tamarack

Looked like IP, and I was out moving firewood when it fell. Definitely not graupel, might've been some melt/refreeze thingies, but it rattled the leaves and bounced off my sleeves like sleet. However, not all that much fell, so small sample size. 46/28 yesterday with no sun, 1st sub-40 daily mean. Slightly cooler this AM than last.

Today and tomorrow will run 6-8° BN, chilly but nothing out of the ordinary.

A few pingers here about 1:40 this afternoon, temp was low 40s. Had all-liquid sprinkles at mid 30s at 9 this morning.

By 1:40 this afternoon, the profile must have changed, as we had scattered IP for about 5 minutes. Only the 5th frozen precip here during the 1st half of Oct, 1998 on. (Still 10 days until 1st measurable, and I doubt that mark changes this year.)

Cloudy here and still mid 30s - as low 30s earlier. Some echoes overhead, don't know if anything will reach the ground, but if so - maybe a few pingers? (Probably not)

Maine's State Parks (which do not include Baxter, as it's under a different state agency) set a new high for camper nights. Since some of the parks' campgrounds remain open, that record will get extended over the next few weeks.

1976-1977: This one was kind of just frigid the entire time....Jan '77 was the snowiest month, but the best event near BOS might have actually been 12/29/76....a stripe of 18" snow near Rt 128 on a late bloomer....quickly diminished to the west....even ORH only had 4 inches. It is one of Ray's favorite storms he wish he was alive for. We traveled from NNJ to Fort Kent the night of Dec. 29-30, in a 2WD standard cab pickup, 3 people (3rd was our 4-yr-old son) and 2 cats - couldn't get a pet sitter. We were young and foolish then, now no longer young - that's why we missed Jan. 27-28, 2015 (except for the shoveling), as we spent an extra day with the grandkids in SNJ rather than challenge that blizzard. The 12/76 trip encountered snowy roads soon after entering MA and falling snow just south of the Kennebunk plaza on the Maine Turnpike. Stopped briefly at BGR HoJo for some coffee about 3:30 AM in SN+, which had been our view from PWM north. That HoJo stuff blew thru my system in about an hour - blessedly, there was TP at the Medway rest stop's outhouse - using snow in the 15° dark and snow would not have been nice. Snow let up shortly after dawn as we drove thru CAR, and about 2 minutes after we arrived at home the NW gales arrived and we couldn't see Pelletier Florist across the street - another blessing, as between PQI and CAR that wind dropped visibility to a low number feet (or inches), having 12" new to play with along with the foot-plus (at CAR - Ft. Kent had 24") that had fallen on 12/26-27. Those 2 storms turned our blue Beetle into a white lump. Would comment on Will's other mentions, but the above is enough weenie for one post.

Storm total here 0.79", now up to 13.25" since July 1, about 1" below my average and dwarfed by points south. Yesterday's temps 50/44, classic mid-fall.

Brady started slowly, then tossed 5 TDs in the 2nd Q.

Lots of gain for not much pain. Oquossoc Bald Mountain is even better that way, but foliage is past peak there by now, probably 50%+ leaf drop by the time this rain ends.

Same in AUG, but nothing but light rain, perhaps 1/2" since I got here at 7:30. Gorgeous day in Aroostook, with upper 30s RA (3/4" in 6 hr at FVE) - moose hunters must love it.

I'd suggest Belgrade Lakes, will be at peak (many trails in Kennebec Highlands, also a drive-to at Blueberry Hill off the Watson Pond Road), or perhaps the hills around Winni in your state, or Bridgton in Maine. My area 10-15 miles north of Belgrade has been at peak this week, but today's rain will push it a bit past.

Agreed on the fluke. My place was just a bit too far NE for Octobomb's best. I measured 4.5" while Farmington had 8.0", their largest Oct snowstorm on record. Down at GYX they had 13" and Hartford, in the Sumner hills NW of LEW, had 14". Hartford is quite snowy - avg 107", nearly 20% higher than my place or Farmington. However, the GYX total, at elevation a couple yards below mine and 100' lower than Farmington, shows the flukiness. My 5 October measurables, chronologically: 6.3" 29-30/2000 Just 2.1" at GYX 4.5" 29-30/2011 1.4" 25-26/2005 0.9" 30/2010 0.6" 23/2003 The subsequent winters averaged 96% of my 20-year average, even with the 137.1" in 00-01. 2010-11 was a frustrating winter ending with a nice dump on April Fools. 2003-04 was pretty much done with decent snow by 12/15, though the 2 big storms that month were topnotch. The other 2 were ratters. Not a fan of the predictive tendencies of Oct snow.

