Spring Banter, Observation and General Discussion 2018

[tamarack]

Had 72/23 yesterday, and the wood frogs had a major choral event last evening.  (Champion diurnal span I saw from GYX was BML's 75/22.)  Still a few snow patches in the woods near the house, and the shaded roadside piles on Mile Hill will make it into early May.  The 2 biggest snow dumps in Augusta may not be gone before early July, pending how much heat/RA we get between now and then. 

[Tom12309]

WFH, walked outside to pick up the recycling containers, 52 degrees 49 dewpoint never felt so good.  Spent some time speaking encouraging words to some rose bushes.  Unfortunately I think a couple of them have dead ears.  I cut them back last fall to mulch them for winter just before that stupid hot spell and they promptly cranked out all kinds of new growth.  I was afraid that was a bad thing and for a couple looks like it was a last gasp.

[Damage In Tolland]

5 hours ago, dendrite said:

Definite warm season smell to the air this morning with the onset of the rain. 

Farting and burping 

[dendrite]

26 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Farting and burping 

Glad we don't live there.

[#NoPoles]

This string of sunshine and average to warm temps we strung together in SNE, including the cape, has jumpstarted the leaf out process. The grass has greened up super quick and is growing. The blueberry shrubs have flower buds and baby leaves. My rose bushes and my potentilla and my JoePyeWeed all leaded out. Those horrid ornamental pear trees are getting ready to leaf out. Forsythias are blooming. I've seen some other flowering shrubs in the development, not sure what they are though. Oak leaves are always way behind everything, but at least the oak buds are noticeably bigger

[tamarack]

Not a sign of anything here beyond red maple flowers and aspen catkins.  Even the black willows are still asleep, and they're always the leaders.  Quaking aspen is next, a week or so later, then birches/maples/beech with their sequence varying by site (fertile = sooner) and tree vigor.  Once their buds break, beech goes from 1st green to 75%+ full leaves in less time than any other tree species here.  Red oak comes a week or two behind the previous mix, ash another 7-10 days, and the occasional roadside planting of black locust (a Midwest native) is last of all.  If we get the usual hard freeze during the 1st half of May, there probably won't be any vulnerable species with enough green to damage.

[eekuasepinniW]

Omg

 

[Damage In Tolland]

54 minutes ago, eekuasepinniW said:

Omg

 

Wish we lived there. Just once to experience that 

[powderfreak]

On 4/22/2018 at 3:58 PM, powderfreak said:

What a day out there!

 

Can really tell the mountain snowpack is starting to melt, as we haven't received much rain (maybe 0.3" or so) but the river continues to rise steadily.

Dews hit 50F at the ASOS now, so even without a lot of rain its interesting to see how fast the water has been rising this afternoon.

If we get the heat next week, the river should really ramp up as there's probably two feet of liquid equiv sitting on the mountain. 

[powderfreak]

Good to start melting the snow.

These are from yesterday at the mountain. 

Plowing out the Auto Toll Road on Mount Mansfield with an 8 foot snowpack.  96" at the COOP stake as of yesterday evening.

 

Snowpack drops to about 2 feet down at 1,600ft near the base of the Gondola (this is on the east/north facing aspect of Mansfield were Stowe's terrain is).  Crazy part is the south facing spots at this same elevation at Spruce Peak across the road only have patchy cover at the same elevation, showing how big a difference aspect makes this time of year.  Patchy cover on one aspect and a solid 2 feet at same elevation but different aspect.

[Baroclinic Zone]

1" of rain thus far.

[dendrite]

Why does every precip event have to push an inch or more?

[mahk_webstah]

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Why does every precip event have to push an inch or more?

I was hoping it would, after 4 sunny days and the planting I did this week.  Grass seed, collards, broccolini, kale.  I always look forward to long gentle rains this time of year, as long as they are balanced by sunny warm ones.  We are doing well so far.

[Typhoon Tip]

13 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Good to start melting the snow.

These are from yesterday at the mountain. 

