NNE Winter Thread

[tamarack]

13 hours ago, alex said:

My crocus are flowering! Just crocus but hey, it’s a sign of spring. Forstythias don’t flower here - I have one but all you get is a few flowers on the very bottom

Twenty years ago we bought forsythia that was supposed to be very cold-hardy, but except for the winter that only reached -12, the thing never blossomed above the January snow depth.  A few years back it had but one single blossom, as if to mock us, so I dug it up and moved it to the edge of the woods (where it still doesn't blossom) and replaced it with an azalea.

Still 12-18" on the ground - except for south-facing hardwood land - around Pittston Farm, 10 miles from the north end of Moosehead Lake.  Roadside snowbanks were up to 4' high and the driving was - interesting.  Fortunately, that area missed the heavy rain, or we'd have been faced with blown out culverts on the homeward journey.

Edit:  Folks running the place said they'd had 15,000 sled visits during the winter, and during peak season (which was all of Jan-Feb and most of March) they would serve 6-700 lunches per weekend.

[powderfreak]

Another beautiful afternoon to play on the snow beach...

[wxeyeNH]

22 hours ago, alex said:

My crocus are flowering! Just crocus but hey, it’s a sign of spring. Forstythias don’t flower here - I have one but all you get is a few flowers on the very bottom

Alex,

I've noticed that the forsythia here some years have a hard time flowering too except the lower parts.  I think its because the shrubs can't take the super cold.  The lower parts get covered up with snow before the way below zero weather sets in.   That is my theory.

 

[wxeyeNH]

A friend of mine took his snowmobile up to the Canadian border and had surprisingly good sledding weather.  He posted a bunch of pictures and it looks like the ground is still all snow covered.

In keeping with the NNE gore animal  theme he also posted this picture.  I don't know if the moose was hit by a sled and died on the trail and was then eaten or if coyotes or something got to him/her first

[dryslot]

9 hours ago, tamarack said:

Twenty years ago we bought forsythia that was supposed to be very cold-hardy, but except for the winter that only reached -12, the thing never blossomed above the January snow depth.  A few years back it had but one single blossom, as if to mock us, so I dug it up and moved it to the edge of the woods (where it still doesn't blossom) and replaced it with an azalea.

Still 12-18" on the ground - except for south-facing hardwood land - around Pittston Farm, 10 miles from the north end of Moosehead Lake.  Roadside snowbanks were up to 4' high and the driving was - interesting.  Fortunately, that area missed the heavy rain, or we'd have been faced with blown out culverts on the homeward journey.

Edit:  Folks running the place said they'd had 15,000 sled visits during the winter, and during peak season (which was all of Jan-Feb and most of March) they would serve 6-700 lunches per weekend.

When i'm in the Jackman area i would be one of the 15,000 that visit Pittston Farms for lunch, Great food.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, wxeyeNH said:

A friend of mine took his snowmobile up to the Canadian border and had surprisingly good sledding weather.  He posted a bunch of pictures and it looks like the ground is still all snow covered.

In keeping with the NNE gore animal  theme he also posted this picture.  I don't know if the moose was hit by a sled and died on the trail and was then eaten or if coyotes or something got to him/her first

If it had been hit by a sled, we would have heard about it from somewhere and the guy who hit it might have looked like that too. 

[powderfreak]

28 minutes ago, mreaves said:

If it had been hit by a sled, we would have heard about it from somewhere and the guy who hit it might have looked like that too. 

Yeah I was thinking the snowmobiler would've died if he hit a moose hard enough to kill it. Odd place for it to end up but if weakened by disease or something, it would've sought out the packed down trail to travel instead of the deep woods.

[alex]

2 hours ago, wxeyeNH said:

Alex,

I've noticed that the forsythia here some years have a hard time flowering too except the lower parts.  I think its because the shrubs can't take the super cold.  The lower parts get covered up with snow before the way below zero weather sets in.   That is my theory.

