tamarack

I tried deleting your highest and lowest winters (kind of like Olympic diving judges) and the other 11 averaged 159.2", so 160 is looking good. January stats/averages: Max: 30.00 4.51 AN. Mildest was 50 on the 11th, tied with 3 other days for 2nd mildest behind the 56 on 1/8/08. Min: 10.68 6.90 AN. Coldest was -17 on the 18th. Mean: 20.34 5.71 AN and 4th mildest of 22 Mildest mean was 38.5 on the 11th, coldest -2.5 on the 18th. Precip: 2.64" 0.57" BN, greatest day, 0.76" on the 12th. Snow: 15.6" 4.0" BN, greatest day 4.8" on the 16th. Greatest depth was 16" on the 19th and average was 10.9", 1.2" BN. Kind of a meh month, as was December. Hope February is more interesting.

The rocks on Katahdin tend to be solid though the frost can loosen some. When I was on Oahu (lower elevations only) in 2016 the volcanic rocks looked rather crumbly, which would certainly up the degree of difficulty. Amazingly, I've not heard of fatalities or major injuries from falls off the Knife Edge, though a winter climber died (1978?) when the group was hit by a sudden though forecast drop into the -30s with Cat 1 winds, and 2 died in October 1963 when the first tried coming down Chimney Ravine, got stuck so a park ranger climbed up to help, and they both perished as the tail of a tropical storm brought cold, wind and snow. It was May before the bodies were recovered. And I have to admit that Knife Edge looks scarier now than it did in 1973 when I was trotting on the easier sections between Baxter and South Peak. The real challenge was at Chimney Peak, where a group was halted while climbing the (easier) west side due to a panicky hiker. I went around them but when I reached Pamola and looked back the clouds were rolling in so I needed to get back to dad and head down ASAP. Unfortunately, that group was descending the east face of Chimney and the scared hiker was spread immobile across the trail like a starfish. Being young and stupid (I'm no longer young ) I did the go-around once more, a move which included hanging over a 100'+ drop without protection. The double traverse took me 1:50 for the 2 miles, and we hit rain just after we passed Thoreau Spring on the way down. Dad had hiked his scout troop over all the AT in NNJ and SNY so climbing the trail's northerly 5 miles was a lifetime goal.

So the 2nd one includes the entire Knife's Edge? Walked that trail (both ways, father in law with achy knees waited at the summit) in 1973. Can't think of a more heart-in-mouth trail open to the general public in New England. The sides of Chimney Peak (last one before Pamola) were special fun. Met a family on the trailwho had been there a year earlier, also in early August, and they had to walk just below the trail on its south due to the windblown sleet.

Looks like Chimney Pond seen from the Knife Edge trail, then Pamola from near Baxter Peak (the summit.) Maybe I was thinking of Big Squaw Mountain in Greenville. Their webpage was not loading for me so not sure if they are still open. It's open to midstation as a club area, almost certainly natural snow only. Me too! I'd also like to see that Eagle Lake region. Allagash Waterway or northeast Aroostook near the town of Eagle Lake? (Or Acadia - there's a sizable Eagle Lake there, too.) The 10 years I lived in Fort Kent my work area was mainly bounded by Nine Mile Bridge (on the St. John); St.-Pamphile, PQ; Estcourt, PQ; and Allagash village, with an occasional trip to the forest north and south of Eagle (the NE Aroostook version.) Nowadays I occasionally get to our Round Pond (on the Allagash) and Telos (abuts the NW corner of Baxter) tracts. And crossing from Jackman or into St.-Pamphile is the same forest-to-farm experience. The latter is a mill town; 2 spruce-fir mills and a cedar mill process about a half million cords per year, 90%+ from Maine.

Not that I know of. Given Gov. Baxter's "forever wild" dictum, there's no instruments there. It gets some winter use (advance permit needed from Baxter Park staff) and maybe some hikers have taken measurements. Park employees did record a 94" pack at Chimney Pond (about 3,000) 3 years ago for a new state record. AFAIK, Farmington's 84" on 2/28/69 was the old one.

Lower elevation than the Presidentials but seen from the south, with no serious peaks in the way, I think it's the most impressive peak east of the Rockies

It was lots better where I live now than where we were then in Gardiner - Farmington co-op recorded 83" Jan-April while Gardiner co-op only 43 though we did a little better 3 miles south and 130' higher.

2005-06 was a good example here - 45.0" thru Jan 31 then 7.8" after. Less applicable farther south where the mid Feb dump hit. The 12 months Feb 06-Jan 07 brought 26.9", only 30% of average. (Then Mar 07 thru Feb 08 had 178", not quite twice the average.)

11-12? Many folks got their biggest snow from the Octobomb, and though it was kind of a bust here (12-16 verified as 4.5" of 5:1 mush) our biggest was on Nov. 23.

I've never noted trace amounts of snow on the snow table, unlike cocorahs where every trace is recorded, but some very light but measurable snow has <.005" LE.

2" in the foothills. That season had no snows greater than 3.4" thru Feb 9, then 21" with some thunder on 10-11 plus 5 more storms for another 39" thru March 12.

The town is mostly under 400' elevation, but once you get up near Rip dam at 1,000+ I think the snow will be a lot better. Same thing goes if you ride in KWW east of Baxter. At least it looks like winter out here this am with some Lt snow falling, -SN, 32°F Mood flakes all morning in Augusta, enough to whiten the brown grass exposed by the recent warmth. The 1/10" of gritty snow at home makes 11 events with measurable snow this month, though the 9 smallest total a mere 4.3" and the month's total will finish about 4" below average. January will be about 6° AN and either 3rd or 4th mildest - it's neck-and-neck with 2017 but way short of '02 and '06.

