tamarack

Temp reached 40 today after 9 straight maxima in the 30s.  Open ground is bare, forested land still white.

We have 10 feet of gutter.  It's on the front porch, which is open to the air, and over the front steps.  It limits the drip/freeze on the steps, but thaws/freezes do fill it with ice.

October here was 1.8° AN and November is currently running 2.0° BN.  The November departure will likely be less but will almost certainly stay BN.  In 27 snow seasons, 6 have had AN Octobers and BN Novembers.  All 6 had AN snow, ranging 90.4" to 142.3", and the average of 108.5" is exactly 20.0" above the current average.  

3 hours ago, mahk_webstah said:

I grew up in Dover, DE.  We had lots of good winters between 1977 and 1996.  At least 4 16"+ storms and good stretches of deep cold, iced/skating ponds, etc.

Farther north (Jersey Highlands) we had 7 events of 18-24" from March 1956 thru February 1961, the greatest run of big dumps I've seen anywhere.   Five of those were cold powder, with temps low teens to low 20s.
Closest is probably Nov 2014 thru March 2018, with 6 storms 15.5-21" plus 2 with 13".  A shorter run, Feb 2007 thru Feb 2009, had 4 events 15.5-24.5".  Oddly, the snowiest of those 3 winters, 07-08, had nothing over 12.5" and ony 2 in double digits.

1 hour ago, BrianW said:

I'm down visiting some of my wife's family in NJ this weekend. Took a ride out to visit her uncle in Long Valley. I think you were from that area?  The trees are completely bare there and they have had snow twice and some decent cold according to her uncle. 

But today I am near EWR and it was like going back in time a full month+ or so with the trees and stuff flowering.   Looks like EWR still hasn't gone below 32.

 

 

We lived about 25 miles northeast from Long Valley.  My maternal grandparents had a house in LV (primary home was Glen Ridge) and we would make frequent visits to mow the 3/4-acre lawn (1950s-60s), usually finding 2-3 yellowjacket nests per mowing.  Occasionally we'd stop for a feast at Larison's Turkey Farm, long since closed.

2 hours ago, amarshall said:

Some leaves have dropped but definitely mid December before most of them come down




.

I lived in the Jersey Highlands 1950 to 1971, and never saw anywhere near that many oak leaves in the latter half of November.  Oaks and Maples were the most common of the many tree species in the forests near home, mid-aged as most land there had been grazed into the late 1800s.  Oaks I remember (long before forestry school so some guesswork) were Northern red, black, pin, white, swamp white and where glaciers had scraped the hilltops, chestnut oak.  I'm confident that several other oak species were also in the mix.

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

Evenings just feel like forever cooped up inside the house before bedtime. I loathe TV so I don’t have much to do except troll here. I try to do some yardwork and the sun is behind the trees by 130pm. There’s no real imminent winter threats yet so it’s just a colder, darker version of fall. Give me some UVB.

We had bare ground in December in 2 of 9 at Fort Kent, and even with the sun out, we would drive with the headlights on by 3 PM.  In rain, the gloom came even earlier.

3 hours ago, dryslot said:

On my way back from Wales this morning, Sabattus Lake was skimmed over, These last several days of temps in the 30's and teens at night has jump started ice buildup.

The washtub had a bit over 1" ice when I dumped it yesterday (before the ice would get thick enough to split the seams, like our last one), though some was gray ice from Sunday's snow.

The old stock pond probably has close to 2" after this morning.

Low here was 14, coldest of the season by 6° but nothing special for November.  Median for November's lowest is 8, range is 17 (twice) and -4. 
Pure blue and no wind this morning.

Dryslot:  Pretty chilly this morning, 17F, Not fake.

Only got down to 20 here - wind must've lasted a few hours longer.  Not many autumns where you got below 20 before this rad pit.  Even Tip got into the teens first.

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

Basically consistent winter from beginning to end. No major breaks.

I’m not sure how you’d define that down there. Up here it’s a little easier to do if you base it on snow pack streaks. Like going DJFM with at least some X value of pack. We have the ability to minimize nasty cutters here like in 07-08. 

07-08 is the nearest to a W2W winter I've experienced south of Fort Kent, and even that one had a very mild week in January, as 7-13 averaged 17° AN and the 8th was +26, greatest AN day we've had in Jan.  Fortunately, that thaw had no accompanying deluge.

1 hour ago, dryslot said:

I know, Its the same going to Eustis, They salt the piss out of RT 27 to Sugarloaf and there is still Prius and Subaru's in the pucker brush.

