NNE rollin' through summer

[Lava Rock]

This is starting to remind me of some past winters where we always seem to get screwed. Looks like we missed a nice slug again. Never thought I'd want rain so badly.

[dendrite]

First slug of rain has brought me up to 0.00" so far.

I need a rain gauge that measures in thousands of an inch.

0.12" here.

59.6F

[powderfreak]

I have always tought of BTV as Northwest VT, Washington County (Barre - Montpelier area) as Central VT and South of a line from rougly White River Jct. to Middlebury as Massachusetts! I think that the area from Rutland to Montpelier is considered Central VT by many. I remember reading some time ago, that the gegraphic center of the state is in Roxbury, about 20 miles south of Montpelier.

In the ski world, everything south of Killington is Massachusetts... haha.

[powderfreak]

North of I-89 BTV to MPV to Rte 302 to Wells River is Northern Vt

South of Rte 4 is Southern Vt.

In between is Central VT

Yeah I agree with this the most... I always use the Winooski Valley (I-89 corridor from MPV to BTV) as the demarcation between the Northern Greens and Central Greens. Climate wise it also makes the most sense as that's where snowfall really bumps up a bit from the Bolton area northward. South of RT 4 (Killington/Rutland/Woodstock) is Southern VT, ie the Berkshires.

[powderfreak]

What do you do with Addison county here (west of Windsor)?

Addison County is central VT... or as BTV likes to say "South-Central VT"

[Allenson]

Certainly seems to be our theme this a summer, just some sprinkles here as well this afternoon. I am hoping this next slug holds together, but I have to be honest, the way things have gone, I don't have much confidence. Let's hope Mother Nature proves me wrong .

Coming down nicely at the moment. Rain, beautiful rain.

[hvysnow79]

Coming down nicely at the moment. Rain, beautiful rain.

That's great, I see it on radar and appears to be right on my door step. Was just outside with the kids and there was a few sprinkles, but does look noticeable darker to the West .

[J.Spin]

What do you do with Addison county here (west of Windsor)?

Oh it looks like I had a typo in there, so I fixed it in the original message. It should be the northern border of Bennington and Windam Counties (the two southernmost counties in Vermont) that is sometimes used as a Central/Southern Vermont divider (it’s also the northern border of NWS Albany’s forecast area in Vermont). Addison County is definitely central Vermont in my mind; you can’t get much more central since it has two counties above it and two counties below it. That’s the same rationale I’d go with for Orange County, but as we’ve seen in the discussion, it can depend on whether the focus is on climate similarity of simply physical location.

[mreaves]

In that example I was thinking of Orange County as part of Northern Vt because it seems like the Chelsea/ Vershire/ Corinth area runs cold and snowy while the Champlain Valley runs warmer for Addison County. Only about 7 weeks until the Tunbridge Fair!!!

The areas of OC that you mention are pretty much the dividing line in my mind. Allenson noted the spruce line which is north of those towns and seems to almost follow 302. There is a different feel to the town of Washington than neighboring Chelsea, though the differences are subtle and diminish at elevation. One thing that a newbie like adk needs to experience is this part of VT. Different in some ways from the more well known parts of the state and I'm not sure I can really pinpoint why. Of course, the Tunbridge World's Fair is an absolute must.

[MaineJayhawk]

In these parts, some lucky ones picked up a third to a half of an inch last night; others got bent over and received only a few hundredths. I think I fell in the former category judging by what it sounded like around midnight. Need more later this week.

[adk]

Rained pretty robustly here in south BTV. I'd estimate about .5 of an inch over all.

Temps in the low 60s. With a damp breeze last night it felt downright cool. Quite a change from 48 hours ago.

Stunning shot from the NWS Mansfield Cam this am:

[klw]

Oh it looks like I had a typo in there, so I fixed it in the original message. It should be the northern border of Bennington and Windam Counties (the two southernmost counties in Vermont) that is sometimes used as a Central/Southern Vermont divider (it’s also the northern border of NWS Albany’s forecast area in Vermont). Addison County is definitely central Vermont in my mind; you can’t get much more central since it has two counties above it and two counties below it. That’s the same rationale I’d go with for Orange County, but as we’ve seen in the discussion, it can depend on whether the focus is on climate similarity of simply physical location.

