tamarack

That "paster" was forecast as 3-5" advisory snow but dumped 13.3" overnight before ending with a couple tenths RA. Even so, the 46" pack at 7 AM only settled to 43 at my 9 PM obs. Farmington didn't change until right at the end and got 16.9".

In the Northeast it's 1934 having the greatest competition with 2015. Only valid NE record I've found back beyond 1875 is NYC, and Feb that year is only 7th coldest, 5.2° less cold than 2/34. That site recorded its 3rd coldest Feb in 2015. 2013-14 was a good winter marred by a frustration January - BN temps, precip way AN, and 2nd lowest snowfall in the Farmington co-op's 128 Januarys. That's an unusual trifecta. However, the winter had 5 double-digit snowstorms, most in any winter here, though greater than 13.5". Also ranks #3 for Snow Depth Days and is one of 5 winters in which pack got above 40". Also the coldest March on record at that co-op (as was February the next year.).

The state system won't allow that. Parks and Lands can't even advertise the position until I'm fully retired and the process (getting a register, setting up interviews, receiving permission to make an offer) will take several months. We've talked of my coming back on a contract, for that training and because 2021 is when we have to undergo a full recertification audit by the Forest Stewardship Council - happens every fifth year. It's a complex process, and while I'm sharing some details with our recently (May) hired assistant bureau director, the new chief forester probably could use some background (unless a long-time bureau forester were to get the job.)

About 3 months ahead of me - enjoy!

Odd to see one growing on a slant, as they're about the straightest and most vertical of all deciduous trees, though like all of that group it will tilt toward the sun if shaded on one side. Five feet in diameter? Which lake - there's a bunch in that corner of the state.

Hard to get the right scale, but it might be large enough (significantly bigger than hornets/yellowjackets) to be a wood wasp. They're solitary and non-stinging.

Not as good in Maine but still decent. Not interested in solar, would need to cut loads of trees and make frequent roof trips to clear off the snow. We're exploring the heat pump option, more for AC than for heat, in part because the only place for installation (without removing windows, cabinets or both) is 10-12' from the woodstove.

Northern Maine got fringed by 1978, about 2". And while they did okay with the "Mayor Lindsey" storm in early Feb 1969, the big dog in late month was mainly a whiff. VT had huge variation that month, BTV getting 17" and St. Johnsbury 60, BTV 6" from the late month dump vs. 35" for St.J. The March 2011 storm dumped 19" at Eustis while 40 miles SSE we had a lot of RA followed by 2" IP then enough ZR to take out power. Bad memories - my spinal stenosis symptoms (I had no idea yet on what was going on) were getting worse. Had a day-long forestry conference in Orono and my wife was house sitting near BGR. Got home at 8, all was dark and the house about 45 inside with teens outside. Usually I'm quite cold-tolerant but that night I just couldn't get warm, even under a pile of blankets and the woodstove going full blast.

And ENE got squat. We were forecast for advisory level snow but by the time the cold air arrived the precip was about done - just a few flakes here. Fitting end to a crummy snow season.

2005-06 definitely, my 2nd lowest snowfall of 22 winters here and less than 8" after Jan 31. 83-84 and 85-86 were mostly meh where I am now, though 83-84 had a cold March with a 23" snowstorm and that winter we lived in northern Maine and the March storm dumped 26.5", biggest snowfall I've experienced and brought the pack to 65", also tops. The other 9 averaged 104" compared to the nearby co-op's 90" average. Weak ENSO in either direction averages AN for snow here though La Nada is about average.

Thanks for the full context; I was writing from memory. My semi-quotes came from the KJV. Both are reliable versions.

Reminds me of a parable in Luke's Gospel. Paraphrasing it very loosely, a man has crop yields too great to fit in his barns, so he decides to tear them down and build bigger. He thinks that then he'll be all set for years and years. But God says, "Thou fool!" and says the man's life ends that very night, "and whose will be your goods now?"

More likely the owners didn't want to be associated with the poor folks who can only afford $5 million mansions.

"Safe" in this context is relative. The science says that wearing masks greatly reduces the chances of getting COVID-19 but I've not heard any science that says it totally eliminates the chances. Sitting in a poorly ventilated room (typical of many small-town voting places) for 8 hours while hundreds of people file by multiplies the "greatly reduce[d]" chances. Volunteers in our town are generally dedicated and will be there, but reducing the number of folks parading past the registry table can only help. Edit: 'Berg nicely describes the "lock the gate behind me" syndrome.

Depends on how one does it. When "phase 2" arrived in June, meetings of up to 50 people were okayed, with masks and/or distancing. Our pews are tape-blocked such that differing family groups sit 6+ feet apart and families with younger kids view the service remotely from a downstairs room to ensure <50. We do sing hymns, but those with louder voices (like me) mask up to sing. Choir has not yet resumed - we had hoped to present our Easter program for the church's 40th anniversary in June - no go - so now were looking at December and doing it as the Christmas program as the material works for either holiday. I'm not real confident it will go completely, maybe just the spoken parts w/o the choir. Just common sense.

