tamarack

Wet snow followed by wicked cold can make a real mess. In Jan 1994 in the BGR-area +SN changed to RA then back again as temps dove to subzero. I-95 south of the city had immovable ice clumps 2-4" thick such that going much over 15 mph was hazardous to one's suspension. Even the big graders couldn't scrape off much.

Was surrounded on 3 sides by places getting 2 times as much. Though I'm just north of the map, that green wedge in the upper right tells the tale. Knew it would underperform at home when I left SN with 6" new in AUG to find -SN and <1" on the porch steps. (Shouldn't complain about an 11" event, however.)

Beautiful. The only snow on the trees here is the final inch, after 7 hours of sandblasting had cleaned everything off the branches.

Same here, with some of the same issues. Blower would hit crust and wheels would dig a hole, requiring a backup, and as there had been a lot of ice on the driveway pre-storm, occasionally my feet would slide sideways adding to the fun. Usually takes about an hour or so to clear a 10-12" storm with equivalent LE but this 5" one took just under 2, most time needed since needing 3 hours to clear the Jan 27-28, 2015 blizz, which had 2.17" LE compared to 1.09" from this one. That storm was 9:1 sand and had 12 hours of settling before we got back from SNJ but it also had no crust.

Up to 44.9", still about 6.5" BN for the date.

Storm total 5.0" SN/IP with 1.03" LE plus 0.06" zr over the 2 days. 8:45-4 yesterday 1.5" IP, heaviest sleetfest since moving here, probably 0.65" or so LE. Walking is slightly unsecure as the "earth" moves under one's feet.

Sleet came way inland in Maine, so not a lot of inches to brag up but some solid base under future flakes. Storm sequence here was 2.5" from 0.24" LE on Thursday, 0.06" zr/dz overnight, 1.5" sleet thru 4 PM Friday (Prob. about 0.65" LE) then 1" SN 4-7 PM. 2-day totals: 5.0" and 1.09" LE, all but 0.06" frozen. Pack now 14" and solid. Never had a gust over 20, so no power issues in the foothills.

LEW, AUG, WVL all reporting SN at 2 PM while it remains all IP here, which I find odd. At last BGR still has IP.

Different world in the St. John Valley - different time too. On 3/14/84 Fort Kent sent the kids home at noon with 12-14 new and 3"/hr and everyone made it home safely, even those from Winterville, nearly 30 hilly miles down Route 11. Storm dumped 24-30 total. All IP here since precip amped up just before 9 AM, currently heaviest it's been, with a bit of wind to rattle chunks off the windows. Well over 1" of ball bearings making for interesting walking. 4-5" or more SN "wasted", but far far preferable to ZR.

I assign letter grades that score 4/3/2/1/0 for A/B/C/D/F with .33/.67 for x+ or x-, and weight snow grades twice as much as temp grades. There's also subjective(*) adjustments for pack, really big snows (or lack of them) and all-time records (3/01 for snow, 2/15 for temp) get a 5, like an A+++. (*) Of course it's ALL subjective.

Yesterday afternoon the GYX "90%/most likely/10%" line for Farmington was 4/9/10. This morning, with just 0.06" zr in between, the line is 1/2/6. Oops - looks like things shifted about 75 miles NW. Tiny IP began here about 8:45, far preferable to zr.

Today's 3-5 (yesterday's late forecast) is now 1-3, and my guess is a tenth or 2 of zr, 1/2" IP, then a windblown dusting and good-bye. A warned event that might not even reach advisory criteria. Maybe about the 10th power outage since the equinox thanks to the NW gales - can't recall a cold season with even 3 in our 21+ years here.

Odd sequence for this event - 1.5" of 20:1 fluff in 2 pre-dawn hours yesterday then 1.0" of 6:1 tiny-rimeys during the day, and perhaps 0.05" of zr overnight (bucket is warming near the stove.) GYX says 1-3 today, very little this evening and 5-8 for the 2-day total, down from 6-10 last evening. I don't think we'll even get to the 5. State offices are closed, though I think that a 2-hour delay to let the salt-sand folks do their thing would've been appropriate.

Jan '19 I had sleet at -2, a completely new experience and probably why I had 2" less snow than the Farmington co-op 6 miles to my west. Headed out to see what's stuck to the pickup - watching someone else clearing his rig makes it appear that zr hasn't reached AUG, or at least had any effect yet.

Fickle for sure. In 1981 CAR was 14.5° AN for the month of February, with the 10 days 16-25 all at least +20 and averaging +26. Blew away the season? The week after the equinox featured absolutely cloudless skies, calm winds, mornings of low singles to low teens and afternoons 40 to 50. The sugaries couldn't boil fast enough, and a year-plus later they were still selling '81 product (at the best price I ever paid for syrup.)

A long time forester and old-growth specialist with experience in the NNE mountains commented following the 1998 ice storm that serious tree damage began at the 20 mm mark. That has to be the flat surface, because a radial mark of 20 mm would be a repeat of 1998 in the WVL-AUG-Gardiner area. Twigs plus ice reached 1.5-2" diameter in that part of the state.

That's the official method but I find it counterintuitive. If my bent-over gray birch has 1st-year twigs (among the skinniest of any tree) having ice the diameter of a hot dog, calling it 0.3" accretion doesn't seem to make sense. If there were 1" precip with extremely efficient accretion, the max for the record could be no greater than 1/2"? (Not that I expect any change in the standard.) Or what T4S said.

At 6:30 cleared 1.5" of 20:1 fluff from the board, had really pretty sparkling dendrites floating down at 5 AM. No issues with the commute to Augusta, where it's been light/very light SN, maybe 1/2" in the 2 hours since getting here.

Adding up the 4 periods Thursday daytime thru Fri night, both Fort Kent and CAR show 14-26", about 3/4 coming Fri/Fri night. Farther south, GYX puts my zone at 6-9 with the next zone north 9-16.

That's what happened at my place, that and probably a thinner cold layer. QPF and surface temps were nearly identical between ORH and my place and we got at most 0.2" accretion. NOT complaining!!!

At least it's not a 2010 repeat (yet) when I had 46 straight AN days in Feb-Mar and 64 of 67 AN thru April 13. JFMA, averaged +6. That's significant for a single month, bizarre for one-third of a year.

'Till Lucy pulls the ball away? Goofus still has AUG reaching upper 40s Fri.

Also down by 7-8" here, and season's biggest is 7.0". 46 of my 47 previous Maine winters have had at least one snowfall greater than that, and while late week may close the deficit a bit I don't think it's a threat to that 7" peak.

Rain to Greenville, ice to Clayton Lake. Not likely, though GYX is kind of bearish - sub-advisory SN (1-3) Thursday then mostly RA Friday south of the mts. That would leave my snowpack about where it is now - was hoping for a little gain.

BDL's long term average is 49.3" and they're 3" above that for the past 20 years. That's at about 170' asl and I think Ginxy has significantly more elevation.