Tuesday, January 31, 2006, 12:45 pm: It’s snowing and I’ve had my cup of espresso. The NWS in Caribou is expecting about an inch for the Saint John Valley. This seems like a fairly typical northern Maine day for January. I have to admit, I think it should be a bit colder for this time of year.

This morning my wife is in Madawaska doing volunteer income-tax preparation. I hope her drive home is safe. It’s snowing just enough to make the roads a little slick in places. Let’s see if our all-wheel drive vehicle lives up to its advertising.

We haven’t seen any large wildlife in the last few months. As the snowbanks along the roads get higher, our chances seem to get smaller, until spring, to see many moose.

This is a good day to loaf and relax, but chores await me. My wife would probably wince, but I am patting myself on the back for all my energy – must be all the caffeine.

Current values form our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 23.3 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.95 and falling rapidly

Humidity: 77%

Wind: NE at 2 mph and variable

Visibility: < .5 mile

Precipitation: Snowing

Since midnight:

Low temp: 19.4 degrees (F.) at 5:05 am

High wind: 10 mph at 12:37 pm

Sunday, January 29, 2006, 10:00 am: This can’t be January: It was almost balmy yesterday with a high temperature of 40.5 degrees Fahrenheit and a high wind speed of 28 mph. Can you believe it? If this were the 1950s, I would blame it all on atomic bomb testing. Yeah I know it was all an urban myth. Now I’ve gone and done it; I’ve dated myself.

Yesterday when we drove to “town” the roads between Grand Isle and Presque Isle were a little slushy in the morning. By the time we returned the roads were clear. Our car now has a very noticeable coating of mud and salt. Local car washes here in northern Maine do a great business in the winter months trying to keep body rust at bay.

Today it is a little colder and just as windy with a high wind speed of 28 mph. The wind is generally out of the north, so we can smell the nose-tweaking odor of the paper mill in Madawaska about 13 miles away.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 13 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 30.02 and rising slowly

Humidity: 63%

Winds: NW to N at 8 mph and variable

Visibility: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temp: 11.4 degrees (F.) at 7:24 am

High wind: 28 mph at 2:08 am

On U.S. Route One
South of Van Buren Maine

Friday, January 27, 2006, 8:40 am: It’s not as cold as I thought it would be at this time. Yesterday, the temperature dropped from the teens to single digits as soon as the sun dropped below the tree line. We were expecting minus temperatures during the night, but it never got below five degrees Fahrenheit. That occurred after we were eating breakfast. The wind chill was in the minus numbers at various times throughout the night.

We still have lots of snow accumulated on the ground (see photo below). The snow banks on our road are quite high. They are like a safety net in the event I go sliding off the side of the road. I’ve proven I can do that with great ease on more than one occasion.

Yesterday afternoon we drove into Madawaska to take care of some business, and the roads were clear and ice-free. Our town, Grand Isle, is very small and doesn’t have the population [ ca. 500 people] to support many businesses. In fact, if you blink too many times you’ll drive right through town and miss it. It is a quaint, northern New England, rural town. We like it.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 10 degrees (F.)

Wind Chill: 3 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 30.26 and rising slowly

Humidity: 65%

Winds: NW at 8 mph

Visibility: A few scattered high clouds – generally clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 5.4 degrees (F.) at 7:00 am

Low wind chill: -3 degrees (F.) at 4:07 am

High wind: 18 mph at 4:17 am

The snow bank in front of our house

Thursday, January 26, 2006, 9:00 am: Good morning from a cool, crisp and sunny northern Maine. For January it is relatively mild, with an emphasis on relative. Today we have unlimited visibility and 16 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although we did get some snow, the one to two inches predicted for yesterday really didn’t materialize. Our town’s snowplow driver is busy trying to break up the ice buildup where our road meets U. S. Route One.

Last week when I wrote in this blog about driving through a white-out, Hendricus Lulofs of the NWS in Caribou said we had a snow squall, which by his professional definition is “ . . . a very concentrated narrow and heavy patterns of snowfall, contributing greatly to white-outs.” He certainly got all of those points right on the money.

My wife has just left for Presque Isle where she is finishing her training for this year as a volunteer tax preparer for the low-income and elderly, sponsored by the IRS and the AARP. She is dedicated! When she returns we’ll have our afternoon Kaffeeklatsch [coffee, cake and conversation] and muse about the weather, friends and relatives, all of which are beyond our control.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 16 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.86 and rising rapidly

Humidity: 72%

Winds: NW at 3 mph and variable

Visibility: Unlimited

Precipitation: None

Since Midnight

Low Temperature: 14.4 degrees (F.) at 7:47 am

High wind: N at 16 mph at 3:01 am

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 9:55 am: It seems to be snowing lightly with the sun trying to occasionally peek through the clouds. We are expecting more snowfall by this evening, perhaps one to two inches of accumulation according to the NWS in Caribou. The visibility is about 1½ miles so I can just barely see into New Brunswick today.

