tamarack

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Looks slightly above to above normal thru the 31st. The coming week cool vanished. Something to keep in mind moving forward 

GYX has been consistently showing slightly AN for next week, except for Monday's rain.

45 this morning, coolest since June 17.  August is still +3, however.

On 8/13/2026 at 3:32 PM, H2Otown_WX said:

You think ORH has a sub 10" seasonal total in the next 20 years?

My guess is no, as their lowest is 21.4" in 1954-55.  However, 1997-98 is missing and might've been a candidate for lowest.

1 hour ago, kdxken said:

Declaring today as The unofficial start to the best two months of weather. Thank you for your attention...

September has been the sunniest month here, and August the 2nd most.  (Least sunny is Dec, 2nd Nov - to no one's surprise.)

12 hours ago, dendrite said:

They were nuts in June…all biting insects have calmed in the past couple weeks.

The Maine Public Lands "peer review" field trip was Tues/Wed in the woods south from MLT, and we saw very few mosquitos, black flies, almost no deer flies (thankfully).

Had 0.22" from a 'probable' TS yesterday about 3 PM.  We were meeting family in Hallowell at the time, but when we got home about 4 we noted that our thunderphobic Lab mix had been hiding in the bathroom.

Some echoes passed overhead but nothing reached the ground.  1.83" this month so far, a bit AN.

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

Min 59.5°

Deep summer may be on its last legs…especially NNE. 

We probably step off the summer plateau on Wednesday.  After 42 days (July 1 thru tomorrow) with our mean between 65 and 66, August 12 is likely to be 64.xy, as the long slide begins.

(The equivalent winter bottom is much shorter - the period within 1° F of the current coldest, 13.55°, is only 12 days, January 18-29.) 

2 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

If it’s not a mile or less away I’m not interested. 

Haven't had any of those all year, maybe not since 2024.  We used to have 3-4 TS with strikes 3 seconds distant or closer every summer.

0.34" by 7 AM, a couple cents after, now some humid PC.  One distant rumble, as lightning continues to stay a great distance away.  Maybe we hear something closer this afternoon?

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Haven’t had a cloud yet

Puffy Cu just coming into view.

4 hours ago, dendrite said:

May have to turn the page on 1/12 this winter

It came on 1/14 in 2007 - mild and 11" thru the 13th (avg is 32"), cold (mostly) and 84" after (avg is 56").  

10 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

How can it go back below normal if it was never there in the first place ?

July 17-30 here was 3.4° BN.  I'm guessing that most of New England was normal or BN during those 2 weeks.

3 hours ago, dendrite said:

Toss the home dews

That's what it feels like here - the drier air blew in behind that juicy-looking band of downpours last evening.  That band split a few miles to my west, and we got a meager 0.08".  Friends 20 miles northwest had closer to 2".  Fortunately, the morning rain dropped 0.98", best drink since mid June.

4 hours ago, J.Spin said:

That’s interesting – so certainly that January storm contributed, but what do you think was the cause of the record overall snow ratio?

The ratio of 16.95:1 here at our site wasn’t a record (2020-2021 was 17.25:1), but it was certainly up there – it took second place and was well above the 13.9:1 average. I wonder if ratios were generally high all around NNE this past winter.

My guess to your query - near continuous cold and most storms not having mid-level warm tongues to wreck aggregates and/or changing P-type.  We had some rain, not a lot, but almost no mixed precip or rimed flakes.  February 2026 was our driest with 0.76", but it was 100% snow, 12.5" for a 16.4-to-1 ratio.  Without looking thru the data, I can't recall any month that had nothing but flakes.   
Oddly, 2020-21 was our lowest ratio at 7.08.  It was our 2nd least snow, ahead of only 15-16, and almost every snowfall either had mix or was cornmeal.  The season's biggest storm, 9.5" on 2/2, was the latter, 1.32" of teeny flakes, ratio 7.2-to-1.

July 2026 numbers:

Avg max:   76.6   0.3 AN   Hottest day, 87 on the 2nd
Avg min:    55.6   0.7 AN  Coolest day, 46 on the 24th
Mean:       66.6   0.5 AN

Precip:  2.20"   1.72" BN    Wettest day, 0.67" on the 22nd.
After having 6 days with thunder in June, we had only one in July, tying 2010 and 2023 for the lowest.

July '26 temps were +10 during the first 4 days and -1 on the next 27. 
The month had 2 noteworthy events, first being the HHH of 1-3, upper 80s (avoiding 90+ thanks to the trees) with low 70s TD.  2nd was the brief squall on the 16th.  It dropped 1/4" in 5 minutes with gusts approaching 50 mph and cut the power, causing our on-demand generator to run for 7.4 hours.

Great summary.  Some comparisons:

Total snowfall:  86.9"   98% of average (88.4") 
The average ratio was 13.75:1, easily the highest of our winters (avg is just above 10:1).  Even without the Jan 25-27 storm (19.6"/0.77" LE), the 12.1 to 1 ratio would be highest.
Days with 1"+:   131 (123 consec.)    About a week above average
Days with 10"+:  74 (69 consec.)    About a week below average
Days with 20"+:  29 (17 consec.)    Total was average, consec. 5 days BN
Peak depth:  28" on Jan 26 during the 19.6" fluff bomb (25:1 ratio).  Settling was rapid.   Average is 29", median 26".
SDDs:  1,526   203 BN but slightly above the median.
That 19.6" storm is 10th biggest in our 28 winters here.  2nd biggest for 25-26 was 8.5", modest but well-timed (Dec 23-24) for the grandkids' sledding.
 

