tamarack

Nasty stuff. Pic below is from 3/27/21, a day after that 70-foot fir tree was blown apart, 55 yards from the house. In addition to traumatizing our yellow Lab mix (she was still shaking 45 minutes later), the strike ruined the connection between our generator and its dedicated panel. We only learned that in April when power went off. Genny started as usual but no transfer to the house. Technicians came and created a manual work-around (in rain turning to snow plus wind) so I could go down-cella, open the panel and flip the switch, until they could do a complete fix when the ground had thawed. Last winter the transfer again quit but I could do the manual switch; the tech came in the spring and had to replace the toasted auto-switch within the panel - probably had been compromised back in 2021 then finally died.

Not yet. Our shallow well's reserve is usually ~500 gallons (5 ft deep in the tubs). In 2001, our driest year here, it was below 300 and dropping, until late fall. CON is +4.8F on the highs and -1.1F on the mins. Yore heat Similar here: +5.5 and -0.8

Late March into June, yes. Then I planted the garden and the spigot was turned off - 1.53" since July 1 and 0.00" since August 1.

So far August has produced . . . dust. GYX has us with 60% PoP Sunday. 2 days ago that same 60% was forecast for today. Reminds me of an old comment about wx signs - in a drought, all signs fail.

Sounds great. Sometimes trout will find a hole in the river just downstream from where the cool tributaries enter, also the pool below the falls. My only trip there (May 1981) began at Henderson Brook Bridge and ended with a night at the falls, as I had a family trip planned and had stashed my vehicle near Michaud Farm. The rest continued to St. Francis. Parks had asked Seven Islands to check whether the freaky February (CAR had +15 for the month, which also included their 7 mildest days in Feb) that sent the ice bridge downriver had left aspen logs blocking the critical take-out above the falls. All was clear.

Beats my 1.53" for the same period. Had some sprinkles in Farmington last evening, not enough to wet the ground, but not a drop at home.

91 at 1:20 and maybe going higher - 3rd heat wave here in 28 summers. Reasonable dews preventing huge discomfort, though full sun is still a furnace. Temps Mon/Wed: 91/60; 92/61; 91*/59. *so far. First 2 HWs also suggest bearable TDs: 8/02: 90/57; 90/61; 91/62 6/2003 (note correction of year): 91/52; 91/60; 90/64. Yeah. We have been noticing a lack of bats. White-nose fungus has decimated many species of bats, especially those which overwinter in hibernacula (e.g. caves). The fungus causes them to awake too early, depleting stored energy such that the critters don't survive hibernation.

Indeed. 91/92 the past 2 days, and here in the woods we aren't likely to reach the upper 90s of the AUG/BGR airports. (That 92 sets a new max for August here.) We've had only 2 heat waves here, June 27-29, 1999 and August 13-15, 2002. Only some siggy clouds would prevent #3 as today's launch pad was near 60, again - relatively dry equals quick heat. Day 1 of our annual forestry "peer review" field trip stayed mostly in deep shade, fortunately, and so far no reports of tick encounters. They seem to disappear here in August, but unfortunately they're back in a big way a month from now. Today's agenda includes some strategies for protecting brown ash from EAB, as the species has shown little/no resistance and it's culturally critical to indigenous peoples in NNE and the Maritimes/southern PQ. (I'm skipping today in favor of resting my new knee joint and surrounding tissue.)

Probably just dormant, but 'crunch, crunch' when walking on it is a bit unsettling. Temp has reached 90 here, first time hitting that mark in August since 2002, when it was 90/90/91 on 8/13-15. Can we have another triple? My guess is that we get clouded (and 'dewed') out of 90s on Wednesday.

Thanks for the update. I'd missed that.

June 19, 2020 rather than last year. I chose that May day to add 6" of fiberglass insulation to the attic of our tiny (18x20) 2-story. Finished by 11 AM but it was already near 90 outside, 120+ in the workspace. Next day CAR had 95/69; that 82° mean is only 0.5° below their all time hottest.

Today makes 10 without a drop, only 0.03" in the past 16 days and 0.13" in 3 weeks. The town did a great job late last month of adding gravel to our road and grading/rolling it. Nothing but dust now without any real rain to settle the stuff.

Might be tough. Though CON is a warmer spot, its 9-day heat wave in 2002 started on 8/11 (Monday) with highs of 95, 96, 97, 99, 96, 97 before cooling to 92, 96, 91 to finish the run.

Probably heading ENE by then, so eastern SNE gets 60s gusts and a pile of rain while August stays dry here. Had some rumbles about 6 last evening from a TS a few miles north. A bigger system seemed aimed right at us, but it only reached West Farmington, where it died. August precip still 0.00", only 0.13" in the past 19 days and the current forecast has nothing thru Friday (though the AFD mentioned some possible TS midweek).

Nice looking echoes on radar, looking to pass about 5 miles north of here. Just one more tease.

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.