tamarack

We moved to Maine in January of 1973 but we're still "from away". One of the worst things a "flatlander" (yet another epithet for those born in another state) can do is to pretend one is a Mainer. However, I've almost never had any such terms thrown my way - folks have been quite accepting. PWM normal 1991-2020 is 68.8". However, the most recent 5 winters have failed to reach 60, though 2017-18 had 92.4. Cape Neddick is 1/3 of the way from PWM to BOX, so perhaps 10% (?) lower snowfall.

Where are you moving to? Hope it's not south coastal Maine - might get less snow there than at your current location.

It was probably my most frustrating snow season since moving to Maine, also the only winter in geologic time that CAR had less snow than BWI. The last Dodgers-Yankees WS was 1963, and we did quite nicely in NNJ the following winter.

Not even close up here. In 1947, PWM had recorded only 2.11" from July 24 thru October 28. It was their driest August since records began in 1920 and only the 0.26" on 10/29 kept that month from having only traces.

Right. Low was in the pre-dawn before clouds began to arrive and the high was at my 9 PM obs time. Afternoon was 15-20 with very light snow which changed to ZR/DZ in the evening, 0.5" frozen/0.05" LE. High for Jan 12 was about midnight, RA to flurries 6 AM, 29 at 8 AM, 15 at 4 PM and 4 at obs time. Winds NW 25-45. Another 0.5" SN and 0.50" LE. (All this is from written observations.)

10/18/01: 57/34 11/21/13: 47/17 At least one of the readings was correct. Greatest duirnal range I've seen is 59° on Jan 11, 1980 in Fort Kent, middle day of a major see-saw: 10/-30; 38/-21; 44/4.

But none in recent years. The 1947 fires in Maine came in October, as did a 3,000-acre fire in NNJ 16 years later. That latter event lasted for more than a month as fire burned underground in rocky land. Earlier in 1963 almost 200,000 acres burned in the NJ pine barrens (a fire-type ecosystem) on a windy Saturday in April. In 1977 Baxter Park saw a 3,000-acre fire following a blowdown 3 years before - gigantic fuel loading of highly seasoned wood. Fire was able to burn downhill at night, a very rare phenomenon. Since then, Maine has not seen a fire larger than 1,000 acres.

Slight difference in vegetation and ecosystems. SoCal has millions of acres of plants that have long been regenerated by fire. The Northeast, nasomuch, outside of places like the Pine Barrens of NJ and similar types on Long Island and Cape Cod. Even the lands in Maine torched by fire in 1947 mostly regenerated to species less prone to major wildfires. Temperatures are rising and heavy precip storms are increasing, but "110°" and "exponential" don't help the discussion.

Wind off Moosehead keeping Greenville mild (though all of the north is mild). Missed the 40° range by 2 - 66/28. Maybe today, as we had a frost and the afternoon should be warmer than yesterday. Edit: At 7 AM MLT and HUL had dropped into the 30s while Greenville is still 50.

About the same here. Can we bag a "40"?

In my experience, ticks seem to disappear in July and August, only to reappear in autumn - I've picked up a couple over the past 10 days but even the usually tick-y spring had relatively few. The public lands peer review field trip is usually in August, and in 2019 the trip was in southern Maine - Newcastle, Swan Island (with its super abundant deer population), Hebron and Skowhegan. There were about 40 of us on that 2-day excursion and AFAIK not one tick was seen. In contrast, I was remeasuring growth plots on a state lot in Topsham, mid-October 2020, and picked up 26 deer ticks - was flicking them out the window as I drove up I-295.

Easy to see some non-radiators in Maine (AUG, FVE, CAR) - all hilltop APs. Greenville (47) radiates well once the lake freezes but Moosehead's temp is probably mid 50s and a light NW air acts like a sea breeze.

Sarcasm? Those 5 include Boston's 7th least snowy (88-89) and their 4 worst snow winters. And 73-74 there had no measurable until Jan 3.

