tamarack

Too dry.

Fat deer going into winter. Too few oaks in our area to have much effect on the critters. 37 this morning, season's lowest. If tonight is clear (which I doubt), we'd make a run at 32. Only 0.10" for the month, 0.01" (our share from the big EMA rainer) in the past 2 weeks, though we should get a modest drink this week. Fall colors are early and muted, except for some of the red maples.

It's tidal all the way to ALB, where high tide occurs about 9 hours later than at Battery Place. Very weird that ALB high tide comes while at Manhattan low tide is passed and it's almost halfway to the next high. And I thought that AUG high tide being 4 hours behind Popham Beach was strange.

Cloudy with low 60s, nice wx for lugging firewood up the stairs. No sun, no rain either. Maine sun is up in the County. (60s there, too, but that's their average.)

Swing and miss (IMO) - looks like something Great Snow would write about "stat geeks" in the baseball threads. It shouldn't be either/or, but both. My stats (and those of others) add to my enjoyment of all wx characteristics (though I'm not big on HHH ).

Over 6" at one CHH site. 0.01" at my place.

We've had some significant warm (like +7 and +8 days) in the past week, but August 5 thru yesterday has run 0.3° BN here.

Peak summer's normal max at EWR is 87. I'd guess that BTV is about 5° below that. Edit: Checked on CLIMOD - it's 83 at BTV.

My first football practice in pads was Sept 1, 1961 - mid 90s and humid in NNJ. Found 0.01" in the gauge this morning. That lifts September into double digits (of hundredths, of course).

Variable. Apparently, the Maine foothills did as well as any. Site BGR CAR Rangeley Hartford** MBY Avg SN* 73.9 120.2 120.9 105.5 89.0 22-23 72.6 133.4 92.0 119.2 101.2 23-24 45.5 88.2 93.8 109.6 99.0 * 1991-2020 norms for the first 3, 1998-99 onward (total records) averages for the other 2. ** Hartford Maine lies in the Sumner Hills of central Oxford County. It's 26 miles SW from my place and 310 feet higher in elevation, a good snow catcher. Biggest foothills "catches" compared to the other sites' snowfall were 20-27"+ on Dec 16-18, 2022, 20-24"+ Mar 23-24, 2024, and 14-20" Apr 4-6, 2024. Hartford had a total of 68.3" from those 3 storms; my share was "only" 57.9".

Ash, both white and brown, are dropping leaves about 2 weeks earlier than usual. Those trees are quite variable due undoubtedly to genetics as all seem vigorous, with leaf drop ranging from 20% to total, the brown a bit less drop than the white. The white birch sprout group within our driveway circle has dropped 60-70% (it always drops early) but the bunch near the old stock pond only 20% drop. Other species maybe 10% except the red oaks, which still think it's June. Color change is modest near the house.

I learned this fact years before going thru forestry school. Where I grew up is near the southern extent of glaciation and the hills still have only thin soil over ledge. If drought was going to kill trees, summer 1966 would've been the time. 1965 was the driest year on record for DE/NY/PA and all 3 SNE states. NYC recorded only 26.09" that year, more than 6" lower than 2nd driest (which was the previous year). Met summer 1966 is NYC's driest since records began in 1869 and only 2010 was hotter. That summer I worked at Curtiss/Wright's NNJ lake resort and the forest there was oaks, maples and some black birch, much of it on those thin soils. Given that summer's wx plus the antecedent drought, the lack of trees dying in that area was testimony of the bolded section above. BTV is the longest climo spot and their 85F high is a tick shy of the 87F daily record On Sept 24-27, 2017, BTV had 91/92/91/90, probably their latest heatwave. Mostly sunny so far, though not warming quite as quickly as the past few days, despite a higher launchpad.

My long-time employer, Public Lands, is well below average on timber harvest volume this year. Would really be nice to slide directly from warm-wx harvesting to frozen ground without the usual 4-6 weeks of fall mud season. Only happened twice since I started my 1st forester job, 1976 (my 1st year) and 2013, so that's a tall ask.

I had 0.04" between 9 and midnight on 8/31, but since my obs "day" is 9P-9P, it's recorded as 9/1. Nearly doubles our monthly total.

High of 80 yesterday was the first 80+ since August 2. 7-day from GYX offers zero precip here. Should that hold for the following week, this month would eclipse October 1963 (0.14") as the driest month I've seen. That month the NJ Governor closed the state's woods and even banned fishing after 10/20, a shame as the previous week I'd found lots of action on our small lake and the near-windless low 80s with lots of color still showing would've made for excellent days on the water. Speaking of eclipse, I didn't go out with the pup until 11:10 last evening but there still was a small bite out of the top edge of the supermoon. Max was closer to 10:30 but probably less than 1/4 shaded here.

Looks like we touched 80 today, making 17 of 27 Septembers to have reached the mark. (In 2002 we had 2 days in the 90s, including 93 on 9/9, tied for the hottest for any month.) Thru the 11th we were 2.6° BN. After today we'll be almost exactly on the average.

Orb weavers going crazy. Maybe even Wiz could appreciate the beauty. Almost hot this late morning, some haze along with the sunshine.

Only 0.09" so far here. We're in the .1-.25 color - close enough. Average thru 9/17 is 1.84". I hope we get siggy rain before major leaf drop; could get some serious brush fires otherwise if we get a windy day with all that crispy fuel on the ground. Maybe my brother in Leland NC (10" over the past 2 days) could send some.

Significant leaf drop here from white ash and white birch, not much from other species, but this is very early. Colors are earlier than average too, despite the mild temps and no mornings below 38°. Yesterday was the month's 10th sunny/mostly sunny day, already a day above the September average (which is the most for any month here) and today looks like #11. Most sunny days in any month was 17 in March 2021; March average for sunny days is 8.6, 2nd highest here.

Significant leaf drop here from white ash and white birch, not much from other species, but this is very early. Colors are earlier than average too, despite the mild temps and no mornings below 38°. Yesterday was the month's 10th sunny/mostly sunny day, already a day above the September average (which is the most for any month here) and today looks like #11. Most sunny days in any month was 17 in March 2021; March average for sunny days is 8.6, 2nd highest here.

SNJ family read that feeding the hens their 'fresh' eggshells can lead to the critters eating their own eggs, so the shells get baked before going to the coop.

The latest "Forest Trees of Maine" booklet includes only bitternut (Carya cordiformis) and shagbark hickories, with the former only in a very limited range in far southern Maine. Looks like today will be our 10th sunny one in 15 days. We've never had a month with 2/3 of the days being sunny or mostly sunny. If the dryness continues, we may set another driest, to go with February (and Dec, March wettest as the precip rollercoaster continues).

About the same size if it's shagbark hickory.

We had 82/84 on Aug 1,2. Those are the only 80+ maxima since July 17. Maybe add a couple next week?

AFAIK, there's no hard evidence of a breeding population of mountain lions in NY/New England, but the road-killed animal in CT years ago was traced (by DNA) to west of the Mississippi. The one confirmed (by hair DNA) mountain lion in Maine since I moved here 51 years ago was in Cape Elizabeth, perhaps the least wild community in the state. Obviously a released pet; maybe its owner got tired of buying $100+ in meat every week. Mountain lions are very reclusive, but there are enough hunters, hikers, foresters and game cams out there that a breeding population would likely be revealed, by sighting or by the species' characteristic treatment of deer kills. (Or by the CT "method".)