tamarack

Frosty 26 this morning, but at least the sun is out.  First 8 days this month has had only 31% of available sunshine; average is 42%.  We've had rain on all 8 days, but are running only 90% of average.  Tuesday's high of 78 changed the sugar maple buds to small leaves, which haven't expanded much since then.  Looks better 20th onward.

6 hours ago, weathafella said:

My buddies and me did the Franconia Ridge in early May 1975 with snow showers at the base but thankfully dry on the ridge.  Quite the slog through areas of deep snow in the way up via the falling waters trail.  Of course a few months later we had legendary heat.  Some of the guys are gone but most still here albeit many in steep decline.  I’m enjoying good fortune while it lasts although my spinal stenosis and aches and pains in joints occasionally plague me.  My philosophy is push through what you can…

Absolutely.  My serious climbing days (Katahdin, Little Bigelow, Goose-eye) are done, and my most recent significant adventure was Oquossuc Bald, between Rangeley and Mooselook Lakes in 2020 with SIL and grandkids ages 5 to 14, left the 2-y.o home. Unfortunately, that November Saturday was spitting snow with lousy visibility.  Only 1.3 miles and 900+ elev gain but most comes in the rocks of the final 0.3 miles.

Cloudy 50s with some drops, good day to help replace the ramp at our church.

4 hours ago, wokeupthisam said:

I had 3 on my coveralls, 2 on my shirt, and one between my sock and work boot from 2 hrs of tree field work Tuesday.  Granted I'm sometimes laying on my side to base prune or saw stumps even with the ground, so I expect lots of hitchhikers when I'm out there.  I prep with tucked clothes and then change out in the garage when done where I can check clothes inside and out and do a quick body check so I don't bring any with me inside the house.  Permethrin sprayed on the outside of the workboots, socks, and field clothes then allowed to dry before using, has a dramatic effect.  I hadn't sprayed the work clothes yet this year after washing them and storing them at the start of last winter, hence all the ticks Tuesday.  Once I treat em I can usually crawl around the fields and woods and only see an occasional rider when I'm through for the day.  Caveat is to let the spray completely dry, and keep my field work clothes out of the house away from pets, re-spray after 3 or 4 washings.  PITA but better than plucking embedded vampires every day of the warmer months.

Haven't gotten into permethrin yet, just vigilance once I'm back inside.  Worked all but once; in November 2022 one found a hiding place in the short hairs and had a drink.  It was quickly dispatched but only after infecting me with anaplasmosis, which messed with my balance and eyesight along with making me feel awful. 
Doxy to the rescue.
10 AM thru 12:30 was spent on the woodlot, with its abundant horizontal fir (thanks to Dec 18, 2023), also wandered thru the cedar swamp, a cool area in both senses.  Only found one tick so far, likely a couple will turn up to be squashed.  Great day to be in the woods, except for the black flies.  They're still only checking the menu, but also checking out eyes and ear canals.

11 hours ago, dendrite said:

I’ve had 6 on me and 2 embedded. Batting .333

About 10 so far, including one I picked up this morning in the flower garden 2 feet from the porch.  3-4 got their mandibles into me but none have gotten a drink. 
I'm heading out in a bit to continue the re-inventory of the woodlot, so picking up a few more hitchhikers is inevitable.

0.62" from the latest event.  10 miles WNW in the NW corner of Farmington reported 1.47" - just missed the heavy bands here.

18 hours ago, Chrisrotary12 said:

More bigfoot or people under this severe warning?

Also included 2 villages, Oxbow and Allagash, with Clayton Lake in the middle of the area.  Total population <500, about 0.2 per sq. mile.

78/35 yesterday, maple buds bursting, oak not yet, white ash still asleep.

3 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

My guess is the gusty winds probably took the leafed out maple and knocked it down. They are known not to survive strong winds. They’re also invasive, you can ask dendrite about it. They’re just ugly trees, they are a mess, they turned yellow in the fall, like a piss yellow color. Just get rid of these effing things.