And I messed up when I asked if you had because while I wrote Addision I meant Rutland County. I really should have stopped when we were ahead.

[Allenson]

Picked up 0.73" last evening. Loved it.

The areas of OC that you mention are pretty much the dividing line in my mind. Allenson noted the spruce line which is north of those towns and seems to almost follow 302.

Well, the spruce/fir line through OC comes down parallel to the Connecticut River, inland a ways, through the higher, back sides of Newbury & Bradford, then it bends SW, just below Corinth, through Vershire and actually down into Strafford some, above 1000'. From there, it seems to run right toward Chelsea village or just north of it. From there, I'm not certain where it goes but I would guess that the West Hill of Chelsea is inside the spruce/fir zone and of course Brookfield.

I'm not sure about Randolph and Braintree in SW OC or where exactly the spruce/fir line wraps around Barre & Montpelier.

Also, I don't mean to imply that spruce & fir is the dominant forest type in our area here--it's not. But, north of the green line that I drew on this map is where spruce & fir start to make their presence well-known, particularly in cold wet hollows above roughly 700-800'.

The red dot is where our place is.

Interestingly enough, the line that I drew roughly corresponds with the southern boundary of the "northern piedmont" on this VT Fish & Wildlife map.

[tamarack]

Picked up 0.73" last evening. Loved it.

Also, I don't mean to imply that spruce & fir is the dominant forest type in our area here--it's not. But, north of the green line that I drew on this map is where spruce & fir start to make their presence well-known, particularly in cold wet hollows above roughly 700-800'.

Had 0.39" sometime prior to 4 AM, quite unexpected as the radar wasn't promising when I turned the lights out last evening (just as play began at Fenway.) The first tiny shower had dumped a whole 0.03" yest afternoon. Now if we can get thumped a bit this afternoon... Sun tried to come out a few minutes ago here in AUG, but I don't see much solar boost to the storms here or MBY.

I'd "define" the spruce-fir zone as that area where those species (and Northern white cedar) replace pine/hemlock as the major softwoods. MBY is pretty close to that line, though land use history has sure fuzzed up the boundary. Fir is easily the leading species on my 80-acre woodlot, but the huge pine stumps on the eastern of the two abutting 40-acre lots tell of a different mix before the 1980 harvest there, as do the smaller and 10 yr younger pine stumps on 4-5 acres of the westerly lot. Pre-1980, fir and pine were probably neck and neck for predominance. Red maple is currently 2nd and white ash a distant 3rd. After that, no significant difference among pine (all white), sugar maple, brown ash, and cedar.

[Allenson]

I'd "define" the spruce-fir zone as that area where those species (and Northern white cedar) replace pine/hemlock as the major softwoods.

I was wondering what your thoughts the whole spruce/fir issue might be. Around my area, spruce and fir certainly replace hemlock but the white pines seem to hang on and be pretty mixed in with the aforementioned. We don't have much in the way of northern white cedar--there are a few here & there, but a little west of here and a bit south of Barre, there's quite a bit of it for some reason or another.

[dendrite]

Where is Eek? Looks like that cell nailed him.

[tamarack]

I was wondering what your thoughts the whole spruce/fir issue might be. Around my area, spruce and fir certainly replace hemlock but the white pines seem to hang on and be pretty mixed in with the aforementioned. We don't have much in the way of northern white cedar--there are a few here & there, but a little west of here and a bit south of Barre, there's quite a bit of it for some reason or another.

Correct about the pine - it doesn't drop out this side of the St. Lawrence, just diminishes (usually) to #4 softwood behind spruce/fir/cedar, rather than competing with hemlock for #1. Hemlock is pretty much gone before one gets to the northern tip of Maine. The most northerly (climatically - actually NW'ly) stand of hemlock (as opposed to a tree or two) of which I'm aware is on a public lot in the town of Allagash, southeast of the village itself.

