SNOW DAY # 6

We got 4" of snow from this storm.

Snow Total for the season thus far: 44" Snow

Interesting note: This year's snow total thus far is almost exactly what we had at this time of year last year. And, last year was our second snowiest year since I began recording snowfall totals during the 2000-2001 winter season.

Our largest snow total season was the 2007-2008 year with 127" of fluffy white stuff! That was a brutal shoveling/snow throwing year with lots of awesome snowshoeing!

On hiking and staying on the trail

When you go hiking...have a plan. Make it a good plan! Remember to carefully mark your trail so as not to get lost. And, if I'm hiking with you, keep me close because I get hungry!

Frigid overnight temps and howling wind

Wowee! It was one cold day! The temp. did not rise above 6F and the "high" windchill was -10F. Watch out for tonight. When I went to bed, the temp. was 1.2F with a windchill of -20F! Overnight temps. here, will probably dip down to a windchill of -25F. It is dangerous outside.

No lunar eclipse for us

Here is the storm at noon. We are going to get several hours of freezing rain for the rest of the afternoon. UGHABUGGAH! The temperature is currently 6F with a windchill of -11F. It is nasty outside!

And, here is our snow table. At noon, we have 8.5" of snow. The snow is dry, granular and heavy to push around.

Total Lunar Eclipse Jan 20-21, 2019

***Jan. 20/21, 2019 - Total - Begins at 9:36 PM / Maximum at 12:12 AM / Ends at 2:48 AM (Perfect timing as the 21st is Martin Luther King Day and I'll be able to sleep in after a long night;-)

Check out the Eclipse Map on Time and Date.com.
Note to Self - Photographing the Eclipse:
• Top Dial on Camera to "M" - Manual Exposure Settings mode
• Force exposure compensation down to -2. )This brings out the darker areas of the full moon.)
• Multiple point focus (to get a lock on any part of the moon)
• Take the first few shots with auto focus.
• Switch to manual focus.

• As time goes by, dial down from 1/500 sec. to a longer shutter speed, down to at least 0.25 sec. or more, until seeing the red moon in playback mode. Will this give me less noise as well as increased brightness? I hope so...
• As time goes by, dial up the ISO from 200 to 1600 or more if necessary. (Although, I saw lots of photos with ISO 400-using a slower shutter speed.)

Walk in the woods across Caesar Pond

Today, the outdoor temp. got up to a toasty 20F with a windchill temp. of 11F! We took fabulous walk across Caesar Pond and up the snowmobile trail with our hounds, and Neighbor Shannon and her two hounds. All in all we walked a total of around 2 miles. The pups are getting older, as am I, so we had to turn around when my yaktrax broke off one of my shoes. Luckily, there is snow atop the ice with good traction. I am still so incredibly happy for that walk. Best of all, my knees survived due to the evenness of the trail.

Storm update-starting at 2am on Sunday Jan 20th

We won't get as much snow as originally expected because we are going to get many hours of freezing rain (at 14F)! So, we are now in the 8-14" range. We have yucky weather with global warming. No longer do we get a good dump of snow to play in, it is generally followed by rain or freezing rain. And, the upshot of this is that we won't even begin to clear snow until Monday morning. This way, the base snow will keep surfaces from getting icy, and we'll have less slipping.

Potential Snowfall for Sunday's storm

Yowzer! Bring it on! We are right on the border of 10-18" and 18-24". So, I think we'll get at least a foot of snow. We just have to cross our fingers that we are far enough inland so that we don't get the sleet as well.

SNOW DAYS # 4 + 5

Super big snowflakes near the end of the storm

Because of icy roads, we have two snow days in a row! It is slippery on the roads and walkways out there!

By the way, this is our 600th post on Maine Nature Diary, on Blogger;-)

Another turkey visitation

Every day is turkey day at our house! Today, we had half a dozen of the big birds visit the feeder.

They do love sunflower seeds and Drew spread lots of seeds around.One smart turkey decided to monopolize the seed feeder tray.

And, decided to claim it by standing in the middle of it!

New Year Resolutions / Adventures

Okay, it is a new year. And, there are so many resolutions to consider. Here are a few old ones that I never got around to last year, as well as a few new ones:

1. Try new photographic techniques: 
a) Use a neutral density filter when taking moving water and cloud photos (longer exposures like a minute long.)
b) Learn and practice stacking photos.
c) Use the Apeman Underwater camera at the beach.
d) Go to Popham Beach and photograph the tide pools, seaweeds on the rocks at Fox Island, Piping Plovers (bring long lens)
e) Photograph Greyhounds / action shots more and close-up glamour shots!

2. Seguin Island with Ethan DeBery. Gulls nest on the island and young gulls can be seen in nests in early to mid-July.

3. River Run Tours around Bath, Arrowsic, Georgetown (through July 28th)

4. Maine Maritime Museum Lighthouse and Nature Cruises (through Oct. 29th)

5. Whale Watching - 
a) Odyssey Whale Watching Tour - Portland.  
b) Quoddy Link Marine - Whale Watch out of St. Andrews New Brunswick. - Humpback Whales and Finback Whales in August.

6. Monhegan Island - Monhegan Boat Line out of Port Clyde AND Hardy Boat Cruises out of New Harbor

7. Casco Bay Lines - Cruises and tours.

8. Machias Seal Island Puffin Tours - Bold Coast Charter - out of Cutler. Late July to early August is when seas might be calmer.

9. Mt. Washington Cog Railway (New Hampshire)

Weather Year in Review (re: Channel 6 news)

I found this graphic interesting as per temperature averages per month, for Maine, in 2018. Me thinks that global warming does exist;-)