tamarack

I was focused more on charting sensible wx than looking into forecast back then, for the most part. The 3 biggies in 60-61 I do recall hearing "4 inches or more" for each - for NYC. Can't recall any estimates for the surrounding counties.

The warming climate has hit March far more in SNE than the other 3 'big snow' months. 60-70 years ago when I was growing up in NNJ things were different. At Oak Ridge reservoir, near our place, the 12 winters 55-56 thru 66-67 averaged 57.1" and all 4 months were double digits, with March (15.6") at the top. That span had 34 events with 6"+, 13 of which had 10+ and 5 over 20. Three of those 5 bombs came in March, 21" in 56, 28" in 58 and 23.5" in 60. (One each in Jan/24"-Feb/27" 61)

My early '70s education at U.Maine had considerable info on individual tree health, including Alex Shigo's work, but the application is far more intensive for arborists. Foresters work with stands rather than individual trees, though a marked harvest is prepared tree by tree. But to end on a positive note, we just finished a project in NW Maine that permanently protected 3500 acres in the Mahoosucs. Most of it was paper company land and it will now be forever wild. Onward. Was that the Orbeton Stream tract or a more recent one, easement or purchase? Most such easements allow continued timber harvests but place constraints on the silviculture used. And having worked as a forester in the 'true' NW Maine - from T12R15 (Ninemile Bridge area) to Big Twenty - seeing the Mahoosucs referred to as NW Maine drew a chuckle. (I apologize.) Culturally, definitely; geographically, nope. Your posts on the subject are excellent.

Having had at least 6" of pack since Thanksgiving night, I'm confident that the ground under the current 19" is unfrozen. Under our driveway the frost is probably 3-4 feet deep. 3.5" from 0.34" LE, with a trace of FZDZ on top. Probably 5"+ in the pack now, about the median for 2/28 (though likely below average).

1st tiny flakes 8:50, 20 minutes later nothing. Have to go to Farmington for 10:30 appt - probably that's when it will be pounding.

But the following 6 winters made up for it. 49-50 thru 54-55 averaged 12.6", had one event 6"+ and average for winter's biggest 4.9" 55-56 thru 60-61 averaged 34.5", had 11 events 6"+, 6 events 11.6"+ (and a 9.9) and winter's biggest averaged 11.2".

8:30 and no flakes yet. GYX numbers for Farmington yesterday afternoon were 1 / 3 / 4 and the forecast was 3-5. This morning it's 3 / 7 / 9 and the forecast is 3-5. ??? All snow is good snow. (Except in 2010 )

Only thing that would mess with the ice before the equinox would be a big rain - ice itself would still be okay but the raised pond levels might make it impossible to get onto it.

Fort Kent season-stretcher frozen precip during our time there (1/1/76-10/25/85). Chronological: Sept 14, 1977: NE storm, slush in town, 1-2" >1000' near Allagash June 9, 1980: Flurries enough to almost cover the lawn, 1-2" west of Allagash. July 3, 1982: Showers and 30s at 600', probable slush at 970' Aug 26, 1982: Slushy flakes at 970' Other events before/after our tenure: June 17, 1964: 3" at Seven islands camp across the border from St.-Pamphile, PQ. SEPT 30, 1991: 3" at CAR, up to 5 on the hills around Fort Kent.

The worst 10" dump ever - 4:1 mashed potatoes that splattered on landing, mixed/followed by 1.1" of 34-35° RA, this latter while NYC was mid 20s with its 20.9" snowicane - on the same NE winds as up here. Snowblower was broken and running the scoop in that mush was harder than moving the 24.5" storm a year earlier. The only one of the 4 KUs that gave us a flake (though what fell here wasn't exactly flakes.)

Yesterday's mean of 33 was the month's mildest (so far), by 11°. Pack down to 16" and may lose another 2" by sunset. Mostly settling and sublimation, though some melting as well.

High yesterday was 33, stopping the run of 32 or below at 35 days. Now we'll have 4 days well above 32, but the month should finish at about 2° BN.

Yesterday made 35 straight days without getting over 32°, the longest such run we've had here. Both 2009 (with 12/31/08) and Jan-Feb 2015 had streaks of 33 days. Either today or tomorrow will end the current one.