I would agree. In my experience, fir survives ice better than it deals with wet snow - the former can form an "exoskeleton" that keeps the tree intact. Of course, if the tree is already leaning, all bets are off. At the worst (meaning, greatest accretion) place I visited after the 1998 event, Greenwood Hill in Hebron, Maine, some of the rather few fir on that lot had been uprooted by the ice, but none had been un-topped. OTOH, the blue bomb of March 22-23, 2001 took out the tops of perhaps 1/4 of the (very abundant) fir on my woodlot.

Right. I think the AFB is located east of town.

Check the deciduous trees in your neighborhood for past damage - broken old limb stubs and such. Could be from early-late season wet snows endemic to elevation, but might also indicate frequency of serious ice. 12/08 should still be fairly visible, but 1/98 will be mostly obscured by now.

Weren't they on the west side eyewall? Might be better (meaning, faster) from a place in the east.

Maybe. Michael's 919 is actually 3 mb lower than Andrew's lowest, but I wonder if any 160+ mph was measured like Andrew at Coral Gables.

He last participated in 2015-16, probably discouraged by that awful "winter." (Actually, I think his primary residence changed, rendering it unfeasible to measure at Waterboro.) Maine Photog was in for 16-17. Jeb (from Bath) was in for a year way back, and I think jzinckgra was from Maine - last entered for 2013-14. T-fish appears to be only the 8th Maineiac since Kevin began his table in 2010-11. Still hoping for participants (or even just board members) from the 85% of Maine that lies northeast of my dooryard. There have been a few in the past, but none in the most recent 2-3 years.

Failed to drop below 60 this morning. My latest 60+ minimum is Sept. 26, with 61 both last year and in 2007 (both had 84 max, too), and with the BD moving thru WVL as we speak, that mark will stand. You aren't wrong. ORH has had 8 October events with measurable snow since 2000 That's 3 more than at my place. I guess in October, elevation trumps latitude.

Foresters in the Panhandle, AL and western GA must be shaking in their boots. I recall an article in Journal of Forestry several months after Camille that showed a bullet-shaped paraboloid about 30 miles wide at the base and 120 miles N-S with total tree destruction, plus a sizable "penumbra" of serious damage around it.

The series of strong fall storms had already begun by this date in 1995. And despite all the snow, it was less then great IMO due to no biggies reaching my (then, or current) home and crummy retention. Lots of storms, but schizo stretches, with Dec-April great for their 1st dozen-21 days then the rest of each month ranging from meh (Dec) to awful (JFM, with J getting multiple exclamation points.) 06z GFS dumps 12-18 on FVE out at Day 13.

Far from tropical, but I recall 2 December SW-wind oddities back when I lived in NNJ. Dec. 9, 1962 brought 4" snow, very nice for the next day's deer season opener. Then we had nearly a week of temps 15-20° BN on brisk-to-strong SW winds - frigid HP in SW Quebec and that Sunday snow system probably spinning east of Anticosti. Five years later, on New Year's Eve, we got 4-5" of fluff on gentle SW winds. Would not surprise me in Fort Kent, but odd for NNJ - even NYC got 3.3" from that one.

#1: Not here - that was last fall. #2: Absolutely, but IMO it's due to winter survival by well-fed bushytails followed by ideal squirrel-baby wx in spring/summer. Late May rainy-40s cutoffs can wipe out most of the young-uns. #3: have only seen 2, and I'm not up to speed with the relation between color pattern and winter severity. I'll stick with ENSO, as weak Nino has generally been good here.

Echoes of Charley, which went from a middling Cat 2 up to a LF as a solid 4 in very few hours. That was a far smaller system than Michael, however.