tamarack

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.)

One evening when we lived in Gardiner, I was taking garbage out to the curb when a very young skunk walked right up to me, sniffed, then walked away. I had one black bag and one white, so maybe it thought I was Mother. When my older brother was doing outdoor bivouac during Ranger School, he woke up to find a skunk sleeping on his chest. A few cautious wiggles and the critter ambled off. Brother expressed how glad he was that it wasn't a cottonmouth. I was being a bit sarcastic regarding all this supposed warm water. Not so warm after all. thanks for the charts. SSTs on Casco Bay were near 70 a week or so ago, then Lee brought up water from where the lobsters live. Any TC heading here now would need to be going faster than 1938 to reach PWM alive.

Saw something like that on CNN - smaller resorts at somewhat lower elevations lacking snow.

About 15 years ago when rabid critters by the hundred were being encountered in Maine, we had a smallish skunk wandering around the house in early afternoon, not their usual active time. Our Lab got a small dose - fortunately, she'd had her anti-rabies shot 5 days earlier - and finally my old .22 Mossberg ended the episode. I could've had the skunk tested (for $125 out-of-pocket) but its behavior was convincing. Low 40s this morning, very fallish. Maybe U30s tomorrow?

1816

Doubly incredible - frogs lay their eggs in the spring around here, so the tadpoles can mature well before frost. 2.19" from this event, 42.60" on the year, which is 8" AN, plus any further September rain. Again, the towns to the west were wetter - Farmington 3.15" and Temple with 2.90". Combining this event with last Wednesday's downpour (and ignoring the 0.02-0.03" from Lee), Farmington recorded ~6.5", Temple 4.6" and 2.5" here. Steined.

Finally into steady rain, lit the wood stove about 2 PM as we've remained <60.

That might date you (unless there was more than one trial). IIRC, the only year-round DST was done in response to the 1st Arab oil embargo, beginning in 1973 and lasting 2(?) years. Also was the time of 55 mph limit, plus strong recommendations to save electricity by foregoing Christmas lights. We traveled from BGR to family in NNJ for Christmas, and the near-total lack of nighttime color was sad. About 0.1 after 5 hours of off & on light RA. Heavier stuff will come this evening.

Only time that (slightly) bothered me was the 2 Decembers (1979, 1982) with bare ground on the first week. Combining a 3:55 sunset with drizzle and brown ground made for dreary times. (And those winters were the poorest of our FK years. The 2-year average of 93.7" looks okay, but the other winters there averaged 145".)

Only 40.41" here. Too bad we missed the Farmington toad-strangler last Wednesday - 0.33" here, 3.24" to 3.35" there.

Only 0.02", least water from a nearby TC that I can recall, but genny had to run 4:10-6:40 PM. Some road blockages here and there, including a falling tree causing a fire in the lines near Hammond Lumber in Farmington, closing Rt 2 for a while. From 2-5 PM the wind was 25G40 here with impressive roaring. Was surprised that only small branches were the only damage near the house. Highest gusts were similar to those in a decent TS (none this year) but 3 hours of it is harder on the trees than 3-4 gusts.