tamarack

The public lot at Topsham next to Merrymeeting Bay has some chestnuts. There was one 15" by 60 feet that was used for controlled pollination by the ACF, but it was been blighted 10-12 years ago. Following the 1989 thinning of a 15-acre pine plantation established in 1959 on what had been a market garden since the early 40s, a 5-foot-tall sprout was seen in a skid trail - almost 50 years after the field being stumped and plowed. It grew to 55 feet and 12" with nut crops but the blight arrived ~10 years ago. Last I saw it, the lowest 15 feet was still alive. Farther north, at the edge of its historic natural range, the Bradford public land (25 miles north from BGR) has several mature chestnuts. The biggest got blighted 5 years ago but had produced seedlings in the small patch cut to its immediate south. A planted one was 40 feet tall as of 2020, twenty years after being a 2-foot seedling.

Last week's 90 was something of an anomaly for June as the TD was 70 or a bit higher. Caribou's all time hottest is 96, reached 4 times including this month. Three have been in June and one came on May 22, 1977.

History here says yes. We reached our 20th 90+ in 27 summers last week and have not reached 90 in July/August/September since 2002. 90s by month: May 2; June 9; July 3; Aug 4; Sept 2.

Has Pittsburg ever hit 90? They've reached 93 several times at 1st CT Lake, elev 1660. The only time I've gone swimming in truly warm salt water in Maine was adjacent to the Acadia Loop Road just south of Otter Cliffs. Of course, that was on Hot Saturday when BHB reached 100. 45 here this morning. Saw 37 at HIE along with the 27 on MWN.

None in Mass, but a few miles north of the border an WF-1 (90 mph) blew down a lot of trees in Dublin, NH, and fortunately nothing else. Track was 3.6 miles, west to east, almost all in forest land though it crossed a couple of roads. Surprise little shower this afternoon dumped 0.34" here from 12:30 to 12:50.

I deal with the same thing. My max-min instrument is on the NE side of the house and shielded, but the sun is now rising so far north of due east that it warms nearby surfaces, such that sunny day highs would always occur about 10:30 AM. On such days I'll look at it about noon while the temp is still rising, and often will see the indicator ~5° above the current reading. I then shamelessly move the thing down to the current temp, so it will show the true max for that day. Another 1.68" yesterday, almost all from 5 to 8 PM, for a 2-day total of 3.02", month has gone from quite dry to ahead of the avg since the 19th. Sandy River rose from 300 cfs to 2500 and is already dropping, due to the localized nature of the downpours. Flood stage is above 20k cfs, so this was just a blip.

After an hour of light rain, we've had mod/hvy for the past 30 minutes, but just west in Farmington they've been getting that heavier stuff since early afternoon. GYX has posted a flood advisory for that area (includes New Sharon but we've not had nearly as much). I hope the folks in Farmington aren't getting what Jay had last June 29 - 4-6" in 2 hours and some roads aren't fully repaired yet, also a main multiple use rec trail remains blocked by a 50-foot-deep washout on a sidehill.

9° above our high. Daily low was +2 while the high was -14. The 1.34" yesterday was the most on one day since April 4.

Very descriptive pics. Little brooks can do amazing things at times. The remains of Belle (8/10/76) turned a 3-foot-wide brook into a 50-foot torrent crossing West Main Street in Fort Kent, gouged out a canyon 8' deep by 12' wide between 2 apartment buildings (was threatening the westerly one's foundation until we diverted the water) and left the back yards of the apartments looking like a 100-foot-wide river bottom strewn with sand, rocks and one car hood.

1.34" here, greatest calendar day precip since April 4 (which was very different). Had moderate RA 8-noon, ~0.7", then a weak-but-wet TS 7:20-7:50 PM for 0.56" - had some bursts of 2-3"/hr rates, but only one boom within 5 miles. Month is up to 3.04" (90% of 1-23 avg) with 60% of that over the past 4 days. 1/2-3/4" forecast for today and some more tonight, so we may reach the June avg of 5.1".

Had 0.16" overnight (mostly after3 AM) and just enough occasional light rain since - maybe another tenth in 9 hours - to keep everything wet. Still under 50% of month to date despite having rain on 12 of 22 days.

In 2019 here 11 of 12 months were below my average, all but July. In the 54 months since then, including this one as only a week of 50° RA could drag the temp BN, 43 (79.6%) have been AN. If we had the full 1991-2020 averages for our site instead of May 1998 forward, the imbalance would've been even greater, as 92-94 (the Pinatubo years) and 96 were all BN.

