tamarack

Thanks. And just to stir the pot, I have to admit that I generally use the term "ice storm" any time there's enough accretion to affect tree posture, often when it's well short of NWS criteria. Promise I'll be more careful in the future. "A day I haven't learned something is a day I've wasted."

Drooping branches can shed snow, not so much for ice. However, that droop allows branches to support other branches. Also, the needles of higher branches reduce the load on the lower ones, and the drooping branches reduce catchment area. The upward branching of most deciduous species means any bending under ice increases the catchment area. (White pine is in a middling position. It lacks the abundant branching of spruce and fir and thus offers little "load sharing" and while its horizontal branches allow the droop to limit damage, most of the WP - especially those grown in the open as opposed to in full tree cover - have some upward branches, which are usually the first to go as accretion builds. In the 1998 ice storm, I didn't see a single evergreen with the main trunk broken though a couple leaning hemlock had been uprooted. Spruce-fir tended toward zero damage while white pine generally lost some limbs. At our Hebron lot on Greenwood Hill, where grass stems had accretion the diameter of s soda can, several pines had suffered cascading breakage on one side (generally toward windward) when upper branches failed and started an "avalanche".

I'm about 42 miles north of Jeff and at 390' a bit higher, and 57 miles NNE of (though 300+ lower than) Lava Rock. No elevational help here and longitude can be good or bad depending on track, but topography makes the Maine foothills perhaps the CAD kings of New England.

Climo will, eventually, assert itself as in 07-08, 13-14 and last winter. However, there's been more than average, it seems, when the opposite occurs - 02-03, 04-05, 09-10, 14-15. The 2nd and 4th of those winters were good here, great to our south.

Yesterday pulled the month out of D-level, but it's still only C/C-, probably the latter. Snowfall was 84% of the month's average and temp was essentially average (0.1° AN.) The lack of temp extremes also pulls the grade down a bit. Highest was 46 and lowest -9, with just that day (21st) colder than -2. For December in this frost pocket, those minima were pretty lame. Finishing with a nice 7" event was great but can't cover the fact that 3" was next biggest snowfall. A decent, nothing outstanding (here), average December.

Sadly true - I'm at approx. 44.66 N. Don't know exactly where PF's and Alex's homes are, but using 1.2 miles per (latitude) minute, I'd guess I'm 10-15 miles N of PF, maybe twice that far N of Alex. We used to have posters from Aroostook and more recently one from the BGR area. By far the biggest geographical hole in the New England sub-forum is the northern 2/3 of Maine. That's about 30% of NE's area though probably less than 3% of the population.

Lesser Antilles, next August. Good to see an active start to the year after a sort-of-Grinch for Christmas. (No rainer but some snow-settling temps and lots of meh)

0.2" on the board this morning. Trees still loaded from yesterday's 7" but forecast winds later today should empty everything more than 20' from the ground.

Thanks - yard looks nice entering the new year.

Storm final 7.0". The first 3.5 held 0.41" LE; have not melted the catch for the 2nd but I'm guessing a ratio of 10:1 or a bit higher. 11" at the stake.

6.5" total by noon moves Dc to 15.4", still 4" BN but no longer a disaster and may have picked up a tenth or two after that. With Novie's 8.4" the season is within 1.1" of my average thru 12/31.

Another 3" fell 7-noon for a 6.5" total. Snow has lightened and radar suggests we're in the end game so that may be the final, so 6-10 verified. Some very localized whiteouts as the occasional gusts clear snowy limbs.

Same ratio as my 3.5" (at 7, probably another inch since.) Last evening flakes were heavily rimed, or perhaps seemed that way because dry air wrecked any decent dendrites - gritty stuff. Nicer flakes this morning, but still small and mostly light with a couple short periods of moderate. Almost no wind - lower branches are loaded despite the dry powder consistency of the snow.

At 7 we'd had 3.5" from 0.46" LE, tiny flakes at mid 20s for a 7.6-to-one ratio. Only need another half inch plus to make it the season's biggest event so far. The good bands seem to fall apart as they move north from Androscoggin County to Franklin, though maybe that's due to increasing miles from GYX.

Looks to slide just to our south though may get some flashes and rumbles (assuming it maintains strength.) That fist band passing overhead was mainly eaten by dry air. Maybe the column is saturated now?

Puts your total at 17.0". Mine has rocketed up to 17.4" as there was almost 0.1" at home 30 minutes ago with occasional flakes. Mid-teens dews ftl. Lava Rock may be ahead of us both, at least temporarily.

Maybe. I recall something similar on Jan. 9, 1998, the 2nd day of the ice storm in Maine. (PQ first got hit a couple days earlier.) That Friday morning we heard mention of "life-threatening conditions" as strong TS with high winds had formed south of ALB and were heading NE. The thought of 50 mph gusts hitting those ice-laden trees wasn't at all pretty, but the storms quickly ran into unfavorable conditions and dissipated long before reaching the severe ice. Forecast for home looks like 6-10, though it needs to start fairly soon - we're already 6-8" behind places 50 miles to our south. Just like Dec 2-3.

When P-type is the issue, we get the goods. When it's QPF, the opposite is likely. Flakes finally reaching the ground at 3 here in AUG, though 35 minutes later we may still be working on the first 0.1". Governor closed state offices at 3 as a precaution, though IMO it's unnecessary NE of an AUG-Farmington line. However, I'm not responsible for 10,000+ state employees, only one. are those echoes over eastern MD, SE PA, SNJ and DE the start of our coastal? At 3 PM, pressure at NYC was about 15 mb lower than at PWM, and falling. At the same time, barometers in NH/Maine were all over the place, R/F/S.

Just talked to my wife who is in Farmington - nothing there yet nor at home 6 miles to the east. Hopes pinned on #2; didn't work very well last time on Dec. 3.

We were under a Watch, but I think that morphed into a WWA. My 2.8" would've been at the edge of Advisory criteria but a major bust for a Warning. Aaaand...The NE-ward progress of the snow shield comes to a staggering halt, thanks to rh in the 60s. The airport was reporting mixed precip at noon, but I've not seen anything here east of the Kennebec.

GPS is great, but its use should be enhanced by another 3-letter term: M A P

Different color vehicle, but otherwise looks like this past Friday in our area. Lots of vehicles off the road, Route 2 closed for hours, and we lost power for 5 hours when an ambulance responding to one of those accidents took out a pole in Farmington Falls. Occupants had to sit tight until CMP arrived to ensure the lines were cold. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. No snow at all in SNE? Pretty much as advertised. Heavy snow Maine, Whites, Ice Berks, mix in between with snow in interior MA for a while. Ice in NW CT Berks worst. Edit to specify southern Maine - Augusta has yet to see a flake, though echoes have now moved far enough north that we might see something after noon (unless the low dews eat it all.) First GYX warning of the season for my area, for tonight/tomorrow.

Hope not, cause we get bupkis from #1.

About 6° colder this year, but snowfall a wash - 2.3" more this year thru 12/28 but 2011's pre T-Day 9.7" storm is way better than anything her so far. (Also the biggest storm of the "winter") season.

Neg temp reduced to -1.2 and today will probably cut that in half unless evening is clear and temps dive. Morn low here 31-32, average hi/lo for 12/28 is 28/9. I'd guess the month finishes between -0.5 and +0.5. Snow total could be half normal (currently 8.9" and average is 19.3) or could be close to par if act 2 overperforms.