Plowing out the Auto Toll Road on Mount Mansfield with an 8 foot snowpack.  96" at the COOP stake as of yesterday evening.

Snowpack drops to about 2 feet down at 1,600ft near the base of the Gondola (this is on the east/north facing aspect of Mansfield were Stowe's terrain is).  Crazy part is the south facing spots at this same elevation at Spruce Peak across the road only have patchy cover at the same elevation, showing how big a difference aspect makes this time of year.  Patchy cover on one aspect and a solid 2 feet at same elevation but different aspect.

 

Strongly suspect it is very late .. even at elevation. 

Typically by now we've passed through a kind of perennial-perfunctory flood warning along the CT River and that's yet to occur this spring even nearing May 1.  The impetus being that those river rises are caused by fluxes off elevation snow pack melt up N.

I kind of think of May as the polar argument to that whole debate whether March is a winter month .. only, is May a summer month?  Etc. 

Some years, like 2005 ...no way. Other years, I've seen it be 90s if it wasn't 80 all the time.  Then of course, it has snowed in Mays of lore ...which is why I'm inclined to not consider that a summer month, even though by standard calendar recognition, Memorial day is in May and is considered by most to be the first day of summer. Which is bull crap, because... June 21st is the Julian heritage calendar recognition by that standard; whereas even contrasting to that, June 1 begins summer to science.  It's all so stupid.. 

Either way, it seems weirdly late to still have yet to observe the surplus from snow melt on the Merrimack and Ct Rivers..  

[Baroclinic Zone]

12 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

1" of rain thus far.

1.80"

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, mahk_webstah said:

I was hoping it would, after 4 sunny days and the planting I did this week.  Grass seed, collards, broccolini, kale.  I always look forward to long gentle rains this time of year, as long as they are balanced by sunny warm ones.  We are doing well so far.

More flooding here. The lawn was still soggy from last week despite 3-4 days of low RH.

[#NoPoles]

Went to bed and had 1.08inches of rain. Woke up to 2.71inches of rain

Also, Go Bruins!

[Baroclinic Zone]

1 hour ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

1.80"

Tacked on another 0.10"

[HIPPYVALLEY]

16 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Tacked on another 0.10"

Been mostly sunny here this morning.  Brief shower around 8am.

Under 1" here we missed a lot of the heavier bands. 

[Typhoon Tip]

34 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Been mostly sunny here this morning.  Brief shower around 8am.

Under 1" here we missed a lot of the heavier bands. 

 

It's been a pretty spectacular turn around in a short duration since 7AM here in Middlesex... You can see it on Satellite how the dry slot came in and cleaned house very quickly.  We had putrid dank darkened dawn socked in so dense the sky was utterly opaque in this dimmed hoariness... with spritzers and bee-bee heavy down poors...  I set my coffee down at the office, peered over my shoulder not an hour later and the sun is shining hotly across the still wet pavement surfaces of the office complex...  I kinda wished I had paid attention because those two conditions could not have been more different ... That must have have been an abrupt transition scenario out of nowhere

[tamarack]

Had 0.81" at 7 AM, 77th out of 85 valid Maine cocorahs obs; tops was 2.44" (other than the 28.00" mistake that was tossed.)  Light to occasionally moderate RA in Augusta the past couple hours.  This will be the peak flow event for the Kennebec and its tribs unless we get a major RA event (like 4"+) in the next week or so.  Still enough snow in the St. John watershed to make some mess with just a 2" rain.

First frog-dodging drive while returning home from Farmington last evening, and first worm-drownings this morning - 2 sure signs that spring really means it. 

[Typhoon Tip]

 

This is kinda interesting...  study based upon that which those who regular the weather-related social media have always suspected/known anyway .. Yet, here is a study that treats it as a novel discovery. 

https://phys.org/news/2018-04-weather-sentiments-social-media.html

It's pretty widely accepted that climate effects culture evolution so ... it almost seems entirely intuitive that it all starts at the level of the individual... then, integrates into the whole anyway. Hm

[powderfreak]

6 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

Strongly suspect it is very late .. even at elevation. 

