tamarack

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.

How can it become colder than the surrounding temp? Disclosure: I still depend on the old max-min instrument and have little understanding of how those remotes work.

"Lower" was understatement - that 2nd inch, heavily rimed flakey things plus some IP, had 0.21" LE for 5:1, ratio for total storm 7:1. Still some dz, temp right around the freezing mark.

2" here but not much happening now (11:15). 1st inch, measured at 7 AM, had 14:1 ratio. 2nd one was tiny, rimed flakes, likely a much lower ratio. Current temp 31, up 2° from the 7 AM reading.

About 2" here, with a few tiny, rimed things still coming down. No tracks yet in the woods after a wet 2 hours this morning, though flushed partridges walking in and walking out. Yesterday at 4 PM heard 3 very loud shots, evenly spaced at an interval about what I'd do with my pump .30-06, definitely at the tree stand for which I'd given permission. Walked most of the way in 45 minutes later to see what happened, heard/saw nothing though the 2 pickups were still parked roadside. (If I'd thought to bring a flashlight I'd have continued but didn't wish to walk too close at late twilight when my blaze orange would look gray.) My guess is they thought/knew they'd hit the deer and were tracking it, as if the critter had been quickly on the ground I'd have heard/seen the guys dragging it out. Maybe - old saying is, "One shot, probable. Two shots, possible. Three shots, waste of ammunition."

When Angus King was Governor, he often hyped Canadian tourism in Maine and even joked about seceding and joining our northern neighbor so we could be "the Florida of Canada".

When we told our NJ family/friends that we were moving from BGR to northern Maine (Fort Kent), some asked whether "northern Maine" was north of Portland. Our reply - Portland is almost halfway there.

Was still breezy at 11 last evening when I was out with the dog, and evidently didn't calm down until too late, so the low here was 22, just 2° BN. That's coldest of the season but we're the farthest into fall without seeing 20° or lower here, 25 years POR. Not often we're 7° milder than IZG. Yesterday the afternoon max was 34 with gusts to 30, feeling extra sharp after the muggy 60s. Snow trend is moving in the wrong direction, too. Yesterday afternoon Farmington was shown with 58% chance of 4"+. This morning it's 24%. I won't be surprised if the current 1-3" forecast turns out to 1/2" of gray mush.

Same here - blink and you'll miss them. Whiteness on the top 500' of 3100-ft Mt Blue, NW from Farmington, and The Horn (part of Saddleback massif) is blocked from view by stuff in the air.