tamarack

In 1983 at Fort Kent, before the winter in which I had to extend my 61" snow stake, almost all nests were reachable (and reached) by critters, mostly skunks. (So much for the nest height forecasting the following winter's snow depth.)

My grandparents had a house in Long Valley, NJ which had a 3/4-acre lawn that we would mow. Each time we'd discover (usually painfully) 2-3 yellowjacket nests. My long-passed dad would not have followed the above - at about 4 AM he'd pour a half cup of gas into the entry hole and follow it with a match. One large nest had so much underground wasp-paper infrastructure that there was a bushel basket-sized hole after the burnout.

This dry air has bucked the trend of high minima so far. Highs are running +0.3 while lows are -5.4.

Last summer had a couple decent TS, after 2 years with meh. So far this warm season, we had one strike within 3 miles in May but no others within 5 miles. Only 4 days with any thunder so far, lowest thru this date since we moved here in 1998. The past 2 weeks have given us 0.03" RA and the Sandy River flow is below the 10th percentile.

Depends on location, of course. Gloria did a lot of damage between AUG and the midcoast. At that time, I was commuting weekly from Fort Kent, having just begun my forester position for the state. I'd drive south Sunday evening and home Friday evening, but Gov. Brennan sent the state workers home at noon before Gloria hit so I got to drive home in daylight. Up north it was like a garden variety fall storm. We lived in Gardiner for Bob, and i dropped 6.41", the biggest calendar precip I've recorded. It brought 60+ gusts and is the only TC I've experienced that had backside wind as strong as front side, though 95% of the RA came before the switch. It's in a near tie for 4th strongest I've seen, with Doria (Aug. 71) and the 1982 April damage. In terms of tree damage from wind, Dec 18, 2023 was probably worse than Bob, even with wind ~10 mph less. Bob's peak wind lasted less than an hour while 12/23 kept roaring for 4. (Trivia note: Last night's episode of Maine Cabin Masters was at Cobbossee Lake, a from-scratch build after pines obliterated the original cabin in that storm.)

The Boreal forest, in both east and west hemispheres, have usually been created and regenerated by fire since the glaciers retreated.

Only works for small areas, unless one eliminates all warm-blooded wildlife. We're now in the 'tick-free' month - can't recall seeing one in August - but I've picked off hundreds at other times and got anaplasmosis from a November encounter in 2022. 47 this morning, topped out near 70. Nice.

Tale of a dry July (3rd driest of 28) Avg max: 76.5 +0.1 Hottest: 86, 16th Avg. min: 57.1 +2.3 Coolest: 42, 22nd Mean: 66.8 +1.2 7th warmest Precip: 1.53" -2.45" Wettest day: 0.56", 20th June-July precip: 3.97" -4.77" and driest JJ, 2nd is 1999: 4.34", 3rd is 2004: 5.02" June-July had only 2 days with thunder, least of any year here. (3 in 2010)

0.03" here, nada yesterday. Typical

7th warmest of 28 Julys here, AN but nothing special (other than low precip). Actually having a bit of RA, might get 0.10". Forecast was "you're too far north" so it's a small win.

A long distance from New York City, both miles and character, the Farmington Maine (pop. ~5,000) co-op recorded from January 1, 1893 thru mid-October 2022. It's sites (several) thru the summer of 1966 were in town. In September of that year, the new observer moved the location 1.5 miles to the north, a site along the 2-lane Route 4/27 with single-family homes generally 100+ feet apart and only small vegetation. Over the years trees grew larger, and by its closure (observer had passed) there was a 50-foot-tall red oak less than 30 feet from the Cotton Region shelter and other trees within 100 feet. Below are the most recent heat records, showing the lowering of most recent hottest: 101 8/2/1975 "Hot Saturday" Even reached 100 at Bar Harbor. (Also all-time records at PWM [103] and BGR [102]) 99 6/20/1985 95 9/9/2002 94 6/20/2020 93 6/28/2021 92 5/14/2022 I'm not sure why the dates (except 1975) are all shoulder season. Forest transpiration would've been relatively low in mid-May and in September, but should've been in high gear by late June.

Low end normal - Sandy River flow has dropped below the 25th percentile (and 0.3% of the flood flow in Dec 2023). The small trib running thru our woodlot is down to wet sand, not even disconnected puddles.

We've had only 2 heat waves in our 27+ years here, and 8/13-15 is one (other is 6/25-27/03). August 2002 had an 8-day run, 11-18, that had an average high of 89 with each day at 87-91. Wasn't too humid as the lows averaged 58, but our car's AC had conked out (at 204k miles) earlier that month. Then 9/9-10/02 reached 93/92. Since then, we've reached 90 eleven times but none later than June 28 - 2 in May and 9 in June. Odd distribution; maybe the taller dews and busier trees of mid-late summer have held down the max temps.

EWR almost always leads the pack. Since Jan 1, 2000 they've recorded 37 days of 100+ (including 3 last month) while Central Park has had only 6. EWR is a bit milder in the cold season as well, with 355 days with maxima 32 or lower over the same period. NYC has had 403.

June-July rain so far is 3.94". Driest June-July 1998-2024 here was 5.02" in 2004. I think that mark is toast.

Gackk! HI must be near 130.

No met here, but if you could hold that event near our home, it's almost a guarantee that the storms would miss.

We have grapes here that look like that description. They only get to 3/8-1/2" in small bunches and are mostly seed with little flavor in the rest. "Fox grapes" is a term I've seen applied to them. When we lived in NNJ there were wild Concord grapes less than 1,000 feet from home. They would produce large (often 100+ fruit) bunches of deep blue grapes 5/8-3/4" and while the seeds were large, the juice was excellent. My older brother and I would fill a couple of buckets, and our mom would make a wonderful jam.

Average here from June 1 thru today: 8.27" Total for 2025 from June 1 thru today: 3.94" Current radar shows RA to both south and north, each heading east.

Tell that to a firefighter in full turnout gear. Or anyone with a job that requires heavy physical labor.

Dews will stay in the 60’s south of pike tomorrow "Pike" meant 40°N

Had 0.10" just before noon yesterday while Aroostook saw much much more. Then clouds hung in thru 4 PM, ensuring that the actual CF produced nada, another quick 20° drop in TD with little or no action. Low this morning was near 50.

Slightly under 1/10" here but enough clouds to probably kill chances of serious RA this afternoon. Still under 50% of average precip since June 1.

And Bobby Richardson, light-hitting 2B for the Yankees - still holds the record for RBI in a World Series.

I've seen a lot of white pines that have shed last year's needles, thanks to the fungal needle disease. June 2024 wasn't as endlessly raining like the year before, but it had AN rain. The fungi (several species) infect the new growth in late spring and the wetter the wx, the worse the infection. Jun2025 had about half normal rain, so I'm hoping next year's needle drop will be much lower. I've not seen any significant problems with other species.