". Points just west had 1.10" and 0.95" and we'll certainly get over the 1" mark, especially if that narrow line of RA+ holds together long enough. It's a good start but no more than that. Very windy outside the Augusta office, especially with the Venturi effect between our building and the one about 100' to our east. Sandy River already responding, now 10 cf above the record low after owning it the past 3 days. Typical flow regime for a river without major lakes or wetlands in its drainage. Flow has been down to low 30s and record high is 51,700 in 1987, about 1,500 times greater.

Still some bright reds in the general area (never many right near the house) though leaves are flying. Those on the 3 apple trees are mostly green but thinning out, the usual sequence for them. After several years with loads of fruit, and considerable blossoms on 2 of thee 3 (the usually abundant-fruiting Haralred had nary a flower) the total output was one small Empire apple. Had a sizable bird-peck, such that in a normal season I'd have left it for the critters, but I cut out the damage and enjoyed the 5 bites.

There's a maple like that on Sand Hill in Augusta, a red maple street tree that is totally dependable for deep reds. It's a late changer, probably will peak this year on the holiday weekend. In late-change autumns I've seen it near full and beautiful on Nov. 1. Even in the near-zero-reds 2005 season it was the one standout. (That was the worst season in memory. Change was late and aborted by a windy 6" over 2 days in October 2nd week, went from <50% change to >80% leaf drop in 48 hours.)

Absolutely. 3 March storms, 56, 58, 60. 3 big 60-61 storms, DJF. Jan 64 cold storm, thundersnow on 12/24/66 (and that whole winter), Mayor Lindsey storm 2/69. Great stuff!

12z GFS has 0.68" thru day 16 for Augusta, more than twice that at IZG. Wednesday shows a real narrow strip of heavier precip that wiggles E/W with every run.

Of all Will's snowfall maps, 07-08 had by far the greatest latitudinal contrast. IIRC, 20" or less along the Sound to 140" in central NH. CAR's all time record 198" was too far north to fit on the page.

Some neighbors and friends with dried-up wells, often for the 1st time, might see it otherwise. Our shallow well is down, but a few inches above the level it reached in 2002. It's still a short-term drought, however - nothing like 62-66.

So might I, but for much different opinions: 95-96...Lots of snow, lots of rain, lousy retention, fringed by the megalopolis bomb. 05-06...Horrible winter, 2nd least snowfall, lowest SDDs, only winter I've seen w/o a 6"+ storm since the late '60s. 07-08...Great winter, snowiest one here, super retention but no big storms - just loads of moderate ones.

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.

And Jackman, and The County, maybe Calais/Danforth to get the late bloomers. Moosehead area - my wish list is long. Back to Pinkham: Out of curiosity I looked up Diamond Pond. It's 57 miles N from Pinkham and about 200' higher and an obvious snow-catcher. In its 13 full winters (98-99 thru 10-11) it's average was 230.0". In those same winters Pinkham ran 126.7". Even adding 10" for the "M" in early Jan 2010 and another 10 for 4/1/11 only brings them to 128.2", still 100+ less than Diamond. Doesn't seem logical to this non-met.

65" near the end of the 26.5" storm of March 14-15, 1984 is tops - measured 80" on Big Twenty Twp. We'd reached 61" the morning after the 18.5" surprise* in early Feb but was settled to 59" at obs time. Then the 2nd half of Feb ran 15-20 AN and the pack dropped to 35". Without that thaw, just imagine. *The forecast had been 1-3, so the parking lot plowers weren't alerted until it was too late - Fort Kent's only full day lost to snow in our 10 years there. They lost a half day to the March event - 6" that morning with 6+ expected, by noon another 8 had fallen and it was coming 3"/hr so they sent the kids home, and everyone made it without serious issue, some living 30 miles and many hills from the high school. 2nd place is 54" in March 1977 - that winter's 186.5" in the most I've measured. Next are the 49 (09) and 48 (01 and 08) where I now live. Have topped 40 in 6 of 22 winters here.

Just peeked at some Pinkham numbers and found an early January event in 2010 with about 1.5" and M for snow at teens/mid 20s and only a 3" gain in depth. The 4/1/11 storm gave them 1.2" LE with 1" snow recorded, temps upper 20s. Low elev places generally got 10-15. That said, I wonder if they get shadowed by Wildcat for synoptic events and by MWN when winds turn NW. And while the pack additions in 1969 look suspicious (how does one even measure a depth that's 7 FEET greater than any other on record at one's location), a 77" dump is impressive.