tamarack

I'd toss April 1982 into the mix - a classic January storm transplanted into a spring month. While NYC has had 2 slightly greater April snows, in 1875 and 1915, they've had no other significant April events within 5° as cold, since 1869. That 1997 event was strange where we then lived, 9 miles south from AUG. It was a decent (7.5") snowfall that came about 12 hours before the SNE explosion. I don't know how (if?) our storm was connected. Same LP went retro/crazy? 1st of 2 back-to-back? Gardiner data: 3/31 37 26 0.82" 6.0" 4/1 39 24 0.17" 1.5"

Our generator has remained quiet. Gusts 30+, garden variety wind in this very windy winter. The strongest wind must be elsewhere.

I attended Johns Hopkins for 2 years 64-65 and 65-66, before my GPA led to a non-invite for a 3rd year. 64-65 had only some small snows, 4-5" but 65-66 had a major blizzard in late January. 2-3 days before that event the city had a 7" storm, "Biggest since 1959". Then on Jan 30 the big one came, with 4" at 9 PM becoming 10" by midnight. During the school year I lived in a frat house on St. Paul Street, and woke up about 3 AM on the 31st, to see even lower visibility than during the 2"/hour period. Snowfall was lighter but 50 mph winds roaring out of the north produced a true blizzard. Total snow was ~15" and it paralyzed the city. Only Charles and St. Paul were passable north-to-south and IIRC only Orleans east-west. Four days later I went home (NNJ) for semester break, and when I returned 5 days later, many side streets remained impassable, more than week after the storm.

The '80s are notorious for low snow totals, but they were quite cold. In 1988 at our (then) Gardiner home, the snow season's 2nd biggest dump was 8" on April 16. The previous year we had 6.3" on April 28-29. Long seasons.

Up here on the "fringe" it was 15+ hours of steady moderate snow for 9.5". The post-equinox dumps of 16" and 19" made March 2001 the 2nd snowiest month (55.5") I've seen. Only the 61.5" of Dec 1976 at Fort Kent had more.

Caller ID FTW. Not 100% effective but much better than without it.

1.21" here, pack drops from 19" to 16", maybe 15 by day's end but that stuff has a lot of SWE. Highest reports are from downriver, not the mountains, though data from uphill is sketchy. I highly doubt that the ice will move much on the Sandy.

Climo there is probably almost 3 times as much as here (~90"). January - more than 10X.

And first steps for me. Gray 30s here, much like yesterday.

The 1930s were a decade of extremes. I've looked up statewide records for hottest and coldest days, wettest and driest years for each state, thus 200 total records. It's not comprehensive - haven't found any more recent than 2011 (no updated tables?) and only 9 of the 200 pre-date 1880. That said, the 1930s own 55 records; 2nd place is the 1950s with 28. The '30s records: Hottest 24 (14 in 1936 alone) Coldest 10 Wettest 2 (ID, WA) Driest 19

Cutters in December, none in Jan-Feb (for the first time since about 2013). No big storms, however. In 26 winters, we've had 20 with at least one double-digit dump - 77% - but none so far in this one.

I can't recall another winter that matched this year's near continuous running of the Northern Greens' snow machine, especially in January. Meanwhile, much of points east were in drought. Jan 2-31 here had only 0.43" precip and 4.6" snow. How much fell at Stowe during that period?

-14 here this morning, coldest March temp since 2019 and 2nd coldest since 2015. Probably the last subzero morning this season, unless the SW flow is delayed a bit - temps progged to drop like a rock this evening then slide up after midnight. March is easily the most variable of the 4 snowiest months, ranging from 0.1" in 2021 to 55.5" twenty years earlier. 88% of total snow falls in those 4 months, with totals below: DEC 19.2" JAN 19.9" FEB 22.1" MAR 17.4"

4° here with gusts into the 20s. Not fake. (That comes tomorrow morning.)