And semis on the rocks in Chain of Ponds.

Addressing the 2002-03 and 2003-04 question: 
02-03 was great in SNE but cold and dry here - suppression.  Total snow was 75% of average and it's one of only 3 (of 27) winters without a 20"+ month.
03-04 was front-loaded here.  The storms of Dec 6-7 and 14-15 totaled 37.1".  the rest of the snow season had only 35.5".

16 hours ago, WinterWolf said:

The point is wire to wire does not exist in SNE. They’re always a melt out, or a mild up, and/or a rain event.  Mid December to mid March… with nothing but cold and snow the whole way…?  Give me a break. And if there is one of those..there’s probably only one, since records have been kept anyway. 

It's rare farther north, too.  Using the (late lamented) Farmington Maine co-op, with 129 winters from 1893-94 thru 2021-22, only 4 times did all 4 "snow months" exceed the average, 1922-23, 1962-63, 1968-69 (their top winter with 164") and 2007-08.  Only the 2 earliest had 20"+ in all 4 months.  (The DJFM averages, rounded to the inch, are 18/21/21/16.  Avg winter 89.6".)

15 minutes ago, WinterWolf said:

Ya think? Maybe?  I was looking at the back of the sled-behind the seat on the tunnel…that looked more like 4” to me.  Gotta be careful because that sleds seat has a slight bulge towards the middle..so that may make it look like more snow there.  But nonetheless, it was a substantial event up there. 

Fort Kent snow probably settled some.

...Aroostook County...
3 WNW Blaine                 10.3 in   0636 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
2 SSW Easton                 9.0 in    0445 AM 11/17   NWS Employee
2 SSE Castle Hill            8.9 in    0700 AM 11/17   COCORAHS
3 NW Monticello              7.8 in    0507 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
1 WNW Ashland                7.7 in    0708 AM 11/17
1 NW Presque Isle            7.5 in    0803 AM 11/17   NWS Employee
4 SW Stockholm               7.0 in    0830 AM 11/17   Public
2 ENE Presque Isle           7.0 in    0830 AM 11/17   Public
1 WSW Madawaska              6.8 in    0454 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
Fort Kent 1 SE               6.5 in    0700 AM 11/17   COOP
Caribou NWS                  6.0 in    0700 AM 11/17   COOP
1 SE Fort Kent               6.0 in    0715 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
Perham                       6.0 in    0800 AM 11/17   Public
4 NNE Caribou                5.8 in    0715 AM 11/17   NWS Employee
2 NE Fort Fairfield          5.0 in    0601 AM 11/17   NWS Employee
1 NNW Macwahoc               5.0 in    0745 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
4 NW Caribou                 3.8 in    0630 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
4 WSW Fort Fairfield         3.5 in    0715 AM 11/17   Trained Spotter
Houlton                      3.3 in    0836 PM 11/16   Trained Spotter
1 WNW Caribou                3.2 in    0919 PM 11/16   NWS Employee
Frenchville                  3.0 in    0500 PM 11/16   Public
Van Buren 1 NNE              3.0 in    0630 AM 11/17   COOP
4 SE Washburn                2.0 in    0500 PM 11/16   Trained Spotter

14 minutes ago, mreaves said:

My friend in PI said they got 8".

Tops I saw on cocorahs was 8.9", between Ashland and PQI.  The Fort Kent pic looks more like 6-7.

Had 2.4" from 0.33" LE yesterday.  1.6" by 7 AM, hours of DZ (some freezing) then 0.8" mid-aft, most between 3-4 PM.  Nice to have "real" cover, though I don't expect things to remain white this month.

2.4" yesterday at 390', overnight had 1.6" of 7:1 cornmeal, then another 0.8" after noon, most in 3-4 PM moist (8:1) feathers.

Saw where the deer had been last night, but none seen while I had the rifle out there this morning.

3 hours ago, tunafish said:

Impressive.  22.8°F of fakeness this AM, just 3mi from the ocean.

Had 23° at 11 last evening with bright stars, figured 1st teens were a cinch, but that was the bottom - must've had clouds moving in shortly after.  Pure sun at the moment, a rare phenomenon in November.

52 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

Gotta love the 'ole 3-11" and 1-6" forecast ranges.....must really boost scores.

Models are squabbling and marginal temps.  Unless the Euro and GFS get some resemblance, we might still be seeing absurd ranges this time tomorrow.

2 hours ago, dryslot said:

Next time Peter Geiger stops in, I'll have to ask him why they chose to no longer publish the Farmers Almanac.

