tamarack

GFS has been fairly consistent in showing single-digit H8s late in their 16-day, been doing it for a week or more without the cooldown ever getting closer than 300 hr.

Dews falling past 60, looks like midsummer version of CoC today. However, today is also the first day here since July 8 with average daily mean below 65.0°. After a 30+ day plateau, average temps have begun the long slide (though I don't think it will be very noticeable for a while this year.)

Install a hamster wheel for quicker acceleration? We're re-doing our back bedroom, which has produced malodorous air for years when the sun is bright and hot. We knew there were mice in the back wall, but when we pulled off the v-match pine, the rodent damage (and stench) was beyond belief. Much of the fiberglass insulation had been converted to nest material and was mainly in "pellets" the size/shape of rice krispies. The wall has horizontal nailers between the studs at 30" and 60" from the floor, and each had about 2" of mouse poop below the fiberglass nesting, 40+ years of guano build-up. (House was built in 1975 and I'd guess the mice invaded within weeks of its completion.) My wife sent pics to friends via Facebook - one could almost smell the stink over the internet. Vinegar and baking soda have reduced the odor's power by perhaps 95%, still leaving plenty but one more application plus the replacement v-match (and lots of D-Con upstairs in the knee-wall closets) should make things a lot more pleasant.

Just a guess: big acorn crop last year so high winter survival, then mild and sunny May with no multi-day cutoff disasters that would've killed off much of their first litters through pneumonia. 2nd litter newbies are getting hammered at present.

House amid tall trees, crummy orientation, 90"/yr avg snowfall with good retention even on the roof, modest electric bills - incentives here are rather small. President Nixon used to blast his A.C. in the Oval Office while the fire place was stoked and raging ... I wonder if it's a GOP thing - hahaha PR forum? Anyway, my 2 first-ever votes for POTUS went to that crumb-bum. And though I'm still registered in the GOP, we don't have a fireplace, nor have we put current thru our AC since 2013.

Electric hot water heater? It comes off the oil furnace here - hot water baseboard heat. Our bill runs $47-$61 despite CMP not being the cheapest in the region. Of course, we're empty-nesters living in a 960 sq.ft. (plus loft) cabin in the woods. Have not installed the AC but run the fans a lot. Typical year we burn about 500 gal oil and 4 cords in the Jotul.

That poll is like asking whether one wishes to be punched in the right eye or the left, especially since "neither" was not acceptable. Should've been worded, "Which would you hate more?" At least the deer flies are close to being done haha! Seeing a couple dozen stalking us around each side of our pickup while at our Machias River tract really encouraged us to go walking into the woods (which we did anyway, of course, as that was what we had come there to do.)

After a sticky day with abundant deerflies in the woods of eastern Maine, I played "TS tag" for about 50 miles between BGR and Skowhegan. Each turn in the road put the darkest/rainiest areas south/centered/north of where I was headed. Finally caught up to warned TS between Skowhegan and Norridgwock, though north fringes only, saw sizable puddles within 3 miles of home, only "T" in the gauge. Maybe next time. (Though svr TS have hit within 10 miles in all directions dozens of times in my 20+ years here, only a 30-second gust in June 2005 that may or may not have reached 60 mph came close to svr at home.)

Last year was my first significant Christmas Day snowfall since 1978, in Fort Kent. Would love seeing it again. The only significant Thanksgiving Day snowfall I can recall was 3.7" in 2005. That was 7-8 hours of steady windless moderate snow with all the grandkids here to watch the flakes drifting down. (The storm also produced 2 cold-air tornados, EF-0 and EF-1, on Maine's midcoast.) Of course, the rest of 05-06 was awful, trailing only 15-16 for snowfall and had the least SDDs by a fair amount. It's the only winter that failed to have even one 6" snowfall since we moved to Maine in Jan. 1973. This past winter was a lot better, of course.

The above percentages were done using (improperly) the 81-10 norms. Compared to 71-00 norms, the numbers are 431% and 60%.

I'm sure that real weenies could feel the difference.

Kind of like 09-10, when BWI had 10% more snowfall than CAR. (410% of avg, to 63%)

When I lived in NNJ, our small (50-60 acre) lake would be 90° bathwater on the surface. I'd dive down to the bottom - about 12' in the swimming area - and stay in the cooler water as long as I could hold my breath. One mid-August day my dad and I were out doing temp soundings in the deeper parts (16' max) of the lake, to see if it was cool enough to have the (stocked) brownies hold over - dad said that 78° was about the warmest they could tolerate; it was also the coolest we found that day, telling me that the 78-80° near bottom in the swim area actually provided a nice contrast with the uber-tepid stuff at the surface. Changing subjects, to a heat index question. At 2 PM, PSM was reporting 91/69, rh48, HX 95. At the same time, nearby Rochester reported the exact same temp/dew/rh, but with HX 96. Only difference was that PSM had winds SW7 and Rochester VRB6. Could that 1 mph, or direction, be the difference, or might it be somebody's typo?

IMO, the double whammy from reflected sunlight has a larger effect than being near the cool water - lakes can be hot places, unless one is in rather than on.