February in the foothills: Avg max: 26.3 -3.0 Mildest: 44 on 25 and 26 Avg min: 5.5 -1.0 Coldest: -19 on the 2nd Mean: 15.9 -2.0 Precip: 2.58" 0.37" BN 0.85" on the 16th Snow: 26.5" 4.5" AN 6.5" on the 16th, part of the 8.0" storm Avg pack: 16.6" -2.5" Tallest: 22" on the 16th DJF avg 17.7 -0.7 First BN for DJF since 2018-19.

Wasn't expecting much, got even less - 0.4" of 8:1 stuff, mostly tiny graupel-like things. Still low 20s and overcast at 10:15. Will the WF push the temp to the forecast 40 in this CAD kingdom before the CF comes roaring thru?

I was focused more on charting sensible wx than looking into forecast back then, for the most part. The 3 biggies in 60-61 I do recall hearing "4 inches or more" for each - for NYC. Can't recall any estimates for the surrounding counties.

The warming climate has hit March far more in SNE than the other 3 'big snow' months. 60-70 years ago when I was growing up in NNJ things were different. At Oak Ridge reservoir, near our place, the 12 winters 55-56 thru 66-67 averaged 57.1" and all 4 months were double digits, with March (15.6") at the top. That span had 34 events with 6"+, 13 of which had 10+ and 5 over 20. Three of those 5 bombs came in March, 21" in 56, 28" in 58 and 23.5" in 60. (One each in Jan/24"-Feb/27" 61)

My early '70s education at U.Maine had considerable info on individual tree health, including Alex Shigo's work, but the application is far more intensive for arborists. Foresters work with stands rather than individual trees, though a marked harvest is prepared tree by tree. But to end on a positive note, we just finished a project in NW Maine that permanently protected 3500 acres in the Mahoosucs. Most of it was paper company land and it will now be forever wild. Onward. Was that the Orbeton Stream tract or a more recent one, easement or purchase? Most such easements allow continued timber harvests but place constraints on the silviculture used. And having worked as a forester in the 'true' NW Maine - from T12R15 (Ninemile Bridge area) to Big Twenty - seeing the Mahoosucs referred to as NW Maine drew a chuckle. (I apologize.) Culturally, definitely; geographically, nope. Your posts on the subject are excellent.

Having had at least 6" of pack since Thanksgiving night, I'm confident that the ground under the current 19" is unfrozen. Under our driveway the frost is probably 3-4 feet deep. 3.5" from 0.34" LE, with a trace of FZDZ on top. Probably 5"+ in the pack now, about the median for 2/28 (though likely below average).

1st tiny flakes 8:50, 20 minutes later nothing. Have to go to Farmington for 10:30 appt - probably that's when it will be pounding.

But the following 6 winters made up for it. 49-50 thru 54-55 averaged 12.6", had one event 6"+ and average for winter's biggest 4.9" 55-56 thru 60-61 averaged 34.5", had 11 events 6"+, 6 events 11.6"+ (and a 9.9) and winter's biggest averaged 11.2".

8:30 and no flakes yet. GYX numbers for Farmington yesterday afternoon were 1 / 3 / 4 and the forecast was 3-5. This morning it's 3 / 7 / 9 and the forecast is 3-5. ??? All snow is good snow. (Except in 2010 )

Only thing that would mess with the ice before the equinox would be a big rain - ice itself would still be okay but the raised pond levels might make it impossible to get onto it.

Fort Kent season-stretcher frozen precip during our time there (1/1/76-10/25/85). Chronological: Sept 14, 1977: NE storm, slush in town, 1-2" >1000' near Allagash June 9, 1980: Flurries enough to almost cover the lawn, 1-2" west of Allagash. July 3, 1982: Showers and 30s at 600', probable slush at 970' Aug 26, 1982: Slushy flakes at 970' Other events before/after our tenure: June 17, 1964: 3" at Seven islands camp across the border from St.-Pamphile, PQ. SEPT 30, 1991: 3" at CAR, up to 5 on the hills around Fort Kent.