Railroad tracks cross U.S. Route One in two places near our home, and the railroad has been busy clearing ice at these crossing points. I don’t envy their hearty maintenance workers; they are out working in such frigid conditions that they must wear insulated coveralls. They are so covered, insulated and protected against the elements they look like they are at Little America in Antarctica. Just across the border, the Canadian railroad parallels the U.S. tracks and they do similar work. Once in awhile, usually at night, we hear the train engineer blast his horn. We always imagine there is a moose or deer on the track and eventually it will lumber out of the way.

For today, at our house, it’s chores as usual, including; bringing in firewood, feeding the wild birds, and shoveling snow off the steps. There is not enough snow to fire up our snowblower. As for yesterday’s “Grand Cleaning” spearheaded by my wife, she outvoted me – but I nevertheless survived the event.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 26 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.63 and steady

Humidity: 76%

Wind: E. at 3 mph and variable

Visibility: 1½ miles and variable

Precipitation: Snowing lightly

Low temp. since midnight: 17.5 at midnight

High wind since midnight: 3 mph at 9:52 am

Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 11:15 am: It’ overcast today and we seem to be in the middle of two weather systems, or at least a lull in severe weather for a day or two. So our snowblower stays put in the garage for today.

My wife is busy doing her “Grand Cleaning” of the house today. If anyone was ever in the military it would be the equivalent of a G.I. Party. Except for my daily chores, I haven’t been drafted into doing some suicidal household cleaning task. I think my number is about up. At 24 degrees Fahrenheit, we even have our windows open to let in fresh air.

This morning we had our deluxe continental breakfast this morning. This includes, toast, juice, marmalade, cheese, leberwurst, yogurt with fruit, and of course five-alarm coffee, which because of its viscosity doubles as motor oil. But you didn’t hear that from me.

From our Vantage-Pro weather station at 11:20 am:

Temperature: 23 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.78 and steady

Humidity: 81%

Winds: S. 2 mph and variable

Skies: Overcast

Visibility: > 1mile

Low temp. today: 11.9 degrees (F.) at 3:31 am

High winds today: 5 mph at 8:26 am

Saturday, January 21, 2006, 4:10 pm: Lots snow and rain today. If I were writing this blog at 8:00 am it would have said, it’s snowing. In fact, we received six inches of snow. From about 9:00 am until about two hours ago I would have said, it’s raining cats and dogs. Now that I’ve procrastinated long enough about writing today’s blog, it is back to snow, and snowing heavily.

Luckily I was out early enough with our snowblower to clear our driveway, so the melting snow doesn’t all turn into ice. Now once again it’s below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the snow isn’t melting away -- just yet.

Northern Maine isn’t too full of surprises in the winter. There is lots of snow, of course, and frigid temperatures. From my experience, when I am outside in minus temperatures, I can’t tell if it is -15 or -30 degrees; it all feels the same to me. Perhaps the only difference being I get colder quicker at the lower temperatures. Click here for our weather.

Today’s weather from our
Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temp: 29 degrees (F.)

Barometer: 29.45 and falling slowly

Humidity: 94%

Wind: N at 3 mph

Precipitation: Currently snowing heavily

Visibility: < ½ mile

Low temp. since midnight: 28.5 degrees (F.) at 4:05 pm

High wind since midnight: 8 mph at 3:36 pm

Friday, January 20, 2006, 7:15 pm: It certainly has been some very unusual weather the last few days. Two days ago our high wind speed was 44 mph and 48 degrees Fahrenheit, and yesterday it was 32 mph but died down quickly by late morning.

Yesterday my wife and I drove to Presque Isle for some groceries. We left around 8:30 am under partially cloudy skies. Expecting an unremarkable drive we set out listening to our audio book in our car. While passing through Connor we drove straight into a white-out. It was so severe that when we pulled off to the side of the road, we couldn’t see the edge of the pavement. Also there were cars all over the road some had crashed into each other. We were parked behind a car that had its front smashed in.