Along with shade, Norway maples withstand the rigors of urban life better than most species.  Unfortunately, they're more brittle than most maples - about the same as silver maple - and very shade tolerant plus loads of early seeds, thus able to invade any native forest condition except perhaps dense hemlocks.

Another 'forty', upper 70s from a morning low of 35.  Worked up a good sweat thrashing thru blowdowns and wetlands on my tick collection walk - otherwise known as forest inventory.

26 this morning.  That's the median for May's coldest.  (Median max is 85.)   Sun beginning to return after 2 hours of light showers.

Saw a patch of blue and temp climbed over 50, better than yesterday's high of 43.  (Avg high is 60.)  Had a few IP as rain arrived yesterday afternoon.

Low 40s with light rain.  Better to get this crud now than during fruit tree blossom time like last May - pollinators hiding and trying to stay warm.

4 minutes ago, rclab said:

June 21st 1964 I was in attendance and watched thousands of Mets fans morph into Phillies fans near the end of Jim Bunnings perfect game. I was 17 and had taken my 10 year old cousin to the game. We sat loyally quiet as the newly converted Phillies fans went wild around us. We also sat through the second game loss but at least they scored two runs while giving up 8. As always ….

Totally different subject - 4 days before the above, my supervisor when I began (Jan 5, 1976)as a forester was at the crew camp next to the Canadian border in far northwestern Maine.  He woke up on the 17th to see 3" of snow.

No destructive sunshine here - blue skies, seasonal temps (high a couple degrees BN, low a couple AN) with a bit of breeze.  Maple buds opening, along with black cherry.

April numbers:
Avg max:   52.4    +0.3    Highest, 72 on the 27th
Avg min:    30.4    +1.5    Lowest, 14 on the 8th
Mean:        41.4     +0.9  

Precip:   4.00"   -0.06"   Wettest day:   1.18" on the 30th.  Storm tried hard to avoid the 7th consecutive BN month (10th of 11) but fell just short.

Snow:   2.4"   -2.5"  (But right on the median)    2.0" of 22:1 fluff fell 9:15-10;45 PM on 4/7, reported on the 8th as my 4/7 obs came at 9 PM.
SDDs:  one, on the 1st.  The 2" fluff was intact at 7 AM for 4/8 cocorahs, but was gone long before my obs.

Very average month in many ways - temp within 1°, near avg precip and median snowfall.  The warmest and the lowest were within 1° of the 28-year medians (both below).
Available sunshine was 43%, on the average for April.
We had no powerful storms, a tune that's played for quite a while, but did have a garden-variety TS late evening of the 16th.   For 8-10 minutes there was about 2"/hr rate. 
Half of our Aprils have had at least one thunder day.


 

Spur.  There were supposed to be all hens when a couple dozen was purchased 4-5 years back, but 2 were roosters, so the dominant one (Houdini) ruled the roost, frequently pounding the other rooster, Meriodoc (and other trespassers).  Both are now deceased.

2 hours ago, WinterWolf said:

Dam…never realized that. Birds can be ferocious.  Animal world is certainly no joke. Chicken be like, No offense…but I need to eat, so it’s game on. 
 

Great information.

I still have a scar from a rooster attack in May of 2024.  Was taking some veggie scraps to the grandkids' flock in SNJ, all the hens came as a swarm and "Houdini" (kids name all the birds, of course) wasn't tolerating competition for ruling the hens.  Its 2nd attack was repelled when I (carefully) flipped the rooster onto its back, after which it scooted next to the pen and crowed a dozen times - "I won! I won!"  Then I noticed the blood running into my shoe.

14 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

Bummer. Managed 1.18"

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk
 

Exactly the same here, 0.40" thru 7 AM and 0.78" 7 AM thru 9 PM.  (Another 0.01" of DZ overnight, but that goes in the May bucket.)

Month finished at 4.00" - 7th consecutive BN month and 10th of 11, but only by a whisker.  April average is 4.06".

