tamarack

Also lowering crude $$$ - under $80 for American earlier this week and a bit over $80 elsewhere.

My wife left for Florida (visiting her sister) during a BGR snowsquall about 12:40 this afternoon. Ground is white here again, sort of, thanks to a late morning squall (only 0.1") while we were at the AP.

Storm total 1.40", 0.07" of which came after my obs time last evening. Novie numbers: Avg temp: 37.0° +3.5 and 3rd mildest of 25 here. Avg max: 46.5° +4.1 and 2nd highest Avg min: 27.5° +3.0 and 3rd highest Precip: 4.47" +0.20 3rd consecutive AN month, 1st triplet since 12/15-2/16. Year remains 2.95" BN. 1.33" on 11/30 was the wettest day. Snowfall: 2.3" Exactly half the avg. 2.2" fell on 11/16 and at least 1" hung around until the 11/30 storm obliterated it. That storm began with 0.1" mix. 2nd highest available November sunshine, next to last Novie. The month was most remarkable by its first 13 days and then the abrupt change. 1-13: 60/36 +11 14-25: 34/20 -5 And also by the early month's very mild days: The 58° low on 11/6 is 6° above any previous November minimum and that day's mean of 63.5° tops #2 by 5.5°. 3rd highest November mean is 11/12/22. 11/7/22 at 56.5° is tied for 4th mildest and 53.5° on 11/5 is 9th. The 52° on the 1st is only tied for 14th. The +26° of 11/6/22 is highest positive departure by 3.4°; only the -26.5° departure of 11/22/18 is greater.

Northern fringe for Maine, 4" in Farmington. We had 18" at our NNJ home and 12/13 was the firearms deer season opener. Dad dropped a nice buck 250 yards from our house, then talked me thru field-dressing it, useful as I was alone when my first deer fell several years later. That storm came with temps in the low teens, quite cold for NJ snow. On 12/12 the NFL Giants were playing Wash in DC, with SN+ thru the 1st half and 8-10" pow OG for the 2nd. Actually saw (on TV, of course) the players digging thru the snow for a fumble. And then some insane cold in January 1982. Averaged -1.5 for the month in Fort Kent. Farmington co-op had 3.4°, their coldest month in 130 winters there. Jan 17-18 was the bottom for N. Maine: At 9 PM on 1/17 it was -29 with gusts 40+ and next morning -34 with gusts 35+ (and 2 mi visibility in SN-!). Those conditions hit -100 on the old WCI, -70s on the new. IT did make it up to -14 that afternoon.

So would I, though temps were AN in the north. I recorded 46" in 12/81 with temp +7.6. (Aroostook benefit, big snow, big AN temps, nice combo.) Farmington co-op had 33" and temp +1.8.

Sarcasm?

They should be okay after this one - New Sweden (NW from CAR) reported 8" OG and there's more in the woods above 1000' elev. However, another rain/thaw is forecast for Saturday and the early-next-week event is a p-type toss-up at present. Aroostook won't lose all its snow but may end up with a crusty mess, at least east of Rt 11.

Over to RA now after a tenth of snow. Drive to Farmington for mounting the snows was fine, roads have been treated.

WWA from GYX for inland southern/central Maine - light FR or FRDZ in the pre-dawn may make for a dicey commute. I get to drive my highway tires into town with the snows in the bed, fun. By the time the swap is done, things will probably have warmed up (and/or roads treated) to end the white-knuckle time.

