tamarack

48 here this morning. Maybe a run at 40 tonight?

We thought it would invade our church's Labor Day picnic as it moved almost due north for 2-3 days and was aimed right at us in southern Maine. At nearly the last moment it made the sharp right turn and was gone.

Back in the '60s in NNJ, we went to Sandy Hook in late July, a day or 2 after a storm had passed offshore. Water temp was 57 (usual was low 70s on that date) - might not go in today but young and foolish, we did a lot of swimming, though never in the water more than 15 minutes at a stretch.

Haven't touched 80 yet this month, nor been warmer than 82 since July 7, though that month stayed dewey well past mid-month. We take

Cat 5 at 40° N? Anyway, would be a good time to visit Schoodic Point. (Or Cape Breton)

It's a nice ride on Long Lake. Been on the boat just once, in 1986 a month after a defoliating hailstorm that featured some baseball-size chunks. The canopy had hundreds of duct-tape patches.

Bob was probably a bit offshore by the time it reached Maine's latitude, but it's the only time in Maine (lived in Gardiner then) that I saw the backside NW winds be as strong as the frontside southeasterlies, probably gusting 50s to 60. Some acres had blowdowns pointing in opposite directions. Had 6.41", greatest one-day rain I've measured; about 95% fell before the wind shift. Sounds like away from the S coast is crappy today , thou Some have complained about the summer for the last 20 days Great day for working outside - PC, breezy, upper 60s, a few showers around but even if one hits here, it will be over in a couple minutes.

Floyd must have come close. We had 5.9" RA and gusts to near 40, and we're pretty far inland. That's "only" 24 years back.

For my locale: June Max: -4.1 Min: +2.0 July Max: +1.1 Min: +4.5 Aug 1-18 Max: -4.4 Min: 0.0 79 days Max: -2.1 Min: +2.5 Precip: 16.68" +5.19" Currently in 4th place for JJA. 2009 (23.82") is out of reach - I hope! - but another 2.42" would tie for 2nd.

Temps were a bit upside down that day. High at Central Park was 15 while at my place it was 35. That was a cheap 9:01 PM high - afternoon high was 18, but it's always odd when NY is colder than here. For the years 2020 and 2022, Dec 23-25 has totaled 5.80" precip but only the 1.2" frozen ahead of 3"+ RA on 12/23/22. Can we score another mega-Grinch?

Right on schedule, about 7 weeks ahead of full color. Just had the heaviest shower of the day, though only a few minutes of it. No thunder, however, and only 2 since June 30. Lowest we've had for July-August is 3.

3+ hours of rain and less than 0.15" as all the bright echoes died as they approached Rt 2 (or split E-W with New Sharon in the middle). Don't need the rain but some serious thunder would be fun - except for our dog, still traumatized by the very close strike 2 years ago.

Though it's called a poplar, it's not in the genus Populus, which includes aspens, cottonwood, Lombardy poplars and other similar species. The tulip poplar (also tuliptree) genus is Liriodendron, so it's unrelated to the "real" poplars. As for heights, where I grew up in NNJ there were forest-grown tuliptrees 120 feet tall or more with no branches below 50 feet. However, the one my grandfather planted at their summer place sometime 1935-40 was about 60 feet tall when I last saw it (mid '60s) with 15-20 feet of bare trunk topped by a full ovoid crown. Beautiful specimen.

Yup, cloudy 60s with some dz, just like all day yesterday. Think my area is north of the good stuff.

I second dendrite's recommendation. Tulip trees are fast growing, have pretty spring flowers and when open-grown will have an attractive roundish crown. Seeds are a bit messy but no worse than most trees. They're surprisingly hardy - there's one in Farmington a block from Main Street that's 90+ feet tall and over 40" diameter, has a frost crack but weathered the town's coldest morning on record, -39 on Jan 20, 1994. The town is about 2° latitude north of tulip tree's natural range. (Tree trivia: Tulip poplar vies with white pine and sycamore as the tallest eastern tree. Prior to the uncut forest, each of those 3 had specimens in the 180-200 range.)

I would not plant one, but then I'm already in the woods.

AFAIK, no flood control infrastructure was installed after the record flood of the Kennebec in 1987; in fact, some dams within the watershed have since been removed. However, I don't think anything could've been improved without many millions of investments. Four days before the river hit 22.5' above flood stage in AUG, I was in a light airplane looking at possible trade opportunities near Chain-of-Ponds, and on the way home we flew around the BIgelow range. Flagstaff, Maine's largest purely artificial lake and 4th largest overall, was drawn down about 25 feet, such that the original Dead Rive channel was plainly visible within 3 miles of the dam. Outside of Moosehead, at which dams have added 9 feet to full pool, Flagstaff is the greatest "flood catcher" in the state and it was overwhelmed. At peak on April 1, the Big Eddy campground a mile downriver from the dam had 3-4 feet roaring thru it.

True, but BDL had 3.75" from Connie on 8/12-14 then 14.40" from Diane with only 3 days between. Farther NW, Norfolk measured 8.54" from Connie then 12.88" from Diane. Maybe the current system would reduce the damage, but it would still be catastrophic. Down our way in NNJ, Connie dumped about 8" and Diane 3-4" less. Even with that close sequence, Diane's flooding was significantly less than from Connie. Edit: The death toll in PA might've been greater than in CT, with the camp on Brodhead Creek being the worst calamity.

We got down to 39° on 8/31/65. I was glad not to be on the swim team - the 6 AM workout with the air temp just 7° above freezing could not have been fun.

On a site with decent fertility, they could add 4-5 feet annually. However, they may not make it to age 30 and might be 75 feet tall by then. (This coming from a forester who is used to 100-year (plus) ages for spruce, maple and pine, so 30 seems short.)

By then the little rodents will probably have removed any protein.

Guessing that pile remains untouched until several freezes have hit. Tomorrow's event is becoming smaller for much of Maine. Okay with me as Public Lands' peer review field trip is tomorrow and Wednesday, downeast this time, overnight at Lubec. (Of course, a noted forestry professor while I was at U. Maine liked to say, "There's no such thing as inclement weather, just improper clothing." In a deep south accent.)

That didn't work, at least it didn't prove out when we lived in the back settlement of Fort Kent. I saw a hornet nest at least 12 feet off the ground in summer 1982 and that was followed by the poorest winter of 10 for snowpack and 2nd worst for snowfall - 79-80 easily had the least. In summer 1983 I saw 2 such nests so low that skunks had demolished them, and winter 83-84 was the one that required an extension of our 61" snow stake. Even more confusing was the huge nest I saw on a yellow birch sapling in late summer of 1985. The weight of the thing had bowed the tree to nearly resemble a croquet wicket. Would that mean a changing snow forecast as the nest lowered from its original 7-8 feet high to the 3 feet as I saw it. (We moved to Gardiner in late Oct so never saw the pack, though snowfall was about 90% of average.)

Like 2009, our only time April was the year's hottest. Also occurred at our former Gardiner home in 1990. Both records were on 4/28. The Farmington co-op touched 90 on both days, their only 90s in 130+ Aprils.

One such event is hard to take. Having 2 back-to-back is exponentially worse. Please stay strong for all the others who are grieving, and focus on remembering all the good times.