3 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

@dendrite Those effing Noseeums (midges I guess) were brutel by Sanibel. I got mauled one evening and did not realize it until after midnight when the itch made me want to burn the skin off my legs. I probably had 60-70+ bites on my legs and right arm. Worst than mosquitoes. At least with mosquitoes you can see them. 

In Maine we call those tiny screen-penetrators mingies.  In local French it's 'bruleau' - 'burning'.  One rarely feels single bites, but hundreds of teeny-tiny attacks earn that description.

1 hour ago, jbenedet said:

Can’t wait for the April re-analysis for NNE. + AN at or above March levels. As MOST of us thought.

 

March here was +1.8.  April will finish at +1.1. 
Since 1999, April has averaged 44% of available sunshine.  April 2026 will have exactly the same.  Precip will finish about 1/2" BN - we're at 0.5"-0.6" from the current event and the best is past.  Yesterday's forecast of 1-2" for today was optimistic.  Month is finishing close to normal.

Why do I hate ticks?  One mid-range (pinhead size) deer tick latched onto my right lower eyelid last evening, within 1/16" of the top edge.  After numerous tries I extracted the little horror, but the eyelid is nicely puffed up.  The bit of pain with each blink reminds me just how much I despise the critters.  

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Time to start the countdown to 2056 thread?

Heading into our 29th summer here, all the hail that has landed in our yard (only 2,000 sq.ft., but still) wouldn't fill a one-gallon bucket.  One storm might've dropped a flattened chunk 5/8" on its longest surface.  (On August 30, 2007, nickels/quarters hail 6-8 miles southeast from from our place accumulated up to 4" and fully defoliated/partially debarked trees on about 2,000 acres, so that kind of excitement isn't impossible here.)

Low 60s for the high here, about 10° above the forecast.  3 hours of midday PC did its work.

1 hour ago, WinterWolf said:

6.8” on the season there?  I think you left out a number Tom?  
 

So going by your numbers of 90.4” being 2” above normal(in 12-13), then your normal is 88.4”/season. If this season is 1.8” below normal, then that would mean you had 88.4”-1.8” which would equal 86.6” this season/year.  Right?   

Since you noted the errors first (a triple play), I'm responding your way.  

Average:   88.4"
2025-26:  86.8"
Deficit:        1.6"

Sunny 60s here with the trout lilies beginning to bloom.

Snow total for 25-26 (barring something very unusual) is 6.8".  That's 1.8" BN, currently the closest to my average in 28 snow seasons, with only 2012-13 (90.4", 2.0" AN) being close.

72/30 yesterday, back down to 30 this morning and cloudless.  The best of mid-spring.

4 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

those idiots out there along the train track. It's a 4 line that runs 100 feet from my front door. They set up tripods and film freight trains going by.  What the f is up with that! 

I think it's called 'train spotting' or ... ?  who cares I don't care to look it up.  I hate the f'n train. It's loud and disruptive.  It vibrates the house on minutes after minutes worth of sometimes several times per day. They couple up and decouple half mile long screaching screaming steel on steel ending in something louder than lightning bolt 100 feet away bangs. 

Sliced and diced from your post.  (And I appreciate the info on climate and forecasting.)

A friend was a train fan - I think there's a mag by that name - and he had multiple albums filled with various engines doing various things.  Once he was a bit to close after a big snowfall and got sluiced as the plow-fronted engine roared by.
When I was 5, I was headed toward train-fandom.  I knew more about trains back then than now, 75 years later.

Temp over 70 after a low of 30; another '40' diurnal.  Cut/split some firewood and worked up a good sweat.

17 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

squarely above normal in a below normal pattern ?       

If there's more sun than cloud in late April, the max will probably be AN at least 90% of the time.
Last 2 days' max here averaged 61, which is 4° AN.  The minima averaged 26, or 6° BN.  The sun is mid-August strong.

10 hours ago, ineedsnow said:

Some people in Maine might need a boat.. Icon was similar yesterday

 

Sandy River median is 2,990 cfs, record minimum 819, current 1,050.  Bring it on.