tamarack

The 2 big storms of December 2003 had very different characteristics here, and I think that dendrite growth might've been why. Neither storm had any mixing. 12/6 20 5 0.43 6.0 12/7 22 18 1.20 18.0 Total: 1.63" 24.0" Ratio 14.7 Very windy (est 25G40), massive drifting 12/14 15 -15 0.02 0.2 12/15 22 11 1.53 13.0 Total: 1.55" 13.2" Ratio 8.5 Breezy (est 15-25), little drifting

Farmington, Maine co-op for Jan 1904. It's in a river valley and radiates well. Seems odd that it would be 13° less cold early in the month and 19° colder on the 19th. Taunton's early month cold has some fantastic diurnal ranges, too, spanning 52° then plunging 48, followed by leaping up 55. 1/1/1904 20 -6 0 0 1/2/1904 2 -9 0 0 1/3/1904 6 -7 0.3 3.5 1/4/1904 -2 -22 0 0 1/5/1904 12 -11 0 0 1/6/1904 8 -16 0 0 1/7/1904 27 1 0 0 1/8/1904 20 -2 0.07 1 1/9/1904 22 20 0.33 4 1/10/1904 25 19 0 0 1/11/1904 28 -4 0 0 1/12/1904 24 5 0 0 1/13/1904 24 19 0.05 2 1/14/1904 35 20 0.99 4 1/15/1904 30 10 0 0 1/16/1904 17 0 0.05 2 1/17/1904 18 -5 0.25 3 1/18/1904 12 -4 0 0 1/19/1904 10 -29 0 0 1/20/1904 12 -16 0 0 1/21/1904 26 3 0 0 1/22/1904 18 1 0.7 5 1/23/1904 24 5 0.2 0 1/24/1904 31 19 0.005 0.005 1/25/1904 20 3 0 0 1/26/1904 13 -8 0.01 0.5 1/27/1904 22 5 0.57 6.5 1/28/1904 17 -15 0 0 1/29/1904 17 -5 0 0 1/30/1904 24 -2 0 0 1/31/1904 33 -8 0 0

When I was chasing skidders in the Allagash-St. John country 45 years ago, the smart skidder drivers would have a 100-lb propane tank keeping the machines 'startable'. One fellow without such equipment built a fire under the oil pan one -30° morning. It finally worked (I think- didn't stand around waiting) but it created frost nearly an inch thick on the upper part of the engine. There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. Or as U. Maine's (late) 'Southern Gentleman' silviculture professor would say, "Theh's no such thing as inclement weatha, just impropa clothin'." Near -5 this morning rather than the expected -10, as the air was still moving around a bit at 10 last evening.

Not necessarily a snow killer - some of my comments on the 26.5" storm in 1984 at Fort Kent. It brought the depth to 65", easily the tallest I've recorded. Storm of March 14-15: FK schools released at noon, in 3"/hr SN++, all home safely. Bar. 30.40 at start, 30.05 end. CAR: 29.0, BGR 22.2", AUG 18.3", PWM:15.5" The school comment illustrates why Fort Kent lost only 1.5 days to snow in our 10 years there. Some FK students lived 25-30 miles away, in Allagash or Winterville. Mostly flat going to the first, lots of hills to reach the 2nd. The full day came on Feb 6 that same year when a storm forecast of 1-3 verified at 18" overnight and the parking lots couldn't be plowed in time.

That's not an issue for me - I don't carry a smartphone. Total snowfall is 25.2", with an 8" paste job Thanksgiving night and a 3-6 forecast turning into 3+6 on 12/5.

It's in the sig, and expecting another 2-3 of fluff tomorrow night. Pack got up to 16" early in the month, down to 7 at present.

Siggy AN here, maybe, but not a torch. My running average for December temps rose to 22.36° after 12/15's record 29.69. We then had 4 straight BN months ('17 at 14.32, our coldest) that dragged the avg down to 21.64. Then 20-23 were all AN, especially 22&23, and the avg is back to 22.34. I expect this month to finish in the +1 to -1 range.

Farm country, just west of the Barrens.

Kids live in Monroeville, about 6 miles south from Glassboro. (And 515 miles from here - still better than when they lived in Decatur, IL.)

Club trails here had some use before the 2" rain, not much since. The northerly 500' of the section on our woodlot is a rock garden when there's less than 12-15" on the trails. Ouch!

Decent. Kids in Gloucester County saw a few flakes - need to have a Jersey-wide dump. Only a dusting here but we're still AN for YTD.

PWM reported snow from that storm shortly after 4 AM but it wasn't until almost 12:30 when I saw the first flakes from my office in AUG Eastside. Within less than 60 seconds I could barely see the pines across Hospital Street about 500 feet away - perhaps the greatest "wall of snow" I've seen (some Fort Kent snowsqualls the only competition). We had 16.0" at our Gardiner home, 2nd biggest snowfall in our 13 winters there. (Blockbuster storms landed elsewhere during that period.)

The Grinch is off the board this year, one of the few times.

Both BOS and PVD recorded 17" from that storm, but by the time fans had pushed the powder around to clear seats, there must've been some huge piles.

The 8" on Christmas 2017 (and 1978 in Fort Kent) is about it for snow on that day, but have more on Christmas Eve, especially the 15" thunderblizzard in 1966. Only T-Day snow that comes to mind was 2005, only 3.6" but the snow-starved kids (then living in SC) enjoyed 8 hours of steady daytime flakes. Only later did we learn of the 2 tornados on the midcoast that day.

Only 26 years' record, but the average departures from 12/21-12/28 are illustrative: 21: -1.3 22: +0.2 23: +3.2 24: +4.0 25: +1.1 26: +0.2 27: +0.8 28: -0.4

Had cold rain 7-9 last evening, an hour of nothing then resuming as snow. Accum began closer to 11 with 1.1" total and the trees nicely frosted. Some nightmare flashback from folks noting 2009-10, the winter that died here at 1 AM on Jan 3 when snow changed to rain.

That winter was lame in its first half - only 15" thru Jan 31 and a mere trace of "pack" at the Farmington co-op. 43 days later the pack was 56" (tied with 1971 for 2nd, behind 1969) as that period had 95", including storms of 18, 17, 15, 14, 13, plus several smaller ones.

Had 0.06" cold RA 7-9 PM, a pause in precip, then lgt SN after 10. Total 1.1" from 0.17" LE, the start of which melted as it landed.

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.)