After about ten minutes, we took a calculated risk and set off at a heart pounding 2 mph. We knew it was bad when the logging trucks were pulled off the road, and it takes a lot to get those guys to stop. Eventually we drove clear of the white-out and took a detour to the NWS in Caribou. I reported the severe weather to Hendricus Lulofs meteorologist-in-charge. He showed me the radar image of the event and a similar one farther south in Maine. Once we drove into Caribou all the bad weather was behind us and the drive to Presque Isle was a piece of cake.

Besides near misses with moose and other wildlife, yesterday was the single most dangerous day of driving since we moved to Maine in 1998. Phew! What a day.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 30 degree (F.)

Humidity: 88%

Barometer: 29.89 and steady

Wind: Calm

Skies: Overcast

High temp. today: 31.3 degrees (F.) at 6:20 pm

Low temp. today: 12.3 degrees (F.) at 1:05 am

High wind today: 8 mph at 7:11 pm

Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 9:45 am: Good morning Maine and the rest of the world. We are expecting freezing rain, sleet and high winds this afternoon. We’ve stockpiled some firewood inside the house so we don’t have to negotiate slippery paths in the snow later today or tomorrow. We canceled our weekly drive into Presque Isle for provisions.

We were in New Brunswick yesterday, and the Trans-Canada Highway was generally clear with only a few patches of ice. Expecting to see some ice built up on the Saint John River, I brought along my new digital camera for some dramatic photographs. Unfortunately it was just a normal frozen river and not very photogenic -- maybe another day.

As I write this weather blog, the snow has started to turn into freezing rain and ice pellets. It’s a good day to stay inside, eat cheesecake and sip espresso. To view our weather please click here. It is updated every 15 minutes throughout the day.

Current value from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 23 degrees F.

Barometer: 30.02 and falling rapidly

Humidity: 86%

Winds: SE at 12 mph and gusty

Precipitation: Freezing rain and ice pellets

Visibility: < 1 mile

Low temp. since midnight: 7.9 degrees F. at 12:19 am

High wind today: 16 mph at 8:25 am

Lots of white in winter Maine

Sunday, January 15, 2006, 9:10 am: It’s hard to believe this is January. Yesterday after I wrote my weather blog, the rain kept coming down and the temperature continued to stay well into the 40s. This morning, when I telephoned the NWS in Caribou, I reported 1.40 inches of total rainfall yesterday. Today, so far, we have about a half inch of snow and a temperature of 12 degrees Fahrenheit.

The small amount of snow we have had today makes walking outside unpredictable. It is just enough snow to cover the ice, which is everywhere. This rain has a beneficial aspect too: It has melted all the snow on our roof. So our snow rake stays put for the moment. Our snow cover is down to about 19 inches.

Last week I received an email from a reader. Unfortunately their return email address didn’t work. They asked if I could post a photo of what our yard looked like without snow. Here it is, see below. It is a few years old, so the trees are bigger and a chain-link fence is there now. The view is looking east.

Current Values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 12 degrees (F)

Barometer: 29.33 and steady

Humidity: 79%

Winds: N at 7 mph

Precipitation: snowing lightly ca. .50 in.

Visibility: < 1 mile

Low temp. since midnight: 12.1 at 9:06 am

High wind since midnight: 21 mph at 6:28 am

High wind on 1/15/06: 26 mph at 2:45 pm

Precipitation 1/15/06: 1.40 in. rain

Saturday, January 14, 2006, 9:30 am: We’ve lost about six inches of snow cover and is currently raining! Our snow stake was at about 30 inches before this heat wave hit us; now it is down to about 24 inches and continuing to melt at 43 degrees Fahrenheit. Before this current melt I used my snow boots to keep the snow out, now I use them to keep the water and slush out.

Now it’s particularly hazardous to bring firewood in the house. Every path we’ve cut into the snow is like a bobsled run – slick and slippery. Lots of sanding is needed to keep me upright and out of snow banks.

My wife commented that our sun today is like a German sun, which according to her, is a pale light spot in the sky surrounded by gray clouds. The last time we were in Germany, a few years ago, we saw plenty of the German sun, or lack of it.

I’ve been trying to get a good photo of our wild birds at our feeder this morning. The Black-capped Chickadees are the most accommodating and usually are just a few feet from me. The Pine Siskins and Downy Woodpeckers keep a safer distance and scold me severely if I don’t leave quickly.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 43 degrees Fahrenheit (F)

Barometer: 29.46 and falling slowly

Humidity: 100%

Winds: 2 mph SSW [variable]

Visibility: less than 1 mile 100% overcast

Precipitation since midnight: .04 in.