Maybe those pines had grown sufficiently tall to reach pavement if toppled in a crosswind. I've heard nothing about a 4th lane - would be dumb. Loggers get paid to cut along the interstates, due to the strung-out harvest area and the cost of ensuring safety for the traffic. The timber value defrays much of the cost to the state.

Top 3 here, 1999-2024, with max, min, precip, snow 1. 2010 35.0 64 11 6.44 0.6 2. 2012 34.4 80 -10 1.85 14.6 That 90° is the greatest span I've recorded, 3° more than Jan 1979 in Fort Kent (which has had much the most extremes). 3. 2024 32.6 51 4 8.67 29.3 4th was 2000

Same here, though January bucks the trend. Average January snowfall is ~20" and 4 years it was <10", only 5.1" to 7.7". 2004 was 10° BN, 2014 4° BN and 2013 plus this year within 0.1° of average. Rest of the months generally fall in line.

03-04 started great, 2 storms totaling 37" by Dec 15 including one of only 4 true blizzards here. Unfortunately, the rest of winter brought only 36" - not a ratter but 20% BN.

One paradox of this winter's temps may be that the overabundance of wind made it feel colder, but it blew away the rad pits thus keeping the overnights less cold. Barring a torch to end the month, DJF will be 1-1.5F below my 27-year average (and 6-7F colder than the previous 2 winters). My average doesn't include all of 1991-2020. It misses the Pinatubo chill but also excludes the mild winters of 96-97 & 97-98.

That would be about my score. Unless I chose to play the back 9 as well. We've had 20"+ snow in March 7 times in 26 winters but 23/24 was the 1st time we hit the mark in consecutive years. Trifecta??? Probably not. The other 5 were also over 30. Prior to 3/23 we'd never had a March in the 20s. It's easily the most variable of the 4 big snow months, ranging from 0.1" to 55.5". Toss out the top/bottom, it's still 0.6"/37.1".

In the 1980s-90s the company foresters mostly rode Tundras because of the bushwhack sledding required. After 2000 we tried not to run those sleds on the wide groomed trails, as they topped out at about 40 and the guys going 70+ didn't like our snails clogging up the trail. BML and HIE have pulled 40s for diurnal range. Jeff's -11 this morning may lead to 40+. 'Tis the season - bright sun, little wind and dry air.

Only rode a Moto-ski once, back in 1977, it was old already and the inner cowling was gone, such that one could watch wheels turning 12" ahead of his crotch. It was a joint timber cruise (Great Northern, International Paper, Seven Islands) east from Depot Lake, not far from Lac Frontiere, PQ. where we had bunked. The machine seemed to have a single speed, about 15, and sounded ying-ding-ding-ding . . . on the nice level track. Heading back to the border after day one, the 500-lb Everest became disabled, so the guys who knew what they were doing hooked it rear-to-rear on the Moto-ski, high enough to lift its track, lashed the skis straight and the old beast headed back west - ying-ding-ding ...at 15 mph.

Lies in the shadow of Katahdin. Ranger cabin (assume that's the measuring site) is at 2,925, Baxter Peak 5,269. The previous record, 84" in 1969, was at 420 (Farmington).

Nice rad night, -8 here.

94" pack at Chimney Pond, Maine's tallest recorded. (Pales compared to Pinkham Notch - 164" in 1969.)

April 6-8, 1982. The storm had dumped on CHI on the 5th then NYC-BOS on the 6th, a true winter-type blizzard. 6th was the Yankees' home opener and at the 1 PM start time NY was 25° and falling, S+ and 6" new. By storm's end they had 9.6" (3rd biggest April snow 1869-on) and reached 21°, their coldest April snow event, by about 5°. The evening of the 6th, CAR updated the forecast by adding flurries to the cloudy, 20s and windy. I woke up about 2 AM, looked out and saw that thick gray of heavy snow. My guess at Fort Kent was 17" but the gusts near 60 rearranged things, such that the pre-storm 27" at the stake was only 25" post-storm, with drifts 5-6' within 20 feet on either side. CAR's "flurries" verified at 26.3", at the time their biggest (now 4th). In 1984 there were 2 notable snow events, with almost nobody seeing both (unless they moved). SNE down to NYC had a late month pasting while much of NNE got bombed on March 14-15. CAR reset their top storm with 29.0" (now 2nd) and we measured 26.5, most I've seen.