tamarack

At my place, 12/23/22 began with an inch of mush followed by a deluge, total precip 3.25", unseating the super-Grinch of 12/25/20 for December's greatest precip. Last 3 Decembers have been seriously AN for temps.

1 PM temps: PWM, 78 with S wind. Probably not today (unless the wind switches to SW soon) CON, 80 Outside chance AUG, 79 Tied, will break

"Early Corner" along Route 2 in New Sharon. Poor drainage = early change.

How much wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker would peck wood? The Foliage Report map looks about right - moderate change here.

2005 redux? (Except the colors are better - that was the year of no reds.) Columbus Day weekend 2005 brought 5.73" on strong winds. In 2 days, foliage went from ~40% color to 90% leaf drop.

Day 13 w/o rain, payback for June? Sky is pure blue, though the smoke may arrive later. Foliage color nearing 1/2, and it's at peak (and quite pretty) on the wetland stand along Rt2 a half mile west from the Sandy River bridge. "Early corner" is generally a week+ ahead of the general area.

September stats: Avg max: 69.5 +1.5 Warmest, 86 on the 7th Avg min: 50.3 +4.5 Coolest, 35 on the 27th. Mildest average low of 26 Septembers, also the mildest for the month's lowest. Mean: 59.9 +3.0 2nd mildest (61.1 in 1999) Precip: 4.37" +0.68" Wettest day, 1.33" on the 19th, with 2.20" 18-19 Edit: What a disastrous weekend for NE sports fans. Tim Wakefield dies, long-time Pats TE Russ Francis killed in a plane crash, BB's worst loss as head coach and their 2 best defense players injured.

At Central Park it's 10/17/1938. 1979 only missed by 2° on the 22nd.

About 30% change here. My guess is a slightly below average fall coloring, but since "average" is pretty spectacular here, 2023 should be very nice. Lots of reds beginning to show, while the leaf-browning fungus on sugar maple hurts that species' contribution.

Reached 4.37" mid-morn on the 19th, and there we sit. Maybe some RA a week from today?

Dense fog early, didn't burn off until near 11 AM, still mostly cloudy/smoky. First 2 weeks of Sept ran 6.6° AN; weeks 3,4 almost exactly normal. That ended the chance to top 1999's 61.1° as it's at 60.4 currently. 2023 should end very close to 60.0, pushing 2015 (59.7) into 3rd place. (And I'm not a fan of the winters which followed 9/99 and 9/15.)

12th straight dry day today - looks like another half dozen on the way. Smoke gave last night's full moon a lavender tinge, first time I've seen that.

Swing about 20° clockwise and Kineo cliff enters the pic. Beautiful spot at any angle.

Of rain??

Cumulus? Steep lapse rates? We haven't had a decent TS all year and only 2 extra weak ones since June. Would be wild getting a good one in October. (Certainly possible. Northern Maine had a severe storm on 9/30/1986 that flattened 600 acres of forest less than 15 miles south of Fort Kent. Climate has warmed and we're 2.5° south of there, so why not?)

Fake 35° here.

June here had 24 days with measurable precip, most of any month since moving here in May 1998. Former "winner" was May 2005 with 23 (and an extra day). July was well AN for rainy days, too.

32 at FVE, HUL, probably upper 20s at Estcourt Station. Reached 36 here, will flirt with 32 tomorrow morning, last chance for Sept frost. Ophelia precip here: 0.00"

Rain finally reached Maine - Wells reported 0.01" and 2 other sites had a trace.

I used a Johnson Century from 1960 thru the time I bought the reel noted above, about 40 years. It was an award for reducing the huge snapping turtle population in the nearby lake, snagging them with a device made with wire and a big treble hook.

Nice start, looks like the white ash is fully turned. Also, no sign of the sugar maple browns that we have here due to anthracnose fungi. We do have some bright red maples on moist sites, always a good sign. Maybe 10 days to peak, earlier if you get frost this coming week.

Probably my last open-water fishing for this year today, brought home a 27" pike that had a partially digested 8-9" white perch in the tummy. Also found that the reel I bought in 1999 or 2000 and fished hard is worn out, gears occasionally skip and drag tightens all by itself without moving the external adjuster. That latter item cost me a lure and another sizable pike before I realized what was going on. C'est la vie.

Brown-edged sugar maple leaves (from anthracnose, probably enabled by June's endless rain) are looking ratty.

Only 2 autumns have reached October w/o a frost, 2011 (Oct 6) and 2021 (Oct 24!!!). No wonder the leaf change was tardy.

Case in point: January 2023. It was the mildest of 25 Januarys here, 1.7° above the previous "winner", 2006. It also was 3rd snowiest, only 0.1" shy of 30" and 10" AN. 39 this morning, 1st sub-40 of the season. (Median date for 1st frost was last Tuesday. 50/50 chance of being our 3rd September w/o a frost.)