weather

It is not supposed to amount to much, only a few inches or so. I have been talking with folks that are looking or book fishing trips next month and it is hard to even think fishing with the snow falling.  I spoke at the Norway Public Library as part of their Oxford Hills Reads Program on Monday evening with some general guidelines on what to do if you should find yourself lost in the woods.

Saturday was another snowstorm in a nearly record setting winter for us. The recent storm puts nearly every town from Bangor south at around 100 inches for the season.  As I understand it this is the 5^th snowiest winter on record and we still have March and April to go yet. I also saw that Concord NH has set a record for the snowiest winter since they have been keeping track.

One sign of spring that we don't like to talk about is the frost heaves.  Now for those of you from warmer parts of the world let me explain.  During the winter and ground freezes deeply, as it starts to thaw in the early spring it thaws from the surface down.  It also thaws unevenly some places, for instance over top of a culvert thaw quickly whereas the surrounding area thaws more slowly.  This difference creates unevenness in the road surface. 

It is raining this morning after a cold stretch. Yesterday morning it was clear and still with a temperature of just under 10 Fahrenheit. I spent part of the afternoon chipping ice out of the driveway, especially around the front door. The dogs were out it was warm for this winter and I was enjoying a fine winter day.

After two of weeks of fairly warm weather where it looked like the snow might even disappear.  Winter has returned, in fact we are in the middle of a very snowy stretch of whether.  We had snow on Wednesday Thursday and Friday and it is snowing again this morning.  None of these events have put down big accumulations but we seem to get five or six inches almost every time. The last couple of storms have been light and fluffy snow with little wind so everything is covered.

This morning is cold with a strong northeasterly breeze; I can see the snow showers off toward the coast that must be building our way.  Argy and I are working in the living room with a big fire in the fireplace. What a pleasant way to spend a morning!

We are in what is usually the coldest part of our winter and it just what we expect. This morning the temperature was a little below zero Fahrenheit without a cloud in the sky. Luckily the strong wind that was forecast has not shown up. Yes we have a breeze but not the serious wind that can make a cold day miserable. The moon is full tomorrow night which gives the spectacular nights lit by the glow of the moon reflected on the snow. It is nearly as bright as day but the light has a different quality.

Freezing rain, snow and sleet this morning but it is forecast to be all rain by afternoon. The wind is out of the southeast at fifteen or so, a cold and damp uncomfortable day by any measure. A great day to be working inside luckily I am in the office most of the day working on a few projects. The bird feeder is full and attracting a crowd of chickadees filling up before the storm really gets going.

Yesterday Argy and I drove to Bar Harbor and spent the day skiing with our son in Acadia National Park. After the cold and clear week we enjoyed a warm and cloudy day. Many people were out on the trails skiing and snowshoeing. In the distance we could hear snowmobilers enjoying the day as well. We skied for about four hours and had a great time. On that heavily used trail there were surprising signs of wildlife. We saw fox and coyote tracks, squirrel tracks and two places where mink had crossed the trail.

December was a very snowy month here and January seems to be following the same theme. Without going through each storm of the last couple of weeks there is nearly three feet of snow on the ground this morning. Most of it is soft and fluffy not able to hold up even my widest snowshoes. I snow shoed for a while yesterday and sank down at least a foot even with the snowshoes on but it was great to be out. Only Woody the golden retriever tagged along but even he tired quickly in the deep snow. Interestingly he sank up to his chest even in my tracks.