Some very nice pine grows well north of here. Don't know if you watched "American Loggers" on Discovery, but earlier this year the program showed them felling some 30" by 100' pines. This was in the area of Chamberlain and Big Eagle Lakes, west of Baxter Park. The actual cut was last summer/fall (our green certification team missed the cameras by half a day, probably just as well as it would've messed with the audit), and we were leaving the biggest and best for a later harvest 15-20 years down the road or beyond.

[dendrite]

Hopefully this holds together long enough to wallop me. I can hear loud thunder already.

[HoarfrostHubb]

Wells, ME area getting rocked

[Lava Rock]

woot woot! 0.5" today. we'll see how the lawn reacts.

[wxeyeNH]

Just got back from visiting the folks in Baltimore. I just can't describe last Thur and Friday. 106F with a dew of 74F just feels literally like a furnace. Left the Duncan Donut empty plastic cup in the car cup holder and found it totally melted. Should have taken a picture.

Anyhow landed at MHT early PM Had .30" in the bucket from overnight rain. Then .90" in a nice T storm around 3-4pm, Brian did you get the real heavy cell that just went to my south? Then .15" in another light T shower around 7:30pm. So a very benefital 1.35" in the recent event. Really needed that.

Glad to be home!

Gene

[eekuasepinniW]

FML.

Can't have a happy medium. Just wanted a nice storm... ended up getting an insane purple-pixel long-ass hailstorm that made the all the planning and work I've done since last September for nothing. The tropical garden was obliterated. Just add mayonnaise and you'd have tropical cole slaw. I don't even understand how some of the damage was physically possible.

Most of the stones were 1" to 1.5" though I'm sure there were plenty of bigger ones. I didn't go looking for them until about 30 minutes after it stopped.

More pics and a better recap tomorrow or whenever my blood pressure comes down.

You can see the grit on the ground that was pounded off the roof shingles.

[nzucker]

I'm really sorry to hear about the tropical garden, you put a lot of effort into that, and it is beautiful. Do you think it will bounce back?

I had a bad hail storm hit my vegetable garden in July 2008...it leveled some things but most of the veggies recovered.

[MaineJayhawk]

Sorry about the garden, eek. People say they want to see hail and I just don't understand why if you own any property (cars, lush tropical plants, etc) that is outdoors.

About a third of an inch in mby, southern York County got hit pretty good with over an inch in some areas.

[Bigbob]

FML.

Can't have a happy medium. Just wanted a nice storm... ended up getting an insane purple-pixel long-ass hailstorm that made the all the planning and work I've done since last September for nothing. The tropical garden was obliterated. Just add mayonnaise and you'd have tropical cole slaw. I don't even understand how some of the damage was physically possible.

Most of the stones were 1" to 1.5" though I'm sure there were plenty of bigger ones. I didn't go looking for them until about 30 minutes after it stopped.

More pics and a better recap tomorrow or whenever my blood pressure comes down.

You can see the grit on the ground that was pounded off the roof shingles.

A few years back when Exeter, NH had the bad hail storms, alot of roofs were damaged and insurance cos paid to replace them. You may want to call your agent.

[wxeyeNH]

FML.

Can't have a happy medium. Just wanted a nice storm... ended up getting an insane purple-pixel long-ass hailstorm that made the all the planning and work I've done since last September for nothing. The tropical garden was obliterated. Just add mayonnaise and you'd have tropical cole slaw. I don't even understand how some of the damage was physically possible.

Most of the stones were 1" to 1.5" though I'm sure there were plenty of bigger ones. I didn't go looking for them until about 30 minutes after it stopped.

More pics and a better recap tomorrow or whenever my blood pressure comes down.

You can see the grit on the ground that was pounded off the roof shingles.

Sorry for your loss!! I drove up Rt 93 as that bad boy was just to the west and almost pulled off to wait for it to go over me. Decided to keep going and missed it. Would have loved to have experienced it but on the other hand have a brand new car so maybe not. Was there lots of garden damage around Laconia or was it just that you had things like banana plants that got damaged?