Typically by now we've passed through a kind of perennial-perfunctory flood warning along the CT River and that's yet to occur this spring even nearing May 1.  The impetus being that those river rises are caused by fluxes off elevation snow pack melt up N.

I kind of think of May as the polar argument to that whole debate whether March is a winter month .. only, is May a summer month?  Etc. 

Some years, like 2005 ...no way. Other years, I've seen it be 90s if it wasn't 80 all the time.  Then of course, it has snowed in Mays of lore ...which is why I'm inclined to not consider that a summer month, even though by standard calendar recognition, Memorial day is in May and is considered by most to be the first day of summer. Which is bull crap, because... June 21st is the Julian heritage calendar recognition by that standard; whereas even contrasting to that, June 1 begins summer to science.  It's all so stupid.. 

Either way, it seems weirdly late to still have yet to observe the surplus from snow melt on the Merrimack and Ct Rivers..  

It may becoming now because the local short-acting waterways are ripping right now up here.  The river out back that was ankle deep over pebbles (that photo from a few days ago) rose 12-18" yesterday and looks another couple feet higher this afternoon.  

I could canoe or kayak down this now.  Theres a lot of water coming out of the mountains, despite rainfall of only .5-.1.0".... it looks more like a 2-4" of summer rain.  My barometer of when the river is high is when my black lab, who swims daily gets to the river bank, looks at the high water and is like nope no thanks.  The most basic animal survival instinct, "I'm not going in there today."

[Typhoon Tip]

The vast open fields of devens are standard lawn grasses cut low for the hoards of summer little league sporting events... They were beige until the four days of sun and relative mild air, at the end of which they were a mixture of green patches mixed in.. After last nights soft rain at 56 F all night, the whole thing was emerald green .. 

[CoastalWx]

67 glorious degrees.

[forkyfork]

i love the predictable argument that happens every time the models show a ridge 

[Damage In Tolland]

3 hours ago, forkyfork said:

i love the predictable argument that happens every time the models show a ridge 

They just fight any warmth or heat. Like it just can’t happen . It’s maniacal 

[wxmanmitch]

We sping...

Mud season is now in its full glory. Still 80-90% snow coverage here above the 2K level, but it drops off quickly below that and everything below 1.5K is just isolated patches and piles in the deep shade. Just the sunny, south facing spots are bare up here. Upper 30s and low 40s overcast with a brisk NW wind today. What a world away from the coastal plain. 

 

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

They just fight any warmth or heat. Like it just can’t happen . It’s maniacal 

lol.  I haven't looked at much weather lately so don't have an opinion on the ridge, but this statement is hilarious when you consider your overall state of opinion for the past 6 months.  The same discussion not long ago would've had you talking confluence or blocking or whatever to keep the ridge at bay.

I mean, literally you have flipped a switch.  You've spent the last half a year fighting any warmth like it can't happen, be it general pattern or individual synoptic systems.  You need two different accounts depending on the time of year.

[powderfreak]

51 minutes ago, wxmanmitch said:

We sping...

Mud season is now in its full glory. Still 80-90% snow coverage here above the 2K level, but it drops off quickly below that and everything below 1.5K is just isolated patches and piles in the deep shade. Just the sunny, south facing spots are bare up here. Upper 30s and low 40s overcast with a brisk NW wind today. What a world away from the coastal plain.

Ha, that's hilarious for a livable spot.  Aside from some condos or very expensive home sites up here near the Stowe or Jay Peak base areas, you won't find anything like that snow cover for inhabited areas. 

To me its crazy the difference in elevation this time of year.  Also compounded by the fact that in the spring with increasing low level instability, differential heating and bigger ULLs/cold pool instability, the elevations can see a lot more clouds than the valleys.  Take the places that get more snow to begin with, and limit their insolation moreso than other areas, and it just seems to compound itself over time to lead to a bigger disparity.