tamarack

Family had just moved from DEC to SNJ and we'd driven down to visit. #1 was a whiff at home while #2 was forecast for 12-16, twice as much as any snowfall the grandkids had seen. We chose to delay the northward trip - experience the kids in a big dump or drive thru the blizzard, easy choice. SN was expected by 6 PM on the 26th and I was up 4 times overnight to see how much had fallen. First flakes came at 7 AM, last ones by 11, and by 2:30 the 1.5" was gone. What a fail. No problems on the drive home until we reached our driveway. We'd gotten 20" of 9:1 sand at sub-10° temps and the stuff would shift under our feet rather than compress, making the wade to our steps more interesting. Two fails in two days, losing the would-be SNJ dump and missing the best January snowstorm I ever would've seen at home. (We had 20" of powder on Jan 19-20, 1961 [JFK inaugural] but with light winds and much less LE.) Least snowy January here is 5.1" in 2014. Though today is only the 8th, I see a possible challenge to that mark.

The 1998 ice storm may have caused serious damage over the greatest area of any such event, as it turned off the lights from Montreal to Downeast Maine. It also featured a south-to-north temp and wx sequence of the most different conditions I've noted: NYC and environs: RA and 50s-60s SNE: Cold RA, upper 30s and 40s Southern Maine: Near 32 with RA and moderate ice. Central Maine and Downeast (>10 miles inland): Catastrophe, ice 1.5-3" thick, temps 30 or a bit lower Maine foothills: Serious ice but much of the 2-3" precip was IP. Mid-upper 20s. Far north: 18-25" of 8-to-1 sand, temps from singles (Allagash) to low 20s (CAR). Two examples of nearby but different conditions: Our 0.8-acre house lot in Gardiner (C.Maine) had more tree damage than on the entire 63 forested acres on our New Sharon (foothills) woodlot - moved there 4 months after the ice. MWN recorded their highest January temp ever (since tied) while Gorham had cold RA. In between, mainly at 1500-2500' asl, massive destruction.

1979-80 was the least snowy of our 10 winters in Fort Kent, but that pig stuck in the Maritimes reminds me more of 2009-10. Thru today's date in 2010 our snowfall was 10" above season-to-date but other than some advisory snow on MLK weekend and one WINDEX in late month, winter was cooked, actually, overcooked. The overhead echoes finally produced enough flakes to have a few come flying by the window, along with increasing wind.

Echoes overhead but no flakes reaching the ground. Grandkids' locale in SNJ had 4-6 forecast, got 2-3 while Cape May - 50 miles SSE - had 6-10. At least it's cold so the kids can wear out the snow before it melts. Maybe the late week thing can freshen the white, though currently the PoP is higher at DCA/BWI.

We'll just be spectators here, like 2006, 2010, 2016.

Caught early, at the first small sign of blonding, some trees can be saved through injection of a systemic pesticide. It's costly, so only appropriate for highly valued specimen trees. A huge old ash in the town park might be an example. The trees in your pic are, unfortunately, far beyond saving.

Looks like white ash infested with emerald ash beetle, with woodpeckers dining on some of the larvae, causing the "blonding" that can be the first sign of the insects' presence.

36" where I grew up in NNJ, 6" in the snowy Maine foothills. Feb 2021 redux?

At least we have some sun, though clouds are appearing to the west - more sun today than the previous 9 days' total. No wind at the moment but the near-constant breezes in recent days have brought daily highs occurring in late evening, with dawn temps running a few degrees less cold. Odd diurnal pattern.

I'd take dust for our gravel road. Something about the wx sequence caused the plow to "chatter" when pushing off the 1" slop on New Year's Day, and now we have a washboard surface that tries to shake the fillings from our teeth - 1st time that's occurred since moving here in 1998. The pattern may be far different than 15 years ago, but that LP stuck so long in the Maritimes brings back bad memories. So does the relatively long stretch of nothing; in 2010 we had a 25-day run with nothing but a few traces after the Jan 28 WINDEX, a streak ended by 3.8" precip that included 10 inches of "snow".