My Ranger isn't great, but with nearly 200 lb of firewood in the back it's always made it over Mile Hill - average 6% grade over that mile with a couple hundred yards of 10% about 3/4 the way up, and a sharp corner at the bottom so trying to get a run for it risks a ditch visit. Lowery day in Augusta, radar showed precip overhead (would be RA with surface at 40 unless heavy) but neither drop nor flake has appeared. In winters past, When i would be riding this area, The snow would be up to the bottom of the sign, Not this year so far, There was more snow up here this weekend then down home, But that's still not normal for the Eustis area........ Fair number of sleds on the club trail thru our woodlot yesterday - fewer than usual for a late Jan Sunday but more than I expected. Must be some sloppy going at unbridged little dips as our pack isn't deep enough to soak up all the RA, at least not where slope concentrates runoff.

That's amazing. I've had half your snowfall but twice the pack (though it may lose an inch today.) It's where upslope goes to die but is great for CAD. I wonder if some of the southerly warmth running up the CT River spills over the NH notches but can't pass the Mahoosucs. There have been several times during warm-tongue events when I've been 5-10° cooler than BML/HIE here at 390'.

Nearest Home Depot is 30 miles away, not practical for hauling a half ton of firewood a couple hundred yards, or other similar short-haul trips. Since 1994 I've driven 2 Rangers separated by a Ranger clone (Mazda) and put about 375k total on the 3 vehicles. All 3 have been 2WD and mileage runs 28+ in summer, 23-25 in winter. Unfortunately the reborn Ranger is about 1,000 lb heavier and gets 30% poorer mileage. Had a hard time finding a mid-range miles Ranger closer than PA 5 years ago - not sure what I'll choose when this one is done.

136.7" in 54 days, Jan 25-March 19, with 74" pack in mid Feb, at 20' asl. My prime pack-retention locale had 47" less at that time.

Vent on my old Jotul combi-fire (1970s technology) sucks air like a wind tunnel. If I open it halfway, even green wood burns cleanly if placed on a good bed of embers.

Lac Saint-Jean is huge - perhaps 10X Winni, and has several significant inlets. Makes me wonder if, like last week's Moosehead fatal snomo-splash, they got too close to where a river entered. Night rides on/near lakes is always a dodgey practice; several years ago there were 4 killed - party of 3 men and separately, a mother and son and only the son made it out of the water. Happened on Rangeley Lake when they got off trail and rode into open water on a snowy night.

Midpoint of the heating season (HDDs) at my place comes on Jan. 21. That's also our coldest day on average, so we're 2 days into the long climb to summer. The snowfall season lags a bit behind - on average 56% of season's snow falls Jan. 24 and later. 8.5" while I was on vacation, and another 5.5" when I got back puts me at 40.3" for the season now. Yet another Portlander with more snow than the "snowy" foothills, and I'm becoming less and less confident about this weekend changing that.

That was 2 days after the JFK inaugural storm, which dumped 1-2+ feet in the NYC metro and nearby. 2 subfreezing weeks after that storm a bigger windier event brought even more. Depths in NNJ were up to 52", nearly a foot more than any other NJ records I've found. (And it compares well with all but one of my Maine winters - 47 years ago today we and all our possessions were in a U-Haul heading from NNJ to BGR so I could start spring semester at U.Maine forestry school.) Another personal note: I went ice fishing that cold (-12 at our place in NNJ) and windy Saturday, handled a small but slimy pickerel while unhooking and releasing it. Had to wash off the slime in the lake water after which I ran for the fire on shore - in that 100-yard dash the water on my fingers had mostly turned to ice. (With age I've learned to stay off the ice in wx like that.)

Was there any differences in cloud cover? Last evening we had thin overcast but it was enough to make temps hang around 20 thru 10 PM when I stopped looking. When I left home at 6:45 this morning it was mostly clear and zero or a bit below.

I've read that following the BGR-region's blizzard on NYE of 1962, dynamite was needed to loosen windpack where a highway passed thru a cut with ledge on both sides - ordinary equipment couldn't hack it. In BGR itself there were drifts over 16' tall, enough to get a large bulldozer stuck.

My average for snowfall thru Jan 21 is 39.57", so this season couldn't be any closer to average so far. We'll be about 2" BN when/if the weekend storm arrives. It was about -10 at 5 this morning but warmed a few degrees until the lights went out at 6:20 - police were headed north on Starks Road (Rt 134) so I wonder if someone hit a pole up there. This cold stretch is good though because the pond ice was not trustable. Sledder went thru the ice on Moosehead over the weekend - rode too close to the mouth of the Moose River. He was pulled out fairly soon but not soon enough - pronounced dead at Greenville Hospital. I think it's the season's 1st snowsled-in-water fatal this season.

5.3" at my place, a bit more than I'd expected. Maine bullseye was Cumberland County just inland, a number of double digit reports topped by 14.2" in Standish, south side of Sebago. (LES? The lake is almost totally ice free. )

0.9" overnight, pretty much as forecast. That makes 7 separate little snow events this month totaling all of 4.1". Will #8 exceed the first 7? Would be nice if #8 doubles the month's total and #9 redoubles it.