 

Yes that’s exactly what it is. Just like rhododendrons. Bottom foot looks great and anything above that dies completely. 

It amazes me how the local big box stores carry mostly plants that are not hardy in Northern New England

[Lava Rock]

Yeah I was thinking the snowmobiler would've died if he hit a moose hard enough to kill it. Odd place for it to end up but if weakened by disease or something, it would've sought out the packed down trail to travel instead of the deep woods.

Maybe killed by ticks?

.

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

Maybe killed by ticks?
 

Always a possibility, though calf mortality due to them is down quite a bit from the 60% 2-3 years back.  Might've just been old - the cow moose that died on my woodlot in 2011, which fed many coyotes, had well-worn teeth that led our staff biologist to conclude that the beast had been at/near the end of a moose's normal lifespan.  The carcass was about half a mile from a paved road, so injury by vehicle could probably be ruled out.
 

When i'm in the Jackman area i would be one of the 15,000 that visit Pittston Farms for lunch, Great food.

At the men's retreat last week, food was served cafeteria-style, rather than cooked to order like the sledders' lunches, but the quality was all there.  They had made a few too many pumpkin pies and sent a few home with our crew, and my wife and I enjoyed our slices last evening - great spicing.

[backedgeapproaching]

Like the parting of the red sea down the CPV

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/?parms=local-Vermont-02-24-1-100-1&checked=map&colorbar=undefined

 

 

[powderfreak]

3 hours ago, backedgeapproaching said:

Like the parting of the red sea down the CPV

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/?parms=local-Vermont-02-24-1-100-1&checked=map&colorbar=undefined

 

 

That's a sweet catch.  Banana Valley there breaking out.

[wxeyeNH]

47.6F  Light ice pellets!

[J.Spin]

April totals: 4.5” Snow/6.06” L.E.

April precipitation totals are in, and while the month was a few inches lean on snowfall, it was still well within 1 S.D., so not unusual at all.  The previous four Aprils had all had snowfall in the 8-12” range, so that probably made this one seem a bit less snowy.  Seasonal snowfall as of the end of the month is at 193.2”, so we’re going to come in above average there regardless of what happens in May.

[tamarack]

April 2019:  Cloudy, cool, frequent precip though near normal total.

Avg. max:  47.8   -4.1    Mildest:  66, 19th and 22nd   Coldest max:  29, 9th.  (8th had afternoon max of 27.)
Avg. min:  28.7   +0.3   Coldest:  12, 2nd.  Mildest min: 45, 22nd
The 19.1° avg diurnal range is lowest of 21 Aprils, 0.9° ahead of 2007, our wettest and snowiest April.
Avg. mean:  38.25   -1.9   Mildest mean:  55.5, 22nd.  Coldest:  25.5, 9th

Precip:  4.24"   +0.23"   Greatest day:  1.14", 27th.  Month had measurable precip on 18 days, and ties 2007 for cloudiest April.

Snowfall:  7.7"  +2.6"   The 2 storms during April 8-10 brought 3.7" and 3.5".   3rd snowiest April (Deceptive:  1st is 37.2" in '07; 2nd 15.6" in '11; 4th 6.2" in '02.)

Month began with 26" pack, and the 4" left on 4/20 was down to traces the next day, ending 162 consecutive days with 1"+ (163 days total), tops by more than 2 weeks.

[IrishRob17]

On 4/29/2019 at 7:29 PM, wxeyeNH said:

Alex,

I've noticed that the forsythia here some years have a hard time flowering too except the lower parts.  I think its because the shrubs can't take the super cold.  The lower parts get covered up with snow before the way below zero weather sets in.   That is my theory.

 

Its obviously warmer down here but I have the opposite problem, the lower parts don't bloom but the upper parts do.  My theory is that its from the deer as I've seen them eating it.  Forsythia is considered deer resistant but if the deer are hungry enough, and we have quite the herd around me, they will eat pretty much anything.