It's shrunk down to about 1/3 the thickness of OFA and is free (except for the advertisers). 
Also, Dublin is a pretty town and a snow-catcher due to its elevation.  I'll let you comment on your town.  

5 hours ago, weatherwiz said:

Well stated, and I completely agree with the bolded as that can translate with respect to ENSO as well. I think alot of thinking and ideas out there when it comes to ENSO and impact to global regime are based off ideas from like the 1980's through early 2000's. Our wealth of knowledge, data, and event have grown substantially. In fact, I even think ENSO state may be overplayed, particularly if it is a weaker or even a moderate event (depending on how coupled). I think one issue here is we are too married to the CPC definition of ENSO...there are something like 50 published definitions on ENSO. There is more to it too then just what the SSTAs are. 

Just for fun I looked at my 27 winters of snow vis-a-vis ENSO, using the categories I've seen on here.  Current average is 88.5".   
EL NINO
Very strong (1):   48.2"   2015-16, my lowest winter
Strong (none):    n/a
Moderate (3):   77.2"   1 AN   99.0"/64.8"
Weak (4):         96.0"   3 AN  109.2"/85.1"
LA NADA (7):   86.3"  4 AN   112.8"/52.8"
LA NINA
Weak (4):        109.0"  3 AN   137.1"/68.0" 
Moderate (8):   85.7"  3 AN   142.3"/52.5"    Includes top winter and 2nd worst.
Strong (none):   n/a
Very strong:  None noted, 1950-51 on.

Probably means little or nothing.  

3 hours ago, dendrite said:

Hey Gene…can you vouch for a wildlife rehabilitator in our area? I found a squirrel in my road that was hit, but still alive. The only visible sign of injury is a little blood on a rear foot, but it isn’t really moving anything from the waist down except a slight movement of the other leg a few times. Upper half looks good. I have it in a box in the basement right now.

The closest one (Henniker) has some iffy reviews. 

If you can get the NH version of North Woods Law (much more numerous than the Maine ones), every 2-3 episodes you would probably see a warden/rehab contact.  Almost all have a happy ending, though one cannot know which contacts get onto the show.  The NH Warden Service could likely point you to rehabber locations.
 

A Trace is just snow falling and either melting on contact or less than anything measurable. So yes, you had that, but nothing measurable yet.

I've had up to 0.3" of wispy snow that melted out to less than 0.005", thus a trace.  Not common and it looks odd, but I've not found a better way to report.

Edit:  Moved the snowblower out of the shed and set out the snow stake.  Hope that doesn't scare off Sunday's event.

Some mood flakes yesterday afternoon, plus about 2 minutes of S+ that whitened the ground (0.1").  Saw 1.0-1.5" in the Augusta and Brunswick regions, also in southern Somerset County to our east.

Only mood flakes here, though nothing at the moment.  Overcast is featureless, suggesting that there's flakes between there and here.  Very November-y.

2 hours ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

2025 may be the most boring calendar year of our lives....Maybe 1988 or 1990? 1988 had the huge heat in the summer at least...1990 had a nice ice storm in March. This year has had absolute-dick. I think it's the most boring calendar years of our lives.

I feel your pain - 2025 so far exceeds any other year of memory for meh.
--Only one snow event over 4" (8.0" in mid-Feb)
--January had only 5.6" with the month's 'biggest' of 2.1".
--No 1"+ precip days until Sept 25
--Only 5 days with thunder; previous low was 8 in 2010.
--Met summer brought only 2 such days - avg is 10.5 and another record few (5 in 2010).
--No significant wind events.

Only 2 wx phenomena of note:
--The drought, which is about as exciting as watching paint dry (and with my knee replacement in late June, I couldn't do much to help the garden cope).
--Only our 3rd heatwave in the 28 summers here, and 4 total days of 90+ - only 2002 (7) had more.
(Note:  I don't like droughts and I don't like big heat.  Things can only get better.  )

14 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

Awesome, I'd like to get one for my new house in Maine. Mind telling us total cost?

Our 13kw Generac fully furnishes our needs; it ran for 101 straight hours from the Dec 2023 storm with no issues.   (26kw = big house, at least compared with our 960 sq.ft. plus the loft.)
The actual unit was about $3k but the total was north of $10k.  The electrical work was almost as expensive as the genny itself, and the purchase/installation/filling of two 100-gallon propane tanks came to over $4k.  We also tossed ~$750 for a screening fence around the tanks.