tamarack

Finished with 2.1" from 0.09" LE, nice 23:1 fluff. The afternoon snow showers/squalls passed to the south.

Same amount here, then 3.5 hours of no-measurable tiny flakes under thin clouds, temp remaining <20. At 1 PM, 3 at FVE, 41 at ASH.

Ouch! My wife said roads were slick as she traveled to Farmington. Once again a small event can be more dangerous than a heavy fall. When visibility is <1/4 mile, folks slow down. Over 1/2 mile, let's roll.

Had 1.5" of 30:1 fluff by 8 AM, now it's teenyflakes, outside chance to reach 2", temp near 10. January's biggest snow event.

At 2 PM we had upper teens and falling, winds 20G30, WCI near zero. Brisk

Would be nice if that was US Route 2.

Never been caught by a squall while driving but had a 30-second burst from a 6.4" storm that dropped visibility such that I couldn't see parked cars 5 yards away. I've twice had white-outs under sunny skies, first on Jan 30, 1971 at Crown Pt, NY with the north wind plus 4" fresh powder having the entirety of Champlain for its fetch - couldn't spot the headlights of an oncoming car until within 10 yards. #2 was westbound on the Trans-Canada along the frozen St. Lawrence on April 6, 1977, with SW winds gusting 40+. The range road accessing the TC was total white-out (couldn't see the front end of the hood) when driving thru a cut. The throttle cable of my 6-cyl full size pickup was iced by the blowing snow and I firewalled the pedal trying unsuccessfully to loosen it, but fortunately the non-aerodynamic 1976 rig would only make 55 mph pushing into that wind and the TC was elevated enough that the snow was mostly too low to be a hindrance. I rode the beast 40 miles to my exit, St.-Jean-Port-Joli, turned off the engine then coasted to a stop in the first open lot, scraped the ice from the cable and went merrily on my way to St.-Pamphile.

Probably Jan 28, 2010. Had 1" from that one and Rumford, where we were at a meeting, had ~2" with howling winds and a 10°+ drop in temp. By far the strongest squall since we lived in Fort Kent. (Unfortunately, that was the last true winter event for the 09-10 season.)

Only quake I've felt was on Jan 9, 1982 - awakened us on a cold (-23) Saturday morning. My wife felt a significant (~5.0) aftershock 2 days later, but I didn't notice as I was driving home from work on a bumpy gravel road. Epicenter was near Plaster Rock, NB and 5.8 or 5.9. About half of Maine had effects of a 5+. It caused several hairline cracks on our foundation, which became leaks during the very rainy April of 1983.

The 1.4" (0.09" LE) from Monday's clipper is hanging tough. Cold temps and 7" glacial pack underneath help. Another sunny day with 30° diurnal range. 1st 10 days of the month had precious little sunshine, so the catch-up is welcomed.

Too far east here, only 6". 4.5" came 5:30-7 PM, a little taste of what was happening in southern VT/NH.

10 years for the northern Greens, 10,000 years for here.

On our Japan trip 9 years ago, it took 8 hours to fly Honolulu-Tokyo, about 3,800 miles. Coming back, Tokyo-SFO (5,200 miles) took the same 8 hours, with ground speed above 800 at times. 4th straight subzero morning and tomorrow is forecast for #5.

Only -4 this morning after -14 and -15 lows. Last evening looked to be headed for another minus-teens morning until the clouds arrived. At 8:15 it was -6 here then popped up to zero by 8:30 and was locked into that temp thru 11 PM.

This. Jan departures and snowfall: 2023 +9.0° 29.9" 2024 +4.7° 29.9" 2025 +0.9° 3.5" My guess is that we finish +/- 0.5°. This month's highs are -0.9°. lows +2.7°.

We had -42 on Dec 20, 1980 in Fort Kent, 2nd coldest in our 10 years there. Our chief forester had gassed up at the office, climbed in, shut the door and backed up while looking over his right shoulder. But the door latch was stiff and failed to hold, allowing the door to swing open and make minor contact with a parked car. When he tried to shut the door, it fell off, the steel hinges having snapped in the cold. He waited until noon when the temp got up to -20, but it was still a cold 2-mile door-less trip to the dealer.

Dec 30 was an extraordinary date for Central Park. In addition to the -13, 12/30 hit -6 in both 1880 and 1933. The 1880 day had a max of 4, tying with 2/5/1918 (that winter didn't quit) for 2nd coldest. Coldest morning there, -15 on Feb 9, 1934, reached 8° in the afternoon. The Farmington co-op recorded -11/-36 on 12/30/1917. That tied Jan 9, 1968 for coldest max. The daily mean of -23.5 is the coldest at the co-op and was 41° BN. Their coldest min was -39 on Jan 20, 1994, but the high that day was a mere -1 and the mean of -20 is 2nd coldest.

That 1917-18 week set a lot of records. NYC had temps of 8/-6, 2/-13, 6/-7, 10/-4, 10/2, 12/0, 18/-3. Week average: 9.4/-4.4/2.5 A century later (and a lot farther north) we bridged into the new year with 6/-16, -3/-14, -1/-31, 7/-25, 1/-18, 1/-24, 6/-27 Week average: 2.4/-22.1/-10.9

Last evening the temp was 7° colder than the same time the evening before, but today's -15 is only 1° colder than yesterday. IZG hit -21 and we're usually right about the same. Maybe I need to surrender my rad pit badge? I think this winter may be a correction from the Jan-Feb distribution of the 2 previous. Feb is still our snowiest month, but the gap is less than half what it was after 2022, as Jan 23+24 had 150% of its average while Feb had only 45% of its norm. Now we need the usual (or better?) Feb to right the ship.

If we can dodge snow thru the 31st, this will be the least snowy January I've seen since 1969. The next month brought the "Mayor Lindsey" storm that paralyzed NYC, in part because a forecast cold rain turned into 15" of paste.

On full rad nights our frost pocket can be at least 10° colder than the GYX forecast. Wind was still active at 10:30 last evening, so "only" -13 here instead of the -17 that IZG reported - I'm usually close to that spot. Coldest I saw was -24 at BML.

He's in Guilford, not far from the state's geographic center. Fringed even worse than here.

North fringe here, 1.4" with 0.09" LE. It still was this month's biggest dump.

The 90%/most-likely/10% from GYX are as wide as I've seen. Skowhegan's numbers are <1/6/14. Uncertainty continues.

Adjacent zones the S and E have watches while S. Franklin (Z-13) doesn't. All 3 have 3-7 predicted but 13's threshold is 8". We take, whether it's 3 or 7, as it will move us past 2014 for least snowy January.