Mainelife...thru the eyes of someone from away

2008 Snowfall Totals for Portland, ME

Joe Cupo reports that this is the 5th snowiest winter on record (so far) with 90.7" of snow to date.
We're under another winter storm warning for tomorrow night and Saturday with 6-8" projected, which will put us ahead of the 1951/52 total of 91.4" with all of March and April to go. 
The snowiest Maine winter was 1970/71 with 107.6 inches of snow.  Ill take the over on that.   

The GOOD NEWS:  we've gained 2 hours and 15 minutes of daylight since the winter solstice.

UPDATE: Caribou has received 158.6 inches of snow this year.  Their record is 181.1

Nonplussed, I am

Where did this come from?

SEVERE WEATHER ALERT

...ACCUMULATING SNOW SHOWERS WILL  CONTINUE OVERNIGHT...

SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO PRESS SLOWLY TO THE SOUTH AND EAST THROUGH MIDNIGHT. LOOK FOR 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AND CENTRAL NEW HAMPSHIRE...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES ACROSS SOUTHERN INTERIOR MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. TEMPERATURES WILL SLOWLY FALL THROUGH THE 20S...EXCEPT LOOK FOR READINGS NEAR 30 DEGREES ALONG THE COAST.

And we've got at least an inch of new snow. 
I subscribe to the rule that if one lives in Maine (especially if one lives here by choice), one may not complain about winter weather but this has been a messy, ugly nasty winter and I'm just about ready for a robin, some forsythia and a couple of daffodils.

UPDATE: 7:00 am  Four inches of new snow.  And it's still spitting light snow.  I checked for some daffodils.  No luck. 

Wicked Bad Snow

It's snowin' sumthin' fierce outside and the above doesn't really do it justice.  If it weren't so dark and I really knew how to make a picture, I would take a few more to show you....instead, I'll refer you elsewhere.   It looks just like this and has for about 2.5 hours now. 
If you pop over to Marie's, you might wish her youngest good luck on that college acceptance.  We love  any school that puts a beat down on the school up north.

Wacky, Wild, Wintry

Crazy stuff. 

Despite above average snowfall, we've barely had a storm that was all rain or all snow.    It starts one and changes to another and sometimes changes back. 
Last night's 5.5" of snow have given way to pouring rain, with reports to expect about 2 inches of that before temperatures drop and it all freezes up again.  Sunny tomorrow, they say.  More than 700 school, business and events have been canceled or closed today in Maine. 

As I type, Pat the Plow Guy is stuck in the driveway, wheels spinning madly as he tries to back up the driveway.  He's less than cheerful, having gotten stuck in his own driveway earlier this morning, but we appreciate him fully as he's one of the only folks in town willing to plow the luge run. 

I'm crossing fingers and hoping the power stays on, because it's Jericho (I taped it to watch Westminster--can we hear it for the mighty Beagle?) during my lunch break and I'd like to keep tabs on Roger Clemens' testimony via the web while I work. 

There's An Old Maine Saying...

.....if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.  I know they say this elsewhere and it's true many places, but today is a perfect example.
This morning started like this....

This afternoon is ending like this....

Light Snow

They're calling what's falling right now "light snow." Heh.  I beg to differ.

There's no getting the car up the luge run, so I attempted to walk down to Anthony's for the NYTimes (gotta read Frank Rich on Sunday) and the Globe (Retired Guy has to prepare for the Game by reading up), but gave up when my glasses were completely coated with snow--about five minutes into the venture.  We can read Frank Rich on-line.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

There's nothing finer than to sit by a fire, lost in a book, knowing that supper is simmering and baking and there's nothing to be done but to watch the snow fall and add a log to the fire.    It's been snowing steadily since 1:37 pm and shows little sign of easing up.

Earlier, we took Mac the Dog on a walk in the woods. There was no sound but the snow on the leftover oak leaves and Dave the Neighbor's snow blower (even an inch of snow gets Dave and the blower out).

They're still trying to gauge the severity of Sunday's storm, but blizzard is still being uttered by even the most conservative of weather-casters up our way.  Just in case, I bought storm supplies today.  You can never be too careful.   

Joe Cupo Says....

...The B Word:
"A major northeaster is still in the works for Sunday and we may be dealing with blizzard conditions that day."
Joe is notoriously understated and low-key with his forecasts, so if he says blizzard, I'm betting it will be a doozy. 
But before Sunday, we'll be dealing with 3-6 inches:

Weather Or Not

36 degrees and light rain this morning are making for an ugly wake-up.  Thankfully it's stayed warm enough so far that we don't have the ice that's plaguing the mid-west. 

Cold temperatures overnight will change that (we'll drop more than 20 degrees by this evening) and snow is on the way tomorrow.....BUT, But, but wait for it....they've said the word(s)  Blizzard, Nor'easter, and the always-to-be-feared doozy. 

I don't want to get my hopes up but there's nothing like a fantastic blizzard and we've truly not had a great one since 2003 (now that was some snow). 

I'm longing for a weather event as there's little  in my life for the past 10 days except work, sleep, work, work and a little sleep. It's Wednesday morning and I've not left the house except to walk Mac the  Dog in the woods  since we bought the tree. My eyes are buggy with spreadsheets and market shares; with competitive reviews and strategies.  No reading my favorite blogs or checking up on my blog buddies, no Christmas cookies and no new recipe experiments.  Retired Guy tells me I'm cooking for  six this Saturday.  I hope he tells me what I'm cooking--I don't have time to decide.

Work will taper off at the end of this week and I'll play a little tennis, finish up the Christmas shopping and have lunch with my husband in Maine's new honorary city.  Ayeuh, meaning no disrespect to New Hampshire, I'm sure, Downeast Magazine has named Portsmouth the Best Maine Town Not in Maine.  We entirely agree.  And as they say, it would solve that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard question once and for all.

Storm Total Update

This just in from the Weather Channel:
THE LATEST SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM THE  NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:
HIRAM, 8.0"... BRUNSWICK, 8.0"... HOPE, 8.0"... WALDOBORO, 8.0"... SPRINGFIELD, 7.0"... SOUTH PARIS, 7.0"... JAY, 7.0"... FREEDOM, 7.0"... FRANKFORT, 7.0"... GORHAM, 6.7"... SANFORD, 6.7" TO 7.0"... HOLLIS, 6.6"... HENNIKER, 6.0"... FALMOUTH, 6.0"... RANDOLF, 6.0"... THORNDIKE, 5.8"... AUBURN, 5.5"... DURHAM, 5.2"... GRAY, 5.1"... PORTLAND JETPORT, 5.0"... STRATHAM, 4.6"... KENNEBUNK, 4.5"... KITTERY POINT, 4.0".

Ayeuh. Not quite the two feet that they were promising earlier in the day.
We're back to about three inches of snow on the ground and it's snowing heavily.  The temperature is dropping rapidly.    Like I said, the weathermen don't know from snow on this one.