SDDs have been holding up okay here, but our wooded site holds snow well. Last winter's low SDDs were due to both warmth and having 42% of its snow after the equinox, an SDD killer. All by itself, 23-24 lowered our running 5-year SDDs from 110% to 84%. (Dropping 18-19, 2nd highest and 196% of average, was a bigger factor than last winter's 67%.) 22-23 had 117% SDDs and the 3 winters 16-17 thru 18-19 averaged 158%. Temps are definitely rising and at some point we'll average consistently lower SDDs, but I'm not sure if it's now.

1976 having MWN's earliest continuous snow cover is not much of a surprise. In my 45 years as a forester, only 2 autumns passed into frozen ground logging without a fall mud season, 1976 and 2013. October 1976 had BN temp, especially during the 2nd half, then November averaged 11°, MWN's coldest. In 2013, October was 3° AN (but dry) and had only 7.4" snow - no chance. November '13 was BN with abundant snow but too late; continuous cover began during its first week.

I hope they can find some hair or scat, so to confirm whether it's a wild animal or a captive lion whose owner got tired of tossing 2 Benjamins/week to feed it.

Just had to look. I found 3 years in which October pack persisted, the earliest start date coming in 1976 when measurable cover began on 10/14. MWN's coldest November helped keep the snow. October 2005 had 78.9" and the depth reached 32", but late November warmth melted it all, with Dec 1-2 w/o measurable.

Another 20s morning here, but several degrees less cold than yesterday. Oak (Northern red) leaves finally turning, reddish-brown as usual.

Check out the NNE Cold Season thread - lots of pics and data.

No doubter this morning, 26° with thick frost and a 1/16" skim on the water in the washtub. Almost time to empty the thing and store it. Saw 23 at IZG.

32 again this morning. We've touched 32 twice without seeing a frost but yesterday's 33 included a windshield-scraper morning. Nanoclimate?

It was almost a year after data stopped (last day was 10/15/22) before the instrument shelter was removed. There wasn't all that much snow in the mountains going into the 12/18/23 event though what was there augmented the 4-5" RA. A year earlier we had a 3" rainstorm on 12/23 but the 22" dump a few days earlier soaked it up, leaving a 12" pack here while the 4" going into 12/18/23 vanished in a flash. The '22 rain came with 30s and 40s while 12/18/23 had mid 50s, and also a 2.3" rain a week earlier. That doesn't deny anything you wrote, just that 12/23 was a different animal.

Can you recall 2005? As May that year was awful, so were the fall colors. They came late, were dull yellow-brown, and as they approached peak a 3-day northeast storm (6" worth) tore down 80% of the leaves. There was no peak. This year was a bit early and had more reds around the house than usual (reds are generally scarce here) though the peak was short (but quite nice), with many leaves dropping Oct 4-6. Except for oaks and a few holdouts, it's stick season here.

Some change numbers for a rural site are below. The Farmington co-op records began in 1893 and ended halfway thru October 2022 when the volunteer's health prevented his taking measurements and no one picked up the torch. (Very sad because this site has the most complete records for any Maine co-op I've found that dates from the 19th century. Only eleven months are missing and just one month after 1913.) Up until September of 1966 the obs sites (several) were all in the town center. After that the site was 1.5 miles north of the center in a rural setting - one 2-lane road with scattered houses and with forest to the east, ag fields on the flood plain to the west. The numbers below are changes in temperature from the 1970s to the 2010s. ('60s omitted because 2/3 were in town, '20s omitted because only 2.8 years of obs, though the temperature rise was continuing.) 2010s temps minus 1970s temps Year DJF DJFM JJA MAX 1.78 2.76 2.97 0.27 MIN 4.53 8.06 6.61 2.75 MEAN 3.08 5.41 4.58 1.51 Those cold season changes are shocking. (But it's only one site)

My wife had to scrape frost from the windshield at 7 AM, so colder on our driveway than at the max-min 15 feet away. It may be because the tall lilac next to the instrument still has most of its leaves.