I'm frequently fiddling with the data from the nearby Farmington co-op, and one "fiddle" is comparing their data June 1998 forward (the period of my data at our current location) to their 1981-2010 norms. One caution is that the 1980s are their 2nd coldest (after the '70s) of their 13 decades (1890s and 2010s partial) of record. I think there was some location changes prior to the current observer's tenure, which began in 1966. The '80s included Farmington's coldest month measured (Jan. '82) plus coldest June ('80) and Dec ('89, of course.) However, the departures look significant, with all 12 months being milder 6/98 on than 81-10: 6/98 minus 81-10 averages JAN 2.29 FEB 1.21 MAR 1.09 APR 0.67 MAY 1.12 JUN 0.21 JUL 0.63 AUG 0.75 SEP 2.14 OCT 1.67 NOV 1.11 DEC 1.50 YEAR 1.20 The period June 1998 thru now includes Farmington's coldest Feb & Mar and 2nd coolest July, but no other tops 3s. It also set mildest for Feb, Nov, Dec; 2nd mildest Oct & Dec, 3rd mildest Mar & Sep.

The zig-zag twigs are a beech characteristic. Leaf shape can vary, between sun and shade, between seedlings and older trees.

Rain ended yesterday about 5 PM, total for the day of 2.15". Slipped a bit under 60 overnight with some fog, soon to burn off.

Had 0.02" yesterday as the good stuff stayed south. Up to 1.54" today thru 1:45, with 1.08" since 7 AM. Never rained really hard - no TS cloudburst stuff - but enough moderate to crank the total. Looks like the back goes thru here within the hour.

Same. We spent part of the morning picking blueberries. My sister-in-law, who's Hawaiian and grew up working in pineapple fields there, was fine. I wasn't, but was too stubborn to stop, while all others hid in the shade. Enough sugar and we could've made jam right in the field. Then we traveled to Acadia (BHB 101) and cooled off in the cove just south of Otter Cliffs, the one and only time I've swum in Maine salt water that felt warm. BGR touched 102 that day, also hottest on record there, and was forecast for another +/-100 on Sunday. We woke to 70 with sprinkles and it never topped 72 (high was 78, @ 12:01 AM), the most welcome BD of my lifetime. Another possibility for a below 0 day at NYC is 2/21/1773. In Vol 2 there is a brief passage that reads"it is supposed was the coldest day in this port of the world for a half century" Would not surprise, as that was apparently an even colder period than the mid-19th century. However, while my hope of verifiable records for the 1850s isn't all that high, for the 1770s it's barely distinguishable from zero.

I can't recall another month with 4 such powerful storms. March 2001 had 3, plus 2 other significant but much weaker snows, and Dec 2003 had 4-5 strong storms but only 2 were at all wintry here (since "here" isn't Jay Peak.) If we'd been nailed by all 4 I might still be shoveling. The middle 2 dumped 36.4" while the 1st and 4th whiffed (as forecast) but their potential had me salivating until their course was depressingly clear. Strange month, in that the 1st half had temps 5.3° AN and 3 feet of snow, while the 2nd half was 3° BN (and 2.3° colder than the 1st half) and had less than an inch. I've lamented the frustration of Feb 15 here before - VD massacre, anyone? - but I still puzzle over a month with nearly 2 ft snowfall, zero RA/ZR/IP, perhaps 4 hours with temp above 30 (max 35), and with the exact same snow depth at beginning and end.

That could be it - I only recall "late 1850s."

I've read that NYC had a day around that time in which the temp never got above zero. (My NYC numbers go back only thru 1869.) What was CON's max that day? NE has it all, weather wise, without the need to fear for your life (except the occassional cape cod mega blizzard). Agree. I like a place with little hurricanes, little tornados, little earthquakes, and big snowstorms.

You are correct. I saw 2/87 and my mind somehow arrived at Jan 2, 1987. Feb 87 was all whiffs - the 0.30" total precip at Gardiner was the least for any month of my 13 years there. In fact, it just beats out April 1999 (0.31" at my current home) for the driest month I've recorded since moving to Maine in Jan 1973.

PWM began reporting snow about 4 AM for that event, and I sat all morning in my eastside Augusta office glancing outside occasionally (okay, more than occasionally) all morning. Did not see a flake until just before 12:30, then within 60 seconds visibility had dropped to about 1/8 mile. Ended with 16", 2nd biggest snowfall in my 13 winters in Gardiner. Only time I've noted such a glacially slow advance of precip from a system that eventually hammered us. Normally such a delay means bust.

Haven't checked BTV, but CAR is correct, warmest by over a full degree (and 2° warmer than Farmington co-op; that's certainly not common.) Without delving into the 19th century (my data doesn't extend back that far) I found 1955 to be warmer at CON than anything this millennium, just under 1° warmer than last month. At PWM, it was the warmest July since...2016. And 6th warmest of the last 9. Given the heat at a way inland spot like CAR, a record at way inland BTV wouldn't be surprising. The 1870s data smells strongly of a different site at CON. I have the same issue for some Farmington data. Half of their 14 days with 100+ occurred from August 1893 (1st year of record) thru July 1897. 5 came in 1911, including 4 in 8 July days when all of NNE baked, one each in 1944 and 1975. Not all that many proximate sites with records pre-1900, but those that have the data show heat but far less than Farmington. That 1893-97 span had 7 days 100+ at Farmington plus 3 more at 99. LEW had one 100+ and one 99, while Gardiner also had one 100+ but next was 98. Bridgton, missing data for the 2 days of 1893, had nothing hotter than 95 for 1894-97, and they hold the state record, 105 (twice) in July 1911. Same problem with some tall Farmington minima in the late 1940s, that look way out of line with nearby locations. Would love to have station histories for places like those.