I'd be okay with a 2" event if SNJ was getting 2 feet. We can catch up later here.

If the state isn't harvesting at Seboomook, there's loads of logging roads that don't need deep snow to ride.

Grandkids in SNJ may see 6"+ for the first time in at least 4 years (maybe not since 2016).

When we lived in Fort Kent (1976-85), schools there lost only 1.5 days thru that whole time. Folks joked that it was because the superintendent lived next to the high school. He said that was not the case. He would send his German shepherd out to get the morning paper. If she made it out to there, school would be open (even if he had to go and help her back to the house!)

March 2018 had those 4 huge storms and like you we whiffed on #1 and #4, but the middle 2 totaled 36.4" here, pushing the season into triple digits.

Near 50" here as well, with storms 16.0, 11.3, 4.7, 9.5, 7.3 plus some scraps for 49.3". had some meat, too, with total precip 5.73", all flakes but ~1/2" of IP/ZR in #4. The syzyzy storm was 2nd biggest of our 13 winters at Gardiner and went from 1st flakes to 1/8 mile visibility in <2 minutes, a classic wall. The pack was well sustained, with 24" and ~7" SWE at the equinox. March 23-30 had +8 temps but there was still 8" with perhaps 4" water in the very ripe pack. Then 4.57" RA on 31-4/1 with temp near 50 (some gusts of 50, too) blew away the snow. The Kennebec had the greatest peak flow in Maine records - 232,000 cfs - reaching 22 feet above flood stage at AUG.

0.5 BN here December 2024: Avg max: 30.9 Within 2 hundredth of the average. Mildest, 48 on the 12th Avg min: 12.4 -1.2 Coldest, -7 on the 27th Mean: 21.7 -0.5 Precip: 5.08" +0.21" Wettest (and all RA), 1.34" on the 11th Snow: 22.5" +3.3" Had 9.1" on the 5th 297 SDDs, not quite twice the avg (157). 2024 averaged 44.38°, warmest of the 26 full years here, 0.13° above 2010. Annual precip: 52.08" +2.81" 8 of 12 months were AN. 2024 had our driest February and wettest March.

Maybe the cold weekend will turn our few inches of white into marble, forcing all the little rodent owl and coyote food to skitter across the surface.

My whining about 09-10 must be in the top 10. Winter basically ended at 1 AM on Jan 3 when the 21° with SN at 10 PM became 34° and RA. Just as Cool Spruce had predicted. We had advisory-level snow on the MLK weekend plus the nice WINDEX on the 28th, but that was IT for wintry precip. I don't consider the 4:1 sludge (thanks, Will, for that term) in late Feb worthy of being called snow.

That "rainer" is a mix at CAR; their forecast has a few inches on the ground by Friday morning. Far NW Maine might reach double digits.

Storm total 0.95" but still 6" at the stake, 27 for the low and half of a 5-gal bucket of ashes for the driveway. Entertainment yesterday was 2 guys extracting and hauling out an ancient truck with a logging crane, last used in early 2008, all this during the heaviest rain and with temps still in the mid 30s. They had coats on but neither one was wearing a hat.

Not everywhere: Snow SDDs White Christmas 12/23 17.3" 92 Brown ground. still draining off the 12/18 monsoon 12/24 22.5" 284* 12" and 2nd deepest of 27 Dec25s here. * Thru yesterday, still 7-8" pack as I type. Dec 24 will also finish 5-6° colder than 23.

Had a sudden influx of dense fog and thought "here comes the warmth". Ten minutes later the fog was gone and we haven't yet reached 40.

Best of both worlds?

Guilford to Auburn? Hope you don't have a daily commute. Moderate RA here trying to scour out the CAD but still 8" and I think we keep about 4 after this mess.