tamarack

Temp reached 40 today after 9 straight maxima in the 30s. Open ground is bare, forested land still white.

We have 10 feet of gutter. It's on the front porch, which is open to the air, and over the front steps. It limits the drip/freeze on the steps, but thaws/freezes do fill it with ice. October here was 1.8° AN and November is currently running 2.0° BN. The November departure will likely be less but will almost certainly stay BN. In 27 snow seasons, 6 have had AN Octobers and BN Novembers. All 6 had AN snow, ranging 90.4" to 142.3", and the average of 108.5" is exactly 20.0" above the current average.

Farther north (Jersey Highlands) we had 7 events of 18-24" from March 1956 thru February 1961, the greatest run of big dumps I've seen anywhere. Five of those were cold powder, with temps low teens to low 20s. Closest is probably Nov 2014 thru March 2018, with 6 storms 15.5-21" plus 2 with 13". A shorter run, Feb 2007 thru Feb 2009, had 4 events 15.5-24.5". Oddly, the snowiest of those 3 winters, 07-08, had nothing over 12.5" and ony 2 in double digits.

We lived about 25 miles northeast from Long Valley. My maternal grandparents had a house in LV (primary home was Glen Ridge) and we would make frequent visits to mow the 3/4-acre lawn (1950s-60s), usually finding 2-3 yellowjacket nests per mowing. Occasionally we'd stop for a feast at Larison's Turkey Farm, long since closed.

I lived in the Jersey Highlands 1950 to 1971, and never saw anywhere near that many oak leaves in the latter half of November. Oaks and Maples were the most common of the many tree species in the forests near home, mid-aged as most land there had been grazed into the late 1800s. Oaks I remember (long before forestry school so some guesswork) were Northern red, black, pin, white, swamp white and where glaciers had scraped the hilltops, chestnut oak. I'm confident that several other oak species were also in the mix.

We had bare ground in December in 2 of 9 at Fort Kent, and even with the sun out, we would drive with the headlights on by 3 PM. In rain, the gloom came even earlier.

The washtub had a bit over 1" ice when I dumped it yesterday (before the ice would get thick enough to split the seams, like our last one), though some was gray ice from Sunday's snow. The old stock pond probably has close to 2" after this morning.

Low here was 14, coldest of the season by 6° but nothing special for November. Median for November's lowest is 8, range is 17 (twice) and -4. Pure blue and no wind this morning.

Dryslot: Pretty chilly this morning, 17F, Not fake. Only got down to 20 here - wind must've lasted a few hours longer. Not many autumns where you got below 20 before this rad pit. Even Tip got into the teens first.

07-08 is the nearest to a W2W winter I've experienced south of Fort Kent, and even that one had a very mild week in January, as 7-13 averaged 17° AN and the 8th was +26, greatest AN day we've had in Jan. Fortunately, that thaw had no accompanying deluge.

And semis on the rocks in Chain of Ponds. Addressing the 2002-03 and 2003-04 question: 02-03 was great in SNE but cold and dry here - suppression. Total snow was 75% of average and it's one of only 3 (of 27) winters without a 20"+ month. 03-04 was front-loaded here. The storms of Dec 6-7 and 14-15 totaled 37.1". the rest of the snow season had only 35.5".

It's rare farther north, too. Using the (late lamented) Farmington Maine co-op, with 129 winters from 1893-94 thru 2021-22, only 4 times did all 4 "snow months" exceed the average, 1922-23, 1962-63, 1968-69 (their top winter with 164") and 2007-08. Only the 2 earliest had 20"+ in all 4 months. (The DJFM averages, rounded to the inch, are 18/21/21/16. Avg winter 89.6".)

Fort Kent snow probably settled some. ...Aroostook County... 3 WNW Blaine 10.3 in 0636 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter 2 SSW Easton 9.0 in 0445 AM 11/17 NWS Employee 2 SSE Castle Hill 8.9 in 0700 AM 11/17 COCORAHS 3 NW Monticello 7.8 in 0507 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter 1 WNW Ashland 7.7 in 0708 AM 11/17 1 NW Presque Isle 7.5 in 0803 AM 11/17 NWS Employee 4 SW Stockholm 7.0 in 0830 AM 11/17 Public 2 ENE Presque Isle 7.0 in 0830 AM 11/17 Public 1 WSW Madawaska 6.8 in 0454 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter Fort Kent 1 SE 6.5 in 0700 AM 11/17 COOP Caribou NWS 6.0 in 0700 AM 11/17 COOP 1 SE Fort Kent 6.0 in 0715 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter Perham 6.0 in 0800 AM 11/17 Public 4 NNE Caribou 5.8 in 0715 AM 11/17 NWS Employee 2 NE Fort Fairfield 5.0 in 0601 AM 11/17 NWS Employee 1 NNW Macwahoc 5.0 in 0745 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter 4 NW Caribou 3.8 in 0630 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter 4 WSW Fort Fairfield 3.5 in 0715 AM 11/17 Trained Spotter Houlton 3.3 in 0836 PM 11/16 Trained Spotter 1 WNW Caribou 3.2 in 0919 PM 11/16 NWS Employee Frenchville 3.0 in 0500 PM 11/16 Public Van Buren 1 NNE 3.0 in 0630 AM 11/17 COOP 4 SE Washburn 2.0 in 0500 PM 11/16 Trained Spotter

Tops I saw on cocorahs was 8.9", between Ashland and PQI. The Fort Kent pic looks more like 6-7.

Had 2.4" from 0.33" LE yesterday. 1.6" by 7 AM, hours of DZ (some freezing) then 0.8" mid-aft, most between 3-4 PM. Nice to have "real" cover, though I don't expect things to remain white this month.