Low temp. since midnight: 29.8 degree F. at 12:11 am

High wind since midnight: 12 mph at 6:38 am

Black-capped Chickadee
[Parus atricapillus]

Thursday, January 12, 2006, 9:15 am: It is snow and rain mixed today with some rather large flakes. How unusual, our weather station displays 36 degrees F. I’m sure once the temperature drops this afternoon all the water and slush will turn to ice.

I haven’t gone out to use our snowblower. It’s pointless until the town’s snowplow clears our road. The plow operator tends to push the snow right back into our driveway. And on days like today the snow will be very wet and probably, only get blown just a few feet out of our snowblower’s chute. But that’s life in rural Maine. It’s time for hot chocolate and whipped cream.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 36 degrees Fahrenheit (F)

Barometer: 29.53 and steady

Humidity: 88%

Winds: light and variable currently 1 mph

Visibility: 1 – 2 miles variable

Precipitation: Rain and snow mixed

Low since midnight: 31.8 at 12:48 am

High wind since midnight: 3 mph at 12:27 am

View from our kitchen window

Monday, January 9, 2006, 2:20 pm: It’s snowing again; but that’s northern Maine for you. Not a lot is coming down at the moment, maybe less than two inches since yesterday evening.

Rural life is a bit more physically demanding than city life. I was out this morning with a pick removing ice that had accumulated under our garden gate. It was really stuck! Of course two cups of espresso helped me to get the job done in near record time.

Oddly our resident blue jays [Cyanocitta cristata] seem to be finding their way into our garage and perch on the rafters. Almost daily I have to raise the garage door and wave my arms, which usually doesn’t work, to get them to fly outside. In the end I keep the door raised just long enough until they eventually fly out on their own. They are rascals.

Our current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 17 degrees (F)

Barometer: 29.94 and falling rapidly

Humidity: 78%

Precipitation: < 2 in. of snow

Winds: NE light & variable - currently calm

Visibility: ca. 2 miles

Low temp. since midnight: 3.7 degrees F at 12:31 am

High wind since midnight: 3 mph at 10:37 am

Sunday, January 8, 2006, 10:55 am: Another great, and very cool, Maine Sunday morning. Just minutes ago the thermometer rose above zero degree Fahrenheit.

One thing I’ve noticed, particularly because I am “from away” is when I stop in for gas in Van Buren or Madawaska, I usually buy a bottle of soda [I love that caffeine]. When I take the bottle out of the store’s reach-in refrigerator, the drink seems warm. The drink, of course, is actually very cold, but above freezing. However, I just walked in from temperatures that can be well below zero; sometimes even minus 20 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

In case readers are wondering why I insert the word Fahrenheit with the temperature, this is because some of the readers are in Europe, Canada and other metric countries where they use centigrade/Celsius.

To convert Fahrenheit to centigrade: (5/9) * (Tf-32) = Temp. Centigrade

To convert centigrade to Fahrenheit: ((9/5) * Tc) + 32 = Temp. Fahrenheit

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station at 10:55 am:

Temperature: 1 degree Fahrenheit

Barometer: 30.10 and rising slowly

Humidity: 66%

Winds: Calm

Visibility: Generally clear with scattered clouds

Low temperature since midnight:
-12.2 degrees F. at 7:42 am

High wind since midnight: 5 mph at 12:04 am

Saturday, January 7, 2006, 2:45 pm: The last few days we received about two to three inches of snow. I was out this morning with our snowblower clearing our driveway and paths for our dogs. And it’s just warm enough that I didn’t have to bring in too much firewood. But not warm enough to get above the freezing point.

Last night snowmobiles were racing down our road. Of course they are not supposed to be using the road for snowmobiling, but nevertheless, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. It is sort of pointless to telephone the sheriff, since it takes them over an hour to get here.

Today I cut a path in the snow to the sensor unit for our Vantage-Pro weather station. Once in awhile I need to get out there to knock snow and ice off the sensor suite. Even though a rain collector heater is in use, the melted snow it produces turns into icicles which add extra weight to the entire unit.

Our weather values at 2:45 pm from our Vantage-Pro weather station

Temperature: 17 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 29.66 and rising slowly

Humidity: 78%

Winds: Variable, currently zero mph

Visibility: less than 2 miles with occasional light snow flurries

High wind today: 10 mph at 11:37 am

Low temperature since midnight: 16.7 degrees F. at 4:54 am

Photo below: A view from our bedroom window at 2:20 pm

Friday, January 6, 2006, 9:20 am: Good morning! It’s snowing lightly now. We have about one to two inches of accumulation. It has warmed up considerably from two days ago, but still not above freezing yet.