6 hours ago, vortex95 said:

Yah, but maybe we can get a grazing PRE like Arthur from July 2014!

Got a nice drink (2"+) from Arthur with little wind.  200 miles east, Public Lands' Cutler tract had lots of trees flattened.

Had 0.09" overnight, event total 0.16". 
From Tuesday thru yesterday, each subsequent QPF was lower than the previous one, finally fixing on <0.1" for both yesterday and last night - both verified.

5 hours ago, Layman said:

This whole thing has largely missed my area.  I don't mind at all!

"Event":   0.07"    Week:  0.07"      Month:  2.11"       Year:      21.82"  (79% of average)

13 hours ago, JACKASS said:

On the subject of lobster, does anyone here actually go to Red Lobster?!

Some years back my sister-in-law gave us a gift card for Red Lobster.  Unfortunately, the 3-4 RLs in Maine had closed - couldn't compete with the locals.  
We had to go to northern Mass to use the card; combined it with a Bible conference in Concord, NH so didn't need a special trip.

GYX overnight forecast (<0.1") was on target (sadly) - 0.07".  Radar isn't very promising, either.
NNJ where I grew up got pounded, 3-7".  We'd lived in the hills, avoiding flood damage, but the Pompton/Passaic river system flooded frequently.  Unfortunately, the Passaic took the lives of two 10-year-olds yesterday.

14 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

The reason why I got a wood stove back 20 years ago or so.

Shortly after moving to Maine in 1973, I read that more than half the world's people used wood as a heat source, and I thought that to be sort of quaint.  At our NNJ home in NNJ, we had a fireplace, but it was more for atmosphere than heat. 
We moved from a Fort Kent apartment to our first house (tiny 2-story) in mid-May 1977 and couldn't wait to add a woodstove.  I'd installed a Jotul 602 the day before the move.  We've run woodstoves as a major heat source ever since - no chimney fires (yet).

Still waiting.  Looks like we get about 1/4" at best.

That 10" event is beyond my experience - tops was 8.90" on 27-28, 1971 at NNJ, PRE dropped 3.8" during daylight on the 27th then Doria 5.1" in the wee hours of 8/28.
PWM had 9.62" on 10/21/996, also 2.78" the day before.  I'm confident there was a 10/24 in there someplace.

5 hours ago, vortex95 said:

I did not want to bring up the "feels like" temp, as that is out of control as to abuse, but it can be of use b/c "the door swings both ways!"  Once you get below 57 or 58 dew point, the heat index is actually lower than the air temp!  I would bet not many mets know or actively realize this.  I did not know until about 10 years ago!

I've spoken to ppl deployed in the Middle East, they can get perspective!  After in that sauna for a few months, coming home, 95 feels great! 

Acclimation I think is underrated.  When I moved to DC, it took me a few summers to get used to the more 90 temps and the more persistent high dew point, which get into the upper 70s more common here.  By my 3rd summer, I not longer noticed it. I adapted.  However, the flip side is that I am not as tolerant to cold.  This past winter was by far the coldest here since I moved here, and I noticed!  

I think from the general public POV, they think MT is "cold."  Most have zero idea what continental climate is like, and MT is the best state for temp swings in the CONUS.  It is the only state in the Lower 48 that has had sig snow at lower elevations (I am taking Great Falls proper) in August (happened in 1992).

It's even worse for AK.  Ppl are shocked to learn AK highest temps is 100 F, and that they get a lot tstms (all squeezed into J-J-A). Some locations get 30 days w/ thunder, more than a lot of New England!  And of course, tornadoes.  We had that one earlier this month, but I would bet good $$ there are 3-5 tornado in AK each year, just it is so large and sparsely populated, it precludes detection.

Acclimation can occur without moving a bit.  Sometime next month or early September we'll have a morning in the mid-upper 30s and it will feel quite chilly.  In January that would be shirtsleeve weather.  The early heat this month hit hard due to tall dews and not having had much real heat before that.  With several weeks of mostly CoC since then, another big heat next month will take some more acclimation.  Could happen - we've had only 2 heat waves here, each 3 straight 90+, and one came last year.  In 28 summers, we've had 90+ on 23 days.  June leads with 9 and August is 2nd with 7.  Only 3 in July and 2 each for May/September.

30 thunder days in AK?  That's twice my average here and last year we had a mere 5.  Go far NW for SVR?

1 hour ago, Lava Rock said:

wtf, we're going to get porked hard. 

Tenth to a quarter?  (thru Fri)    Would like to bust low.

1 hour ago, ineedsnow said:

found a spot 14 on this map.. and yes I know it wont even be close for some that will say this is my call 

54 minutes ago, ineedsnow said:

 no cool? what do you call the last couple weeks?  dews near or over 70 for weeks? why didn't you tell us you moved to Florida? 

July 1-4:    85/66  +10  (Dews 70+)
July 5-27:  76/53   -1    (7 mornings in the 40s)

45 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

feels like we're going to get porked up here. anything <1" won't do much. We dry.

If you get <1", we're likely to get <1/2".  Precip maps only go to Thurs aft - maybe something that evening?

Another CoC day here, 5th consecutive mostly sunny day - rare in July/August when most days are PC.  Avg temps 23-27:  77/48.