With the new town hall just beginning to be built and no sizable place in town to vote, a social-distanced queue of more than 10 people will have most standing outside. November can be messy, even during the 1st week. Because of that and our ages, my wife and I will vote absentee but hand-deliver our ballots before the crowds arrive on election day. Killington folks gone wild And it may be just beginning. Less than 30 of the 65 guests at the infamous Millinocket wedding early last month got the virus, but with secondary/tertiary infections the total related positives is probably approaching 140, with 66 in the York County jail alone. When it was 54 the cases included 19 staff and 35 prisoners. Yikes!

Despite the SNE damage from Isaias, it was still a Cat 1, so the season to date might be called "Laura and the dozen dwarves."

Dec 1992 was just wind at my (then) home in Gardiner, nary a flake. PWM had 2" so I doubt IZG got much. Feb 1978 dumped 22" at the Farmington co-op, only 2" where I lived in Ft. Kent. We were marking timber near the south shore of Eagle Lake about 15 miles south of FK and had S- on an eerily steady north wind about 25 mph. I can't remember another significant wind that had so few gusts. In my 10 years in northern Maine we had only one decent snowfall that also tagged both CHI and NYC, the April 1982 blizz. Anything else that got both sites at 40-41N invariably kept heading east.

I can't fault you for disagreeing. BOX depth reached 31" in Jan 1996 while 150 miles north we never got past 28, as the big KU was a fringe job there. That was somewhat AN for max depth in Gardiner but peanuts compared to BOX's anomaly. My "affection" for deep pack was born in my Fort Kent years. The monster pack in 1961 in NNJ is a strong memory, but that winter was almost the only incidence of significant pow-pow. Usually the snows fell on bare ground there, or on a bit of whitish crust. In the years once I became interested in snow records (began about 1956) until moving to BGR in 1973, my area in NNJ averaged 50-55", which is about 15" above the long-term average, and the Feb 1961 storm is the only one that brought a 10"+ storm atop a 10"+ pack. Even the snowier locations in NW Jersey at 1000+ elevation did that only the one time. Where I live now it occurs in more than half our snow seasons, even this past BN one though barely - the 10.3" on 3/23-24 fell atop a 10" pack.

The classic big snow/no retention was 1995-96. At Gardiner the snow got to 28" deep 2nd week of January then 3 torch deluges cut it back to 5". In Farmington, 40" went down to 8" - takes some incredible thaws to drop the foothills pack by 32" in January. Feb saw the Gardiner pack go up to 12" then squash back to just 2. 16" in early March again lifted the depth to 20" and 17 days later it was all gone. 23" in one April week produced only 21 SDDs. For my 13 winters in Gardiner that winter is 30" snowier than any other but only 5th in SDDs, way behind 86-87, 89-90 and 93-94. Fun watching the stuff fall, not fun slogging thru the slush a few days later.

What I'd like (as would anyone here) would be another Feb 1969,when Farmington got 43" over 3 days that built the pack to 84" - was the state's tallest pack on record until 2017 when 94" was measured at Chimney Pond. Pales next to Pinkham Notch's 164" after that same '69 event., undoubtedly the most east of the Rockies. Mansfield is 2nd, 149" that same winter.

Maybe Nov-Dec 2018? The cold began to take over 2 weeks into October and storminess for the last week or so. Nov brought storms of 4", 6" and 7.1" - we've had only 7 snows of 4"+ in 22 Novies and 2018 is alone in having more than one - then Dec laid a rotten egg. Farther south, NYC had its earliest 6"+ snowfall, more than a week earlier than the next one, then had "T" for Dec and 3.7" total for Jan-Feb before bagging 10" in early March..

Given the 4x4x2 dimensions, he's charging the equivalent of $640/cord. Probably hopes unknowing flatlanders (meaning, anyone not from where he's from) won't know anything about firewood prices.

To me, cold winters are about as cold as in decades past but are less common now, while warm winters are setting records and are more common. At the Farmington co-op, 1991-2020 temps thru last month are 1.75° milder than 1961-1990. Only June (0.9) and July (0.6) are within one degree and January is 3.2° milder, 16.4 vs. 13.2. Worth noting that 1961-1990 is the co-op's coldest 30-year segment on record, comparing only the standard intervals - something like 56-85 might be colder. Their warmest 30 is 1931-1960, back when the obs site was in town and 1.24° above 91-20. Edit: Farmington's mildest 30-year period is 44.36° for 1927-56. Coolest is 1967-96 at 40.996° (68-97 was 40.998) and with the obs site moved to its current location in Sept. 1966, probably no coincidence that the coolest period was the earliest full 30 years there.

One hopes Laura stirs up some less-hot water for Marco to cruise over. 12z GFS has the remains (of both?) dumping our first siggy RA here since mid July. Late edit: Got the 'canes reversed - not often when the "L" storm is chasing the "M" one.