tamarack

93-94 was 3rd snowiest of my 13 winters in Gardiner but had by far the best pack, plus the coldest January. Top 5: 1. 1960-61 (NNJ): 100"+, 3 storms 18-24", NJ record depths. 2. 1983-84 (Fort Kent): Biggest pack I've seen, most strong storms, 26.5" March dump, biggest snowfall. 3a. 1976-77 (Fort Kent: 186.7", 2nd tallest pack 3b. 1981-82 (Fort Kent): 185.8", coldest WCI [1/18/82], April blizzard (vies with 2/3-4/61 for most impactful snowstorm - NYC schools reopened on 2/13). 5. 2007-08 (New Sharon): 142.3", huge SDDs. 2 storms/week much of Dec-Feb. Honorable mentions: 1957-58 (NNJ): 18" Feb blizzard, 24" paste bomb on the equinox; 2016-17 (New Sharon): 127.5", 2 storms of 21" plus 15.5" in the Pi Day blizzard.

Jan 1-15, 2014: Temp 22.9/0.3/11.6 (5.1 BN), Precip 3.46" (1.68" AN), Snow 2.1" (7.2" BN) Month finally had more snow than precip - 5.1" vs 3.77". 2nd least snowy January at the Farmington co-op, POR Jan 1893 thru Sept 2022. Dec 1973 (at BGR): 9.50" precip, 7.9" SN. At 6 PM on 12/17 we had RA+ and 56° with 50 mph SE gusts. Same time NYC had 25° and ZR while my parents' place (where I'd lived until Jan 73) had 15 and IP.

Popped up there at 1 PM, probably because they had more sun than CAR had thought. Felt like September here as the max was 15°+ AN. I put on 30 after I turned 35 happened quick lol Six weeks before turning 35 in late January, I needed a walking cast for a non-displaced break on my lower leg. (Don't fight with logging trucks.) February thru early April generally required the most snowshoe mileage and I would lose weight during that time. The cast and rehab kept me off the webs for 8-9 weeks, but I kept eating the usual amount and gained over 15 pounds.

0.41" here, taking the pack down to 8". Currently in the 40s, probably pushing the pack down another 1-2". The lack of sustained cold can be discouraging - the cold blast of early Feb 2023 lasted less than 36 hours even after setting a new WCI at MWN. However, the cold spell as 2017 went into 2018 was worthy of northern Aroostook - only 7 years ago.

Here we get siggy snow from Miller A's about as frequently as thundersnow. Just look back to last week when it showed the mid Atlantic getting 40" of snow on the 22nd. The NNJ town where I grew up had 3" overnight. Only 37" to go.

You had white ground last Christmas, 7 days after the torch-deluge? The 4 major SNE sites show not a flake over that period, as does Norfolk in the CT hills. Up here we had a dusting on 12/13 but otherwise had nary a flake from 12/6 thru the 29th. (However, we had 7.21" RA during that period.)

My "Grinch list" includes those w/o snow OG. Current score is 16 rainy Grinches, 4 with rain but bare ground, one with warmth but no snow or rain, and a lowly 5 with no Grinch storms/wx. Over the 26 years, the period Dec 23-25 has run 3° AN and except for the best non-Grinch (8" and cold on Christmas 2017) there's been scant snowfall.

We only have a tree when the grandkids are here for Christmas, every 2nd year, and it's set up on the front porch - with 11 people in a small house there's no place to put it unless we yanked the Jotul out from its corner. Always get a tree from our woodlot, though last year it was the top from one of the many trees blown from the lot and onto the powerlines on 12/18. Genny ran for 101 hours, longest outage for me since Jan 1953 (6 days, NNJ ice storm).

Our Lab mix quickly learned to love the snow (other than the Pi-Day blizzard in 2017, which spooked her big time). However, the "mix" failed to include "retriever" and she doesn't like the (liquid) water. Our black Lab (2003-16) would be in any water, any season, any conditions.

