tamarack

As May 2026 expired while we were in SNJ, I'll put its history here. Some data are averages from nearby sites, though the 31 on 5/31 is a certainty. Avg max: 63.9 0.8 BN Warmest was 86, on the 19th. Avg min: 39.2 0.8 BN Coolest was 26, on the 4th and 9th. Mean: 51.6 0.8 BN As both March and April were AN, met spring averaged 0.7 AN. Precip: 4.17" 0.20" AN. Wettest day; 1.40" on the 15th. May 2025 was also AN, but the 10 of the 11 months thru last April were BN. Nothing out of the ordinary this May. The 2nd and the 2nd from last were windy and cold (2nd had some IP as well) but beyond those 2 days, little was particularly memorable.

Those 3 1954 storms all had names of my relatives - cousin, aunt, great aunt chronological. Carol was nothing I can remember, probably some rain at our NNJ home. Edna was mostly dry. We flew kites in its breezes. Hazel had wind in NNJ comparable to Bob in central Maine, dumping some trees and plastering our home with pieces of tough October leaves.

Returned from our SNJ week last evening - #2 granddaughter's recital (plays flute/piano) and HS graduation, also saw the dress rehearsal of her school's mounting of "Annie". She had her blond hair dyed auburn as she played Annie. Got stuck in stop'n'go from south of Lowell nearly to Haverhill, no AC, car temp 89-90. 1,136 total miles. Last Saturday we had wind tossing twigs from the sycamores and temp topping about 65 - norm there for 5/30 is 78-80. While we were away, our temp ranged from 31 (late frost, perhaps Sunday morning?) to 84 (probably yesterday), and 1.02" rain.

Maybe we got more than most - gusts to 60, scattered tree damage (some falling on SE winds, some on back side NW winds), and 6.41", greatest calendar day I've experienced. It looms bigger because the following 43 years have provided only dreck for TCs.

Morning discussion from GYX noted 0°C or colder 850s and the possibility of some graupel and/or snow at elevations this weekend. Sunny 70s here today.

Rain shut off right at noon, 0.87" total. Need about 1/2" to reach the May average. Thought things would clear but there's been more clouds than sun this afternoon.

31 this morning, light frost and no damage to the fruit tree blossoms. Median here for spring's latest frost is 5/23 - might hit that tomorrow morning (low chance). Deep blue this morning, leaf development has leaped from <25% to >75% since last Friday - instant spring.

That had been my thinking. When I vertically inserted the snow shovel, I could see it 3-4" into the stuff - not really surprising for snow that's 98.6% air.

From 7 AM thru 1:30 PM on Jan 26, we enjoyed some of the prettiest, and slowest falling (<2 ft/sec) feathers we've seen - 6.0" in 6.5 hours. Walking on that 6" was like walking on air; I figured that the 6" had less than 0.2" LE and was shocked that it melted to only 0.08", or 75:1. Twice I've had storms of 4.5" with just 0.10" LE, 45:1, and once a 1" dusting had only 0.01", but 6" at 75:1 was something I thought impossible. Jan 25-27 data: 25: 2 -13 0.17" 2.0" 15" 26: 10 -1 0.55" 17.0" 28" (peaked at 30") 27: 15 -4 0.05" 0.6" 25

Maybe scratch out the 2nd thru 5th words?

Even though we finished a couple inches below our average and missed the 2nd blizzard (0.2" - OceanStwx thanked me for establishing the north cutoff ), it was still a plus winter. Most sustained cold since 18-19, good retention, 8.5" on 12/24 plus the Jan 25-27 fluff bomb, 19.6" from 0.77" LE. Can't label it as blizzard as there was very little wind.

Time to plant veggies, which usually means bye-bye rain. Happens about 2/3 of years, with the other 3rd like 2005. Or 2025 - 9 straight cloudy days 5/17-25 and 19-25 temps were 50.6/40.4 (that max is 16° BN) with no sun. Pollinator punishment. Yesterday's 16° AN (82/57) brought the month's temp right up to the average.

The Brunswick tornado was a brief ER-0 event about 4 miles SW from town center, and did minor damage. The Phippsburg tornado formed just past noon about 15 miles SE from the first one. It was an EF-1 with winds to 100 mph, tracking 3.8 miles with width to 75 yards. Many trees were blown down and several buildings damaged, but no injuries were reported. Meanwhile 65 miles north, we had moderate snow and 20s at the same time. Day's data: 27° 14° 0.39" 3.8" The snow fell straight down, barely a breath of wind. The official report: A pair of waterspouts/tornadoes moved northward from the Gulf of Maine during the early afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. The waterspouts/tornadoes formed along a warm frontal boundary that was associated with an area of low pressure which was bringing snow to much of the state of Maine. The first waterspout/tornado moved ashore over the southern tip of the Phippsburg peninsula near Bald Head, crossed Small Point, moved over The Branch, went ashore again on Hermit Island, lifted, reformed over Tottman Cove, and then went ashore once again near West Point. The second tornado/waterspout reportedly touched down as a waterspout south of Brunswick in Middle Bay, then moved ashore near the northern end of Mere Point Neck, moved back over water at the northern end of Maquoit Bay, then moved back over land and crossed Bunganug Road before dissipating.

Looks like EWR has that 97. Warmth reached into Aroostook - HOU 82 at 2 PM, was 84 earlier. Didn't get to northern ARO - FVE tops at 53 with RA.

April 28, 2009 hit 89, tops for that year. In 28 years, we've had two months tying on 3 occasions and in 2010 the warmest (88°) was reached 5 times - May, July(2), August and September, hence the fractions below: APR: 1 MAY: 3.2 JUN: 10 JUL: 9.4 AUG: 3.7 SEP: 0.7 Hottest here of 93 occurred on July 3 and September 9, 2002. Low of 44, now approaching 80, but clouds have dimmed the sun. We've gone from 5% leaf-out on Friday to 50% now and climbing; might be the quickest leaf-out I've seen.