tamarack

Some place in Roxbury (between Rangeley and Rumford) might make sense. For snow you would want to be up and away from Rt 17, the main road thru town. That road gets above 2400' on D-Town and Rangeley Plantation but that's all commercial forest land and they're not about to sell 30 acres. Where people live south of height of land (and its beautiful view from the turn-out) you could still find land above 1500' for triple-digit average snow. If in Rangeley, look for something away from the lakes - prices there could crater by 50% and they would still be hideous.

I'm about 30' lower than the Farmington co-op, but we're in the woods. Our "lawn" covers perhaps 1/20 acre with 50-70' trees to the SE and SW, though most are deciduous. Cold air drains down from the SW-facing field across the road and stops at our place, other than what can filter into the woods. It's about perfect for retention, given the modest elevation. Only 3" left this morning as nearly 2" RA took most away. If you reach Farmington via Route 27 from Augusta, the real snow catcher is Mile Hill - road gets a bit over 800' along the "plateau", which is on gently east facing slope. The town/county sign is about 2/3 of the way up the south side of the hill. (It's named for the length of the north-facing hill, which drops about 300' in that mile.) If you check out cocorahs, look for the obs from Temple, especially in borderline snow events. That observer is at 1,224', which can result in some interesting reports. In the late Feb mashed potato mess of 2010, the Farmington co-op had 8.8" and Temple 26.4", only about 6 miles away. (And 800' higher) Edit: Yesterday morning I reported 7" to cocorahs. The Temple observer had 18" - not surprising.

Kennebec flood warning posted at Skowhegan, though the forecast peak is only 101% of flood flow. I guess if it rings the bell the warning gets posted, whether the overage is 400 cfs (like now) or 40,000. If it crests at 35.4 up there, it's unlikely to reach flood stage in Augusta as the heaviest rain was on drainages north and west of Skowhegan.

March snowfall here (15.5") was below the mean of 17.5" but above the median of 14.9" - getting 55.5" in 3/01 skews the average a bit. Ground's been white from 11/11 onward but with only 7" this morning it's only got a few more days. Current consecutive run is 145 days, and amazingly given the quality of this winter, that trails only last winter and is 4th for total 1"+ days. We'll pass 2002-03 (another low-snow winter, but due to suppression) on Sunday and would tie 2014-15 at 150 if the cover survives until Wednesday evening - I think not. SDDs are well below both average and median, same as 02-03 though we're a bit higher than that winter.

25 hr of continuous RA thru 7 this morning for 1.83" total, maybe another tenth after that. Yesterday's temps 39/33, classic early spring blecchh. However, that was the first >32 minimum since Nov. 5. Not much coming down here in AUG but a lot of air moving sideways.

Signs of spring this week, other than the usual cold rain: --Wednesday morning - turkey gobbling just out of sight in the field across from the house. --Thursday (and especially this morning) - Worms on the sidewalk, means the ground has thawed enough that the rain drives the poor critters up for air. Storm total precip (all RA) was 1.83" at my place thru 7 this morning. Probably not quite enough to enable the Kennebec to wash the west-shore parking lots in Augusta.

That might excite the Kennebec a little bit.

5+ feet atop Sugarloaf - would be a challenge to skin up the mountain in yards of wet snow.

In the 54 days from Jan.25 thru March 19 that year I had 63" with up to 31" depth, nice AN stretch. 120 miles east and a mere 20' above high tide, Machias recorded 137" and the pack built up to 74" in mid Feb and stayed above 50" for more than a month. Most frustrating "good" winter in memory. Happening now is more classic "wheel of 'rhea"....we might as well relive May 2005 for a few days coming up. Far, far less torturous in the 1st week of April than the 4th week of May. In 2005 that week brought 5" RA over a 5-day stretch that never got out of the 40s except for one morning in the upper 30s.

Beats my 15" on 4/1/2011. Since the March thread is moribund, I'll put my numbers for the month here: Avg max: 39.9 +1.6 Mildest was 54 on the 9th. Avg min: 21.1 +4.9 Coldest was -2 on the 2nd. All but 2010 of my 22 Marches have gone subzero, though -2 is tied with 2004 for 2nd "mildest" monthly low. Avg mean: 30.5 +3.3 5th mildest of 22. Precip: 3.12" 0.50" BN Wettest day was 0.78" on the 13th. Snowfall: 15.5" 2.0" BN 8.7" came on 3/24,part of the season's biggest event,10.3" on 23-24. Snowpack: Depth briefly reached 21" at 7 AM on 3/24 but that day's sunny high 40s collapsed the powder to 15" by my 9 PM obs time. Tallest at 9 was 18" on 3/1,2. Temperature was D-level but snow gets a C, raised from C- (usual for snowfall 80-90% of avg) due to the 10" event, a nice if brief break from season-long meh..