Nasty-looking accident about 9:40 this morning in New Sharon. Mile Hill Road (aka Rt 27) was a sheet of black ice with passenger vehicles stuck in breakdown lanes both southbound (uphill) and northbound, plus a few still making progress. A semi with box trailer going north could not stop and took the ditch, sideswiping one of the still-moving cars. Then the cab swerved across into the southbound ditch, causing the box to swing 180° and leaving the rig like it was southbound and smashing into another two vehicles. A woman from one had gotten out and had to dive to the ground to avoid being hit, the box passing above her, another such driver away from vehicle getting hit with minor injury. I think there was another minor injury and maybe a fifth vehicle involved - the Sheriff's preliminary report, though lengthy was somewhat confusing, as was the whole incident. At about the same time, a southbound vehicle that had made it up the hill had less success headed down, rolling over. Officials from the Town of Rome blocked northbound traffic on Rt 27 at the Rt 225 intersection, closing off the 7 miles between there and Rt 2. A 3rd accident near that time had a rollover off Rt 2 near the New Sharon/Farmington line. Mile Hill has a long notorious history - its north slope a full mile and changes ~300' elevation in that span. It's dead straight but with a sharp right curve (for downhill cars) 50 yards from the bottom and it's not uncommon for drivers to lose it there, either hitting the corner too fast, or if southbound, trying to get a run for the hill. I'm confident there will be additional crash reports. Currently right about the freezing mark and some occasional light dz/zr.

"Usually" works better for most of NNE and for the mountains and far north, an earlier date would be proper. IP/ZR mix (mostly IP) reached here shortly before 9:30 with mid 20s, now all ZR and temp above 30 and climbing slowly. I imagine secondary roads are messy and our 4/10-mile gravel road is probably an ice rink as it's not been treated yet.

Our cat can get into most anything. Thanks for the warning. The chemical is quite powerful and is on the Forest Stewardship Council's Highly Hazardous Pesticides list. A few years back (before I retired), I had to check on FSC's opinions to ensure we (Parks and Lands) wouldn't lose our certification of sustainability for its use. Since it's applied on clothes, and it's done off-site, FSC said that use was fine - good thing given Maine's high per-capita Lyme disease rate and the extensive tick exposure common to field foresters.

Precip arrived about 9:15, mostly IP but with some ZR, temp 26 and this place holds onto the cold air better than many other low-altitude areas.

No, have not gotten into the permethryn routine - yet.

Thanks. My one-day record is 26, after a visit to the state lot in Topsham in Oct 2020.

Thanks. The tick population is to the point that when I come in from the woods, it's not "if" but "how many". They've long passed yellowjackets as my unfavoritest insect, despite my sting history from the latter being well over 100.

Some of it was fine, especially the appreciating of family and friends. Daughter, SIL and the grandkids are here and got to see snow for the first time this season, though it's a hard and slippery one inch, such that #1 grandson took a spill yesterday worth 4 stitches in his chin. He's all smiles today, however.

Pin oak? The ones planted in Farmington hold more brown leaves than any other trees. In other news, all the ticks I've carried finally had an effect. I'd been feeling quite blah for several days, then on Tuesday morning I had a dizzy spell that led to a meatwagon ride to the ER and loads of tests. Yesterday I learned that I was positive for anaplasmosis, so now I'm on doxycycline - same chemical used against Lyme (for which I was negative). More follow-up, but I was actually glad for the diagnosis, as at my age there could be many other possible (and less treatable) causes for my malaise.

50 birthdays since moving to Maine and 7.0" in 2001 is tops. We drove down to CON that day, and that area had 10"+. Can't recall any b'day snowstorms from my NNJ days, though we had 24" storms on 3/18-19/1956 and 3/20-21/1958. 1st was powder, 2nd was paste.

For temps, the 12-14 period was the change here - 12: 63/51; 13: 51/36; 14: 36/26. Nov 1-13 avg was 60/38. Since then, it's 34/22 and today will push that avg down a bit.

11-12 here despite the wind staying up late into the evening. Grandkids arrive tomorrow, no flakes yet in SNJ but they'll get to see the minimal cover (1") here, still hanging on.

Nov 1-13 ran 11° AN with the coolest max at 46. The past 6 days are a modest 4° BN with each day's max between 31 and 36. And our 25-year average temp for 1-13 is 5° higher than for 14-19.

After finally having a sub-20 morning (barely, 19°) yesterday, this morning was 5° lower. Saw 7° at PQI.

Having not lived in Aroostook since 1985, I'm probably not qualified to comment. Also, while I know what the "f" stands for (of course), I'm ignorant or have forgotten about the rest of the letters. In other news, the dz/frdz switched back to tiny snow grains about 3 PM.

Thanks to both of you. I doubt that's an issue for my glass tube max-min on plastic mount in a 3-sides protected spot.