[eekuasepinniW]

Ok so I never really thought I'd see something like it here. Started off as a pretty routine looking storm and I was sitting out front watching it roll in. Enjoyed a brilliant strike of lightning land in the lake across the street. I was pumped. Yay storm at last!

Then I heard the sound of heavy raindrops pounding the metal roofs of the dozen or so giant boat storage buildings across the Weirs channel. Then it got loud; way louder than ever before. My blood pretty much ran cold at that point because I knew it wasn't just rain. Took about a minute for it to cross the channel and bam... marble sized hail at first. Not just a little hail mixed with rain... this was like just pure hail which quickly grew larger. It was so freaking loud!

Figured my plants would be ok... usually the hail we get here lasts maybe 30 seconds. How bad could it be? Turns out the hail would last 12 long deafening minutes. The last 2-3 minutes of hail were the most intense... the grass was covered at this point and it was all foggy. The wind shifted and gazillions of shredded leaves just started raining down into the parking lot from the trees behind us. They clogged the storm drain causing the parking lot to flood. It kind of looked like that video of the giant hail splashing into a pool that's on youtube.

Had the storm gone 2 miles further north or south, nothing would have happened. It was so tiny.

Very little wind even though LCI had a 47mph gust.

Soil temp dropped from 74 to 57.

I have video of the entire thing from start to finish. The lens fogged up and was covered in water for most of it, plus it's also shakey because I was shivering. I'll see if I can extract a few decent clips from it.

I'm really sorry to hear about the tropical garden, you put a lot of effort into that, and it is beautiful. Do you think it will bounce back?

I had a bad hail storm hit my vegetable garden in July 2008...it leveled some things but most of the veggies recovered.

The one single plant I was most looking forward to seeing reach full size was my castor bean (back of the first picture).... it was already 7 feet tall with 30" wide leaves and a 3" thick stem. One of them had the top broken off and the other lost every leaf. The banana leaves were so finely shredded that they look like queen palm leaves now. Most of the stuff will come back eventually, but the more impressive big-leaved plants will probably take 4-5 weeks which wastes the bulk of the remaining growing season. It kills me because we advertise our business as having these gardens, and we have several guests coming next week that pick us just to see how things are coming.

It's amazing how complete some plants were defoliated. The yellow sweet potato vine in the first pic had probably 90% of it's leaves stripped... you can see the stems the leaves used to be on poking up.

I feel bad for people in the plains that get hail twice this size.

Before pics:

After:

One last before shot that I don't have an after-shot for yet:

[eekuasepinniW]

Sorry for your loss!! I drove up Rt 93 as that bad boy was just to the west and almost pulled off to wait for it to go over me. Decided to keep going and missed it. Would have loved to have experienced it but on the other hand have a brand new car so maybe not. Was there lots of garden damage around Laconia or was it just that you had things like banana plants that got damaged?

Thanks. I went for a drive last night and judging from the leaf debris in the road, the hail swath was quite narrow. This storm was just for me I guess.

[mreaves]

Hey Powderfreak, saw a story on WCAX last night about the new lift construction at the mountain and thought of you. The Stowe rep's name was Scott Reeves, the same as my brother's name (except for the spelling of his last name). Anyway, it looks like you will have a quicker commute this winter.

[powderfreak]

Hey Powderfreak, saw a story on WCAX last night about the new lift construction at the mountain and thought of you. The Stowe rep's name was Scott Reeves, the same as my brother's name (except for the spelling of his last name). Anyway, it looks like you will have a quicker commute this winter.

Haha yep... Monday and Tuesday we had the helicopter taking down the towers and I have some pictures of that as I had an awesome view of the process from 3,700ft. Pretty darn cool to watch that thing in action; it was a massive helicopter formerly used by an off-shore oil company.

And yep, when I'm posting here in the winter I'm usually about 15 feet from Scott Reeves (his office is right next door) and work very closely with him. He's the VP of Mountain Operations here at the mountain. I'm his weather consultant, haha.

And here's a scenic shot from 8am yesterday morning around 3,000ft (around 1,400ft below the summit) just off one of our work roads.