Actually took about 60 minutes of partly cloudy. Anything not in shade is gone. And April install? In 21 years I've yet to record a single cooling DD before May, though 4/28/09 was close (89/41 but desert dry and 4/29 was 58/34.) Haven't had a minimum 60+ (where stickiness begins) prior to 5/26.

Still hanging around 30° under the clouds in Augusta. Spring sun working on last evening's 2" of fluff but it's slow going so far. Sun comes out for 30 minutes and it's gone.

Drove thru moderate snow- lovely parachutes - for the 1st half of my homeward commute yesterday afternoon, with rate decreasing from Belgrade Village northward as my area was on the western edge of that inverted trough. Measured an inch of 11:1 fluff but saw 3"+ near the Augusta-Sidney line. A "no-fault" event, sugared up the trees nicely while little or no stuck on roads. (Unfortunately our gravel road had the previous day's white concrete plowed, with a pickup rather than the bigger unit so the grader effect was less, but stuff cascading from both ends of the narrower plow left foot-high snow chunks (rock solid this morning) in the travel portion.

3.0" of 4:1 stuff and 32° with SN- at 6:30 this morning. Some nice parachutes 4-5 yesterday aft, then rimey snow that was more rime than flake - bounced like small IP but opaque with irregular shapes. Back to SN- before dawn. TS apparently died before getting this far east.

Snowfall now almost to moderate, nice parachutes, ground/snowboard whitening a bit. The really good echoes appear to have moved past W.NH so precip will probably get lighter here in an hour or two.

Started as RA about 3, gradually switched to light SN, no IP noted yet. Not sticking (temps still mid 30s) but were it full dark I think it might accumulate.

Pretty much a whiff in Fort Kent, though the day had a flake or 2. Can't whine too much after getting 26.5" on 3/14-15. Though the biggest snowfall I've measured anywhere, it was odd in that winds were light and our barometer was 30.4 as snow began and never dropped below 30" throughout.

1984?

Pack will drop below 10" today after 82 consecutive days in double digits. Average run is 74 days, median 77. Tuesday's snow is gone but 10" of 2:1 crust melts a lot more slowly. South facing slopes in hardwoods have bare patches, aspens just need a couple more days in the 50s to break bud and extend the male catkins. May be a week or more after today before another 50 shows up. I’ve never seen vegetation like this so early. We're 10-14 days behind 2010, which set the standard here for early spring awakening. Also 10-14 days ahead of last year's cold spring. Edit: WS watch posted for Maine mts, might get a sloppy 2" here tomorrow night.

Search showed 12 May ice outs in 129 years, only one (5/2/2001) since 1972. March 27 is 4th earliest, behind 2010,2012, 2016 - this last the earliest at 3/18.

A bit cooler to the north - GYX closer to+3 (same at my place) and thru 3/25 CAR was about +0.7. For the majors? I believe so. Most Coops though are 7a-7a. Farmington has been both at differing times in its long POR, recent years using 12:01-11:59. I'd look at obs time temp for minima "twins" and cross check nearby majors (or known midnight-obs sites) to see if those had one cold night or 2.

Checking the ice on Flying Pond while driving home today. Hope it's safe for one last day of hardwater fishing tomorrow. Had 17" ice 2 weeks ago, but open water at the edges may make entry/exit a problem even as most ice is plenty safe.

We'll probably be back to the pre-storm 10" by this evening, but that's near-glacier in composition with 5"+ LE. Melting the 0.83" from the early week event was easy.

We get serenaded every year by at least one coyote family - pups singing high-end soprano in May, descending to near the adults' alto by September. Last June they were close enough that we could hear their footsteps rustling the leaves. Looks like things could get interesting here Sunday-Monday. Steve said "fir flattener" but I hope not. Had one of those 19 years ago in late March - 16" paste that left Christmas trees scattered about the ground. Maybe a quarter of the fir - most abundant tree on our woodlot - had their tops snapped off.

I'd have preferred the pack down, but my wife generally drives the Forester (shopping or taking older ladies to their medical appts) and the Ranger wasn't going up thru 10". When it's 5-6" powder, the snowblower stays parked, though the 3.5" of 3:1 "stuff" late last month brought it out from under the tarp before the mess had a chance to freeze. (Frozen hard, it then held me but I weigh a bit less than the pickup.) I like to get a good packed layer from the first storm or two to protect driveway, machine and nearby objects.