tamarack

6.5 Creedmoor - going to be a "beanfield hunter" now, looking for those 500-yard shots?

Yesterday's 21/4 was the first true winter cold this season - my threshold is 50 HDDs. Still flake-free since the flurry/squall on Dec. 1, but my old NNJ hometown reported 2.5" this morning.

Saw a cocorahs report of 2.5" in Kinnelon.

Bare ground in the western Maine foothills.

In our area it was a meh 1st half of winter and a weenie's dream 2nd half. Both my (then) residence in Gardiner and the Farmington co-op had only patches OG in late January. Then we had 84" at our place from Jan 29 thru March 24, with 31" pack after the Superstorm (despite us getting "only" 10.3" from 1.70" LE thanks to a warm tongue producing gritty stuff). That 31" was the greatest depth in our 13 winters at Gardiner. Farmington recorded 97" in Feb/March and their "T" depth climbed to 56", tied (with 1971) for their 2nd greatest pack in the 82 winters with depth records. We'll watch SNE get some white stuff while we finally have some seasonal cold.

Maybe for frequency, but the bigger storms are in SNE (or up in The County). Three most recent winters, biggest snowfalls: Season BOS BDL ORH MBY 2019-20 7.1 12.0 17.0 10.3 2020-21 12.7 16.9 16.5 9.6 2021-22 23.8 7.2 14.7 12.4 Four cutters in 11 days. Is some suppression the next act?

Still forecasting at GYX, but hardly ever posting here.

When we lived in Fort Kent, those -30 and colder nights would set the drywall nails to popping. In more recent construction the drywall is fastened with screws, which probably reduces the percussion symphony.

Last time I saw a winter storm do that was 1/1/2010. It then camped and rotted over Sable Island for months and wrecked winter throughout Maine - the winter when BWI had 7" more than CAR.

My arthritic knees are long past skiing, but you've brought back memories of Glen Ellen, the only big mountain I've skied. Learned parallel there during a ridiculously cheap ski week package in Jan 1971 - lifts and daily lessons for 5 days, for 22.50, half their usual ski week price. Stayed at the "Bagatelle" in Waitsfield, bunks with mattress, bring your own bag, $3/night. Probably spent <$75 including gas from NNJ. I'd borrowed dad's camera and ran 2 rolls, only to find that the shutter had broken 7 pics into roll #1, so I "had" to go back in Jan '72 to get the pics. I still kick myself, gently, for not trying Upper FIS on the last run - steep, mogul-y but really wide with good snow and nobody else on it so I could've picked a back-and-forth line and counted coup at the bottom. The one trail I would never have tried was Scotch Mist, under the upper mountain lift - just as steep as FIS but about 1/5 the width and those steel obstacles down the middle. I don't think more than 2-3 skiers had run it during my 2nd visit, a Sat/Sun.

A shot in the dark: ORH 70 BOS 40 PVD 34 BDL 50 BDR 33 PSF 60 ALB 70. BVT 75 CON 58 PWM 53 CAR 120 KGINX 48 KRAY 58 KDIT 55 HUBB 70. DXR 44. NYC 27 TAN 45 GON 32 AUG 70 DRYSLOT 70 MITCH HOUSE 160 NEW SHARON 82

Did you find someone to record AUG snow? The AP stopped reporting i years ago. Edit: If Jeff, AUG and CAR all hit your targets, it would take a really weird pattern to keep my area under 100.

My dad was deferred due to his occupation, despite turning 25 on 1/1/42. As an electrical engineer for ITT, whatever he was doing at their Nutley, NJ facility must've been really important. I think it may have involved remote sensing.

Or 12 - he's only a few months younger than me.

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.