tamarack

May threaten some daily records, but all-time? Fuggetaboutit. Most sites in the Northeast have October all-times +/-90. My short (26th year) record for the month is a mere 80° and we might get up to 70 in the coming torch. 40+ hours of near-continuous light RA added up to 1.87", month at 4.19". Oct avg is 5.65", so we'll finish BN.

In New England, below average colors are still quite pretty. The one truly bad foliage season here was 2005. the year with no reds. A week into October there was maybe 30% change, mostly to dull yellow. Then the 8-9 weekend brought nearly 6" of wind-driven RA and on Monday at least 80% of the leaves were on the ground.

Back in the day (1976 in Fort Kent) we had a 75° change in about 33 hours, -25 on 3/19 to 50 on3/20. (45 days earlier the temp plunged from 44 to -6 in 6 hours. That year had more dramatic wx than any other I've seen, from the -41 on 1/12 to 36" during the year's final week.)

Not too scared by AN temps after last winter, mildest DJFM of 25 here but with 114% of avg snowfall. Precip was ~3" AN for that period, with the 12/23 Grinch deluge (3.25") being the difference. I truly think people were just too early with the assessment. We continue to get decent orange and yellow now in the understory, even after the crowns have lost many leaves. Some sugar maples that escaped the anthracnose browning have that classic (and lovely) tricolor foliage. Sugar maples around our place all got hit by the fungi, color was weak and it's all sticks. had some nice red maple color but they're empty now as well.

First week's temp here: +10. Since then, right on the average.

Minima here have been all over the place, but maxima have been a gradual step-down, 1-4: 69-79 (That 79 [twice] is 2nd mildest Oct max here; top is 80 on 10/9/2011.) 5-7: 63-65 8-18: 52-58 Maybe today we get back up to 60?

Maybe. We're in grandkid mode and they all love the stuff. (And their SNJ area never had the ground fully white last cold season - "winter" should not be used for that one.) Maybe we all have a different opinion of what is a ratter, anything less than half of average with not even one biggie to me a ratter. What did you get in 21 Wolfie? Different for sure, as that threshold would be silly for CAR, where in 83 years they've never had a winter at 50% or lower. My place averages 89" and probably only 3 of 25 winters were true ratters, 05-06 (52.8"), 15-16 (48.2") and 2021 (52.5"). 4th lowest, 09-10, had exactly 12" more than 05-06 but had a far higher frustration factor than any of the bottom 3.

10-acre minimum in Maine as well, and legislators are always trying to fiddle with the law, thankfully unsuccessful so far. This past session's attempt was to raise the minimum to 25 acres and stipulated that the participants with 10-24 acres being kicked out of the program would be dinged for the penalty. A 24-acre landowner would've been on the hook for $10k or more.

That triggered a memory from 59 years ago in NNJ. Evening of 3/21 I'd been babysitting 5 neighbor kids whose parents said they would not be back until 1-2 next morn. NYC forecast was WSW (they had 4.9") and flakes came in occasional bunches all evening but didn't stick. Kids long abed when mom & dad returned a bit after 2 and heavy SN had arrived, 1"+ new paste on the road for an interesting drive home. Got to bed about 2:30 and slept until 10, looked out the window at blazing sun and the only evidence it had snowed was some white patches in the shadows of bigger trees. It had been a good winter - 50-55" - but that total melt while I slept was still disappointing. Actually saw the sun for a minute or two this morning, now socked in and mid 50s.

Does NH have some kind of current-use/open space tax system? We have 80 acres and 79 are in Maine's Tree Growth Tax Law status and our taxes are ~$275/year. (80th acre slightly more, ~$1,600, as our house sits on it.) TGTL requires a management plan prepared by a Maine-licensed forester, and should one later wish to withdraw and build houses, there's a significant penalty that gets costlier the longer one has been under TGTL.

April 8 in the north country is less than a sure thing for a sunny day.

Maybe. Looks like most the new growth is fine, but the browning is troubling. I wonder if a fungicide dowse next May might help, though an experienced nursery staffer would know more. No sign of that on our ~20-ft blue, planted as a 4-ft tree 20 years ago.