Our town’s snow plough has been down our road nice and early. It is always difficult to know what US Route One will be like. Our road is ALWAYS different. I think we live in a micro-climate.

Our border collie, Mitzie, is on the mend. She slipped on some ice two days ago and twisted or sprained her right front leg. Unfortunately she has some rather severe joint disease and this type of injury hits her pretty hard. She has a lot of spirit. One of her main motivations for getting well is to gather up all her squeaky stuffed toys, and make sure none of the other dogs can play with them. Ah, border collies!

From our Vantage-Pro weather Station at 9:20 am:

Temperature: 24 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 29.70 in. and steady

Humidity: 76%

Winds: Calm

Skies: Overcast and snowing lightly

Visibility: less than one mile

Low temperature since midnight: 21.6 degrees F. at midnight

High wind since midnight: no measurable wind

Wednesday, January 4, 2206, 3:15 pm: Lots of work today. After bringing in numerous armloads of firewood I still had to chip ice off the porch. With a high temperature today of only 12.1 degrees nothing was melting.

My wife Ruth is at work until about 11:30 pm this evening. We communicate while she is driving using two-meter amateur radio. Being a ham radio operator has its advantages, particularly here in the Saint John Valley where cell phone coverage can be a bit spotty.

During major weather events most ham radio operators here in the Valley check in on our local repeater and report snowfall amounts, which is then forwarded to the NWS in Caribou. Some “hams” up here also have automated weather stations that send out data which is read by the NWS and other agencies. For more information on the St. John Valley Amateur Radio Association visit their website here.

Our weather values at 3:20 pm from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 3 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 30.05 in. and falling rapidly

Humidity: 78%

Winds: Calm

Skies: Light overcast with occasional patches of blue

Low temperature since midnight: -14 degrees F. at 7:37 am

High temperature today: 12.1 degrees F. at 1:41 pm

High winds today: 3 mph at 10:40 am

The photo below was taken at our home on New Year’s Day 2006.

Tuesday, 8:30 am, January 3, 2005: Good morning, it is a whopping -8 degrees Fahrenheit. I forgot, or slept through getting up in the middle of the night to put more firewood in our woodstove. When we got up this morning our house was a cool 50 degrees. It is warming up fine now. We buy six full cords of firewood in the spring and we use about five cords during the winter. The extra cord is used as an emergency backup -- just in case.

My wife and I will be driving on the Trans-Canada Highway today. Their road crews keep the highway in good shape, albeit with lots of salt. On the U.S, side up here, the main thoroughfare is US Route One. It tends to be slower because it passes through every small town along the way and the speed limit fluctuates from 55 mph down to 25 mph every few miles.

During the winter months and the accompanying freezing and snowy weather makes us switch over to our studded snow tires. Regular “all season” tires just don’t work here.

Our current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temp: -8 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 30.31 and slowly rising

Humidity: 70%

Winds: Calm

Skies: Clear

Low temperature since midnight: -12.8 degrees F. at 7:45 am

Monday, January 2, 2006, 1:30 pm: This is a good day to try out the new digital camera my wife gave me for Christmas. It should be simple enough with only 106 pages of instructions. But I trundle onward!

Some of my first photos I snapped were birds at our feeder, mainly chickadees and blue jays today. I think we have the plumpest wild birds in northern Maine. Today is a good day for them with just a few light snow flurries and relatively mild temperatures, currently 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

Normally it is easy to go outside and take care of a few chores. However, as soon as I take something new with me, in this case a camera, our dogs have to be right there and bark. Of course this makes it difficult to photograph wild birds. I did succeed with a few photographs.

Best of 2006!

Our current data at 1:45 pm from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temp: 18 degrees Fahrenheit

Current barometer: 30.14 and steady

Current humidity: 77%

Wind: light and variable from the NW at 2 mph

Skies: Partially cloudy

Low temp since midnight: 15.4 degrees at midnight

High wind: 11 mph at 11:57 am

Sunday, January 1, 2006, 9:30 am: Happy New Year from Grand Isle. At the stroke of midnight it was -9 degrees Fahrenheit. But wait, it continued to drop until it bottomed out at -12.5 degrees at 2:29 am.

Yesterday our trip into town went smooth for us. We did, however, see a truck off the road stuck in a snow bank. A thin layer of ice and snow covered the road most of the way to Presque Isle.

Hopefully soon a few photos will be posted with this blog.

Have a Safe and Happy New 2006.

Our current weather from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temp: 2 degrees Fahrenheit

Barometer: 30.15 in. and slowly rising

Humidity: 70%

Winds: Calm

Skies: Overcast with light snow flurries