tamarack

Just had 0.91" in 15 minutes, 4:48-5:03, with at least 0.6" in the first 8 minutes. The only thunder was the water pounding on the roof, had some mid-20s gusts as well. This was the west end of a much larger clump of rain - might be some flash flood issues in southern Somerset County northeast of here.

Some July averages for PWM: Period Max Min Mean 1941-70 79.1 56.9 68.0 2001-30 79.3 61.0 70.2 1950s 79.8 56.5 68.2 2020s 79.9 62.5 71.2 Kind of a funny cool eddy in MA Bay. Boston Buoy at 61 and Stellwagen Bay 56. I don't think I've seen that so late in the season. Meanwhile off the south coast it's in the 70s or close to it. That's odd but I've seen it years ago when living in NNJ. During the late '50s-early '60s we visited Sandy Hook State Park a number of times during July, and the water was almost always 70-72, just cool enough to be bracing compared to the bathwater temps at our small lake. Then one late July occasion the water was 57 and I don't recall any serious storms that would've stirred the pot. (Being teenagers, we spent most of the time in that water anyway.)

My guess was on the wrong side of the lake. Lily Bay State Park is wonderful, but if that cabin is on/near the shore, you don't need the park. 1.93" from this event, with more than one inch 4-4:45 yesterday afternoon from a separate (but related) band south of the major dumping.

Reminds me of Jay Maine on 6/29/23, with 4-6" in 2 hours, only it's more widespread in VT. Several main roads were closed for months and at least one secondary road still hasn't been put back together - fortunately, residents nearby have other access.

Staying at The Birches? Greenville reported 1.51" between 2 and 8 AM, Twentymile Road might have taken some damage.

Thought we were getting the same after dodging three TS yesterday. Today, one group edged to the north and a 2nd one appeared to be staying south - until it began moving more to the northeast. We've had RA/RA+ since just before 4 and from 15 yards thru the rain it looks like about 0.6" in the gauge.

ASH has reported that 81° dewpoint since 11 this morning, but their RH is sometimes squirrelly. Earlier this week when most other stations had 70+ dews, ASH reported the RH as 32% (obviously bogus), pushing the reported TD down below 60. That 81 dew reminded me of early football practice in Baltimore. After one of the 2-a-days we were sweating in the concrete block room where we stayed, and the radio reported a temp of 86 and RH of 85, for that same 81 dew. Moisture was running down the walls of the place. The highest dew point ever recorded, 95°F (35°C), was recorded at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003. With an air temperature of 108°F (42°C), the heat index was 178°F (81°C). Gack! I've noted TDs near 90 in the Persian Gulf. Occasionally those dews were accompanied by 25+ winds and a condition described as "sand".

GYX map has us in the 2-3" color while the above map has us closer to 1/2". Given the month to date, the much lower total seems likely. Yesterday we danced around 3 separate TS, 2 svr-warned, with the bright echoes passing within 3-4 miles or less. We did get a 20-second sprinkle and some rumbles from the non-warned storm.

In our region, the Sandy River reached 31,300 cfs on May 1st, only the 4th time it had passed 30k since 1929. Then the Dec 18 storm brought it up to 42,700 cfs, 2nd only to the 51,100 of April 1987 and causing major flooding. That latter storm had 4 hours of 50+ gusts, destroying about half of the mature fir on our 80-acre woodlot. Not since Bob in 1991 had we experienced wind of that strength and duration, and the 101 hours without power (except that we had an on-demand genny ) is the longest I've experienced since the 6-day blackout from the January 1953 ice storm in NNJ. GYX has us in the 2-3" color, and given a bit of Stein this month, all should be well unless a 2"/one hour event is included.

Couple inches here would be appreciated. We got 7-10'ed about 2:30, a small TS to the south with the bright colors within a mile and an SVR-warned storm about 3 miles to the north. One 20-second sprinkle and enough thunder to spook the pup. The next one appears to be sliding just south of Rt 2 and that should do for chances before tomorrow afternoon.