Beech in NNE are already stressed by beech bark disease, a combo of fungus and scale insect (both imported) which can destroy timber and beechnut value and eventually kill the tree. The leaf disease is another straw on the camel's back. Beech is the key species for bear in Maine, as oaks are sparse to absent in the state's northerly 2/3 where most bears live. The sows breed at 2-year intervals and following a big beechnut crop they produce lots of triplets and quads, some quints. Few beechnuts, twins at best. Low 60s with light rain, perfect garden watering though .75-1" would be nicer than the 1/4" so far today. Grandkids in SNJ are facing mid-upper 90s with HI 105+.

Not quite 8 - November was 1.6° BN here. 89/66 yesterday, just missing what would've been the first consecutive 90s since September 2002. After 3 near misses, finally got a quiet 0.18" shower 7-7:30 last evening, about 1/4 of what the garden needs. Maybe Sunday-Monday can provide the rest.

Almost the entire weasel family members are quite fierce, with skunks and otters the exception (and the latter can be nasty when threatened). An adult male fisher, 12-15 lb, could easily kill most housecats, though as the linked article notes, the much larger coyote can do it more readily. A 5-lb female fisher might look elsewhere for food. There has been loads of research in Maine on the (officially) threatened Canada lynx, and one result that surprised many is that fishers are probably the greatest threat to lynx. The big "weasels" kill by dropping atop the much bigger cat and quickly getting a death grip.

Still dry here. After the intense storm grew just to the east, a 2nd (smaller) storm popped up 2-3 miles to my SE and ran away. Then one that was over Mt. Blue headed right toward us but died on the way - might've had a spritz but probably didn't reach the ground. Some interesting stuff in northern VT/NH (if it doesn't slip to our south).

We're on the extreme SW edge of a warned storm but it's obviously going to stay north. Last 15 minutes a new cell started up a couple miles to my east and moving away. Don't mind the shade, however. Unless some additional stuff pops up to our west, looks like ye olde 7-10 again. Temps/dews look quite similar at 2-3 PM as yesterday, the exception being Maine from BGR north, where both temps and dews are lower today. Might be the same here, though so slight that it's not apparent.

We re-did the back bedroom (our computer room except when the grandkids are here) and had to remove the mouse-chopped (and 43 years of mouse-pee) insulation. After multiple applications of odor-kill spray and baking soda, we installed Rocksil insulation, claimed to be mouse-proof. Pre-reno, wx like today would fill the room with a nasty redolence (that corner faces the sun), but none since the update.

Only +15 here, 90/62 vs. 72/50. Greatest June departure is +17 (90/60 on 6/7/21), and with a morning low today in the upper 60s, that mark may be challenged. Looks like CAR's morning low today was 76. If it holds, that's 5° (!!!) higher than their current tallest minimum.

Our indoor-only cat (lost several in the past to fishers/coyotes) catches the occasional mouse and loves to play, sometimes losing the little guy completely - to my wife's disgust. If the dog gets a hold on it, game over. Home is an L.C. Andrews package, stick-framed with 3-sided white cedar log siding. Shrinkage allows smaller mice to enter, and when the builders (on their 1st house and it shows) were sheathing, they left a 1/2" space between plywood and upper plate, so anything that can wriggle thru the logs has free access to entertain the cat.

It's 14 years ago in late April at PWM when the east wind off the water switched to a stiff SW breeze. Temp popped from 59 to 84 in 15 minutes. (I had a ringside seat from Mercy Hospital - wife's 1st knee replacement - right next to the Fore River.) Clouds have cut 6° from the max here, but it reached 90-91 before the sun hid. Not sure we'll get siggy rain as the juicy echoes appear to be headed for a 7-10.

Maine sites up to 89.7/74.5 at 11. Two sites with HI 103; Rochester, NH 104. Sizzle

Heating up a lot faster today than yesterday. The low here was 6° above yesterday's, but some selected Maine sites have an even greater rise between the 2 days. Using PWM, SFM, IZG, AUG, BGR and CAR, at 10 yesterday their average was 76.3/66.0. Same time today: 86.0/73.5, climb of 9.7/7.5. NH change is less, 3 sites, MHT, CON, BML, are ~4° above yesterday.

+2.0 thru yesterday but may be +5 going into the weekend.

Fake cold, fake dews - but the discomforts aren't fake. Low 80s here atm. In our transpirationally-cooled site, 85+ is big heat and 90+ is rare, averaging less than 1 per year. - 19 during 1998-2023. Most recent 5, 2017 on, include 2 in May and 3 in June, mostly with modest dews. July-Sept hasn't touched 90 since 2002. Tough cooking all that midsummer water.