The path center appears to pass a few miles north of Jackman. However, that town of perhaps 800 might have 8,000 for the event. The Attean Lake overlook a couple miles south of town would be a wonderful place to be, but the modest parking lot would likely be filled 3-4 hours ahead of the event.

Gray and October-y here, low 50s with dz. Running slightly BN for precip, easy to do when the avg for Oct is 5.66", median 5.52", easily our wettest month. (from tunafish) supposed to do a first overnight camping with cub scouts Saturday. Should be interesting. Memories of my experience, both as a scout and as asst. scoutmaster. It didn't rain every time (Feb 1969 we got caught at Allamuchy Scout Reservation by the "Mayor Lindsey" storm), but it seemed like it.

Birds love them - maybe a partridge in a dogwood tree?

Not quite as extreme here - instead of BTV's +13 on Oct 1-7 then +2 Oct 8th on, it was +10 then -1 here. Looks like the next week here will continue dry and seasonable.

Those yellow dots in southern franklin County really stand out, and they're the result of one relatively brief event. On the evening of Sept 13, Temple and 2 Farmington sites had between 3.25" and 3.35" in less than 3 hours, causing some localized washouts, while my gauge 5-10 miles east had only 0.30". Heading into town about 6:15, I wished for a 3rd gear in the wipers and had to slow to 15 mph, and the oft-seen puddle in front of Giffords and McD was quite deep as I slowly drove thru about 8 PM that night.

Surprisingly little specific experience, though it's likely a significant factor in butt rot throughout the forest. I can't recall seeing the fruiting bodies as shown in the pic. Apparently, vigorous trees can often limit spread of the fungus and are thus tolerant, while stressed trees are quite vulnerable.

Location, of course. Last winter's snowfall here was almost twice that of 20-21. A couple of sites in NW New Jersey had more snow in Feb 2021 than we had in that entire winter. Last winter's base was the big dense dump in mid December - even the 3.25" Grinch deluge a week later couldn't take all the snow away, just left us with 12" of glacier that withstood the mildest of 25 January's here.

As a weather nerd and gardener, I track growing seasons and probably many others here do likewise. Tuesday morning was forecast for possible frost, and it never got below 37. This morning was forecast to be near 40 and it dropped to 32, with frozen dew all over the pickup except for the "cabbage leaves" frost on the hood. Frost free period was 139 days, 3rd longest of 26 here and 21 above average. All the frost-sensitive veggies had run out of gas so no real effect on the garden. 90%+ leaf drop, though the big (2' by 90') oak is still mostly green with minimal drop.

Oct-Nov temps, correlation with snowfall here. Only 25 years but same trends in the much longer (130 yr) POR at Farmington: Temp Snow (% of avg) Oct AN 105% Oct BN 95% Nov AN 89% NOV BN 114% Both AN 91% Both BN 105% Oct A/Nov B 125% Oct B/Nov A 87%

4 KUs: whiff whiff whiff 3.81" precip, 10" 4:1 mashed potatoes that splattered on landing plus 1.14" RA at 33-35, final result 8" with nearly 3" LE, harder to move than the 24" dump a year earlier. (While reading of NYC's "snowicane", 20.9" on the same NE wind that was blowing up here.) Maybe not the worst winter here, but definitely the most frustrating.

In 1992 we lived in Gardiner, 35 miles SSE from our current home, and all we got from that storm was lots of wind and nary a flake. Also a plethora of white ash seedlings the following spring, as the bumper seed crop had been thoroughly distributed by the gales. Was down to 40 by 8 last evening but then the clouds began to filter in, so the temp only reached 37. Next week for 1st frost?

The OL turned to crap in BB's 1st year here, and the resultant 5-11 finish brought in Richard Seymour. IMO, the OL issues are at work again and Mac has lost confidence in it, such that he hears footsteps even when they're not coming.

Is that the 1991-2020 average, or long-term. The median here is Sept 19 but for the last 5 years it's Sept 30. Temp was headed toward 32 under starry skies at 10 last evening, but clouds stopped it at 37. Probably frosts tomorrow morning.