Too much pavement? PWM had 84/71 at 11 and 86/73 at noon, down 2° by 1 PM thanks to a south wind. HI at BDL was 101 at 1. Mid 80s and no humidity gauge here but the air is incredibly stuffy. We're in amongst the trees and they must be pumping up the dews. Same here, I've never seen so many, I take the dog out and we get attacked. What would cause an explosion of these damn bugs? Stand still and the deerflies often lose interest, kinda like T-Rex. From how a bite feels, the little beasts' dental equipment must look similar as well, though fortunately much smaller. The worst I've had with deerflies was in NW Maine during hot wx, Walking thru the woods, I'd have hundreds of black things buzzing around me. Most were harmless "sweatlickers" that looked like houseflies, but with the flying circus going on, one couldn't tell which ones had the knives until it was too late. I hate wearing hats when it's hot and every deerfly knows that the whorl of one's hair is a nice easy target. Crush one fly there and a couple dozen more show up for the funeral, and they would all expect a meal.

Did you stay uphill while shingling. At those temps a decent sized housecat would smear the surface.

The full hardiness zones are 10° steps. IMO (and in the data I've accumulated), even the 5° half-zone is a bit of a stretch, though it's getting closer.

Speed limit north of Old Town is 75. I'd guess 90% of traffic went flying by you. You could've driven like the Public Lands' staff biologist. In 1990, driving is state pickup (full size, 6-cyl automatic, underpowered), he left Augusta at 4 PM for a 7 PM meeting at PQI, 239 miles away, the final 43 miles on 2-lane Rt 1 thru 5 small towns. He was not late!

The same goes for daily departures. Not New England, but Central Park's 25 Januarys 2000-on have recorded at least one day of 15+ or greater in 17, or 68%. I doubt that 15+ departures in July haven't happened a dozen times in 154 years. Their hottest daily mean was July 22, 2011 with 104/84, and that was +16.1, just over that threshold. Plus 10 in January is meh; in July it's blazing.

Small rodents are one of the major vectors for ticks. Yay!

Must've just missed. PWM recorded 1.92" for June 22-24, with 0.82"/0.31"/0.79". Missed out on yesterday's storms here as the best chance died over Farmington. Finally started raining about 7:30 this morning. Yesterday's 48-hr RA forecast for here was 0.5-1". 24 dry hours later it's .01-0.25.

That would be a disaster in NNJ. The Passaic and Raritan systems often flood if they get half that much.

Latest (5 PM) forecast has Beryl as a high-end Cat-1 at landfall, as it will take a number of hours for the circulation to regather. If the easterly trend continues, Beryl will have more hours of favorable conditions before landfall and could intensify, but I'd put its top end as a solid Cat-2. (Hope I'm not too optimistic.)

Might be the needle-cast fungi. They infect the new needles in the spring, then the needles die the following June, leaving only the half-grown new shoots. One season of that weakens the tree some, but 3 or more consecutive years and the tree is in peril. White pine needles grow in spring #1 and are fully functional in year #2 before falling in autumn. Having those older needles drop before the new ones are fully operational in too many years and the tree either runs out of energy or dies from a secondary cause, like insects or decay fungi.

Lost a few minutes since the solstice, but the warmest month here is July 9 thru August 9.

Contractor may have wondered whether to leave only the foundation and mailbox, then work from there.

Not here, though 10 miles to our south and 50 miles to the north got hit. That's okay, June precip was 0.59" AN, as it continues to be our 2nd wettest month, trailing only October.

June 2024 Avg max: 73.0 +1.6 Hottest, 90 on the 19th 20th 90+ here since May 1998, 9 of which came in June. Avg min: 52.4 +2.9 Coolest, 38 on the 16th Mean: 62.7 +2.3 5th warmest of 27 Precip: 5.74" +0.59 Wettest day, 1.68" on the 24th. 23-24 totaled 3.02", 2 separate events. Very much back loaded, 1-21 had 1.39", last 9 days, 4.35"

My strategy is hack-and-squirt herbicide and wait 2 years. Reduces splitting labor from impossible down to difficult with my maul. Trick is to have just enough natural degrade to make the wood brittle without losing most of the heat value, though the bark almost always falls off. Doesn't work on some elms. Only trees within 100 feet of our stove qualify.