tamarack

The farm country in central Aroostook is closer and that area has some Midwest-type blizzards. (Not this year so far, however.)

I've occasionally done the 10 readings for individual storms but doing it for pack depth in a place like Maine with snow atop snow would resemble the physicist's uncertainty principle - all that tromping thru the snow affecting the depth. I place the stake at the same spot in our garden plot and stay away from it, to avoid that affecting. I suppose if one could separate the 10 spots by 50+ feet and avoid old tracks during the next measurement . . . Too complicated for me. Pack grew to 13" this morning, back to 11 now.

Forecast language included "1 to 3 feet, life-threatening conditions". We got 10.3" of 6:1 heavily rimed flakes with temp mostly <20° and strong wind. Almost nobody in New England had a lower total. Great storm, great season, tall pack (Farmington co-op depth went from a trace in late January to 56" in March) but at our Gardiner home the Superstorm was less than spectacular.

3.4"/0.25" here, patches of blue and trees are emptying. The high ratios continue. Long term here it's very close to 10:1 while seasons have ranged from 12.4 down to 7.1, but this snow season is currently at 14.2. Without the Jan 25-27 fluff (19.6" with ratio 25:1) it would be about 12:1, still AN. We'll reach the Ides with only 0.71" precip (March avg 3.71") as BN continues to rule. Maybe Mon-Tues 1-2", would bring the month closer to the average. (Would likely push the Sandy River to bank full, maybe higher if ice jams form.)

Jeff's first 18" event was 9.5" more than here and he's 4.2" ahead since Jan 31. Other than that, we're running about at climo, with the foothills about 15% higher than LEW. As for summer, we had some hot days, including only our 2nd official heat wave on August 11-13, but as climate is warming our convective SVR seems waning. Last year we had but 5 days with thunder, 3 fewer than any other year and 1/3 of average. Also haven't had significant effects from a TC since Floyd in 1999 or a real rain and blow since Bob.

We were in PA for a family reunion when the mid-20s morning hit on May 18, 2023, but somehow we avoided serious damage. Our quinces and apples generally have peak blossoms in the May 15-25 period and last year they were right on time. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't - 19-25 had potentially over 100 hours of sunlight but that week had less than 30 minutes in total, and the average maxima was 50.6, which was 16° BN with nearly 3" of cold RA. The poor pollinators were absent for the most part until long after blossom peak, so fruit set was awful for the quinces and 2 of the 3 apples, barely reaching mediocre for the 3rd. Those few fruits had all the nutrients, however, for some of the biggest and nicest we've grown (though few and far between). 2010 was a different disaster, with Feb/Mar/April way AN (all 3 our mildest here) and blossoms were peaking by May 8-10. Then 11-13 had minima 23 to 26 and killed essentially every blossom, also torched the new growth on ash, maple, even some oak. The trees set new buds and shoots but used a lot more energy than in a normal growing season.

The 2002 Christmas night storm was forecast 8-12" here and verified at 1". Belgrade Village, less than 10 miles southeast, had 8", parts of AUG had 15" and GYX 18", their biggest on record until Feb 2013, still in 3rd place.

2001, 2007, 2020, 2024 averaged 35" after the equinox. Doesn't last nearly as long, but quite wintry. Add 1982 for the most "wintry" April storm for the Northeast in the past century or longer.

We were taking our daughter to PWM for her flight to PHL, so we'd have missed even if we tried. (And the snow in PHL and Harrisburg canceled her flight. She and a couple dozen fellow 'refugees' are overnighting in the secured section of the airport, and will catch the 5:20 AM flight to DCA thence to PHL, probably on a 2nd airplane. Fortunately, she had no checked baggage.) Sandy River was up thanks to yesterday's warmth, but nothing serious. If we get an inch-plus at 50° on Monday, could be some excitement. Ice cover should still be thick and solid, and a 3-mile jam formed from Farmington Falls to the head of rapids in New Sharon last December during ice-in.

2000-01 had one of the best packs we've had here, especially late - 48" OG at my 9 PM obs time on March 31. Even Fort Kent (avg winter 134" in our 10 years there) never entered April with that much. 2004-05 was back loaded here as well. Thru the first week of February we'd not had a single event of 4"+, which is ridiculous for a locale that averages almost 90"/year. Then we had 60" in the next 31 days, 2/10 thru 3/13, to finish at 94.3". 2002-03 has similarities with this winter: lots of suppressed events, one big storm and little else of note, and cold. That season had 13.8" on Jan 3-4 and nothing else greater than 7" (and that came in November), finishing more than 20" BN. This winter it's 19.6" on Jan 25-27 and nothing else beyond 8.5", though that #2 event came on Christmas Eve and provided loads of fun for the grandkids. Their previous Christmas visit, in 2023, failed to show them a single flake or snow pile until they were headed home on Dec 30.

Mid 60s yesterday, mid 30s today. At least the IP/ZR didn't materialize. Thursday's quick warm-up appears to be off the table as we're heading into a string of messy events, apparently none strong.

Thru February it's B for temps and C+ for snow. We're slightly BN for snowfall season-to-date but the Jan fluff bomb rates the plus. A slight ding for the Feb blizzard when 2-4" forecast verified at 0.2". We were never in the game for the real event.

By 3 days. They hit 85 on 3/13/1990. Their 78 on Feb 21, 2018 might be even more anomalous, but today is only the 15th day they've reached 80 or warmer in the month of March, POR from 1/1/1869 so it's March #157 there.

65 here above 12" pack, but almost no wind and 100% sun. Earliest time we've gone above 60 prior to March 18, when the 2012 heat blast arrived.

Got enough teeny "flakes" to almost cover the ground, but our daughter's flight PHL-PWM came right on schedule.