CAR has 43 for tomorrow's high at PQI.

We had 5 storms worth 45.0" in 10 days, 2/7-16/2017. Our Lab mix thru Maine Lab Rescue arrived (from TX) on the 4th - quite the shock for her! Bath co-op recorded 16" from the freak band in mid-December 2020.

Pit2 is in Bath, northern part of town and right on the Kennebec estuary.

Near zero this morning in still air.

MBY is in the center of a 18-20 jack, which guarantees that it won't verify. Cloudless blue here. If the clouds stay away, our frost pocket should go subzero tonight.

Wednesday's rain has washed that stuff at least to LEW, maybe farther.

Hey, that movie's theme was a winter resort about to go bankrupt due to lack of snow - 70+ years ago (until the sappy happy ending). Still 9" of ironclad at the stake, probably 3" or more SWE. If that gets Grinched to brown ground, there would be some flood headlines.

I'm sure it's official co-ops, and a big report like that would be subject to QC. The early Feb storm in 2021 included a 35" report from Mt. Arlington but the checking dropped that to upper 20s. (That site still had more snow in Feb than I had for the entire season. Not a good look.)

Yes!! Mea culpa. Interesting week at Central Park, too. 28 24 0.2 3 31 11 0.3 3.5 11 -2 0 0 7 -6 0 0 9 -2 0 0 9 4 0.23 5.5 11 6 0.47 10.5

State's greatest snowfall, 34", was at Cape May (which has the lowest average snowfall of any NJ town). It was part of the Feb 1989 blast that also notched a -2 at Tallahassee, FL's only subzero temp.

Afternoon high was -16 that day in Fort Kent, with gusts into the 40s.

Shows the north's sharp cutoff. Forecast here was 8-12", verified at 1". Belgrade Village had 8", GYX 18". Christmas 2017 brought 8" of powder but I don't recall that much wind. Best Christmastime storm for me was 12/24/66, 15" with visibility down to 100 yards, and thunder.

Event total 1.97". Our trip to PWM (wife's procedure, which went well) gave us the craziest temp rollercoaster I can recall. We had the warm front three separate times plus an elevational crack of the inversion. The sequence (car temps only before 8 PM): 11 AM: Leave for PWM, 33 with ZR, 0.10" accretion. 1 PM: Arrive PWM, 36 with RA 3 PM: Leave PWM, 55 RA breezy. About 2:15 the 4th floor windows suddenly fogged. WE #1 4:10 PM: West Gardiner toll plaza, 52 and RA Nine miles north: Panera Bread, AUG, 36 and RA 4:45 PM: 5 miles north from Panera, 50 with RA, dense fog WF #2 4:50 PM: Another 3 miles. 37 with RA, fog 5:15 PM: Belgrade Village, 34 with RA 5:30 PM: Top of Mile Hill 500' higher than Village, 44 with RA, dense fog. Hit inversion 5:40 PM: back home 400' lower than previous note, 33 and RA 8 PM: 35 with RA, wind arrives shortly after 9 PM: 50 with wind and RA WF #3 Note: Both the car temp and the indoor reading from outside are a bit milder than the max/min.

We paid $1,150 last May to have an arborist safely cut a 70' tall, 20" diameter rotten-centered basswood with a heavy lean toward our house. The stump is 20' from the back porch and the 3/4 cord of low heat value wood went thru the stove in Oct-Nov. Still lightly glazed twigs but I think it's plain RA now.

Lawyerphobia.

Beech has been suffering from beech bark syndrome (exotic scale insect plus exotic fungus) for more than a century. Beechnuts are the premier hard mast in Maine's northerly half, especially for bear. Big beechnut crop means lots of new cubs showing up in the spring. Another exotic moving into new places is balsam wooly adelgid, now being found far from the usual coastal infestations. By number of trees (including seedlings/saplings), balsam fir is Maine's most abundant tree. That species plus red spruce, backbone of Maine lumber production, are also vulnerable to the warming climate.