Please e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.eduVol. 2, no. 13 Tuesday, April 1, 1997
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Please e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
This week's reports
Report format = Day, date, [time]. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent.
Thursday, March 27. Augusta (Map 12) I saw my first road-killed woodchuck near Augusta. This is a sign of spring as males come out early & move around looking for females, frequently crossing roads with fatal results. J.K.M.
Friday, March 28. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near the dam: With 5 inches of snow on the ground in many places, the pond fully iced over, the temperature is up to 50 degrees at midday. Insects buzz about a wood pile. Yesterday, from under the feeders, I heard, for the first time this year, the doves cooing. I heard chickadee mating sounds from the woods this past week. W.D.
Friday, March 28. Alfred (Map 2) Some areas are very muddy and other areas are ok. Some
of the roads that were built over swampy areas are worse for travel. Other roads that are
constructed well and banked properly aren't so muddy. Even in the paved ways there seems
to be a difference in road conditions. I noticed just today that some paved ways are
rutted where the tires run. They were not that bad before the winter thaw. I guess that
means that heavier traffic certainly does have a dramatic impact on roads.
Turkey breading season is heading towards a close. But the toms won't figure that out for
a while. Typical males! Some song birds are sounding off in the mornings. That is nice to
hear. And the flies -- everyones favorite household pests -- are becoming active.
Unfortunately for me I haven't taken a walk outside for a week. I did notice some activity
of a large hoofed buck. Such a large size could only have been a buck. I make that
statement, not because of the size of the print (some melting) but because two weeks ago
when I saw it, most does were still yarded up (at least in my humblest of opinions). I'll
make it a point to take a nature walk this weekend. J.L.
Friday, March 28. Brunswick (Map 6) Yes there is some beautiful mud, but there is also a nice layer of snow. While out cross country skiing and checking out the comet I also heard the first woodcocks making their funny noises and spiralling up in the sky . Afraid I am out of touch with the maple tree tapping in the area, and don't know what kind of a year it has been so far. A.G.
Saturday, March 28 Caratunk (Map 30) I went out through the woods this noon for a x-country ski. The snow is still quite deep. The only sign of mud in my neighborhood is in my driveway! There are still no pockets forming around the base of the trees where the spring melt usually shows first. There's just too much snow and it's been too cold. From Wyman Dam up, the Kennebec is still snow-covered. There's no sign of the ice or any open water. As far as the sap goes, I don't know anyone tapping trees this spring in Caratunk. B.Y.
Sunday, March 30. Alfred (Map 2) "My" cardinals are back. J.L.
Sunday, March 30. Orono (Map 23) Purple finches and goldfinches seen at the feeder. Several robins and also several mourning doves seen feeding on the ground. A flock of perhaps 50 red-winged blackbirds were noted in the crowns of neighborhood trees calling incessantly, but mostly remaining in place for long periods of time. F.W.
Sunday, March 30. Portland/Gray (Map 5) Today, Sunday, is gorgeous both at home in Gray
and here in Portland (temp. 55 degrees), the first real taste of spring. Yesterday's fog
and rain took away a good amount of snow that was on the ground. In fact, as I look around
here the ground is bare. There is still a snow covering in Gray but I'd have to check its
depth; not much anyway.
Robins have arrived -- Wednesday, the 26th on the Maine Turnpike (Cumberland?) was my
first sighting; yesterday they were noticeable in Gray. As far as mud season goes,
certainly yes, in some areas, but the ground is still pretty frozen, especially in Gray.
I'll have to check on the sap flow . . . people have had their buckets out for several
weeks. It's been fairly cold though, so I doubt much has been flowing. But yesterday and
today could well have changed that. Of course it is supposed to get cold and snowy again.
C.R.
Sunday, March 30, E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near the dam: The goldfinches, some now almost all bright yellow, are beginning to make sounds new for the year, presumably mating or territorial stuff. A water insect scooted across water on top of the Pond's ice, the insect's back warmed by near 50 degree temps. We spotted a robin near the Fish Hatchery. A friend spotted a robin in Ellsworth Falls Friday. The _Enterprise_ newspaper of Bucksport notes local sightings on 3/9, 8/15, and about 15 robins flocked on about the 3/25. W.D.
Sunday, March 30. Garland (Map 32) There was a good run of maple sap on Friday, March
28. The previous night had a good deep freeze. Friday was clear and it warmed up rapidly.
We got about 63 gallons from 45 taps. By 2 pm the taps stopped producing, due to a change
in wind direction?
No sap runnning on Saturday and Sunday. It never got cold enough at night. M.J.
Monday, March 31. Farmington (Maps 19/20) It is currently snowing hard here - still
plenty of snow although some did melt over the weekend creating the beginnings of mud!
Like the beginning of time. Sap running very poorly as need cold nights and warm days and
having cold nights and cold days. Will up the price.
Lots of frozen puddles in the fields from the weekend melting. Some fear of flooding from
snowpack further North ('87 flood really hit hard here with much of Farmington Falls under
water. People lost homes, cows dead, etc., sheep floating by. I hope that does not happen
again.
I have not seen a pussy willow or any sign of one. Mud season probably a week or more away
depending on today's storm, etc. S.M.
Monday, March 31. Gray (Map 5) I asked my other half about other spring harbingers (in
Gray): our day lilies and chives are stubbornly pushing themselves through the soil of our
garden; the goldfinches have returned (do they migrate at all? I think that they do. I
know that house finches stick around through the winter. The finches' colors will soon
become more vivid as spring unfolds.)
One hardy soul has commenced the farmer's market at Monument Square in Portland by selling
pussy willows. As far as the sap flow goes, as I mentioned yesterday people have had their
buckets out for at least three weeks. As for what kind of flow they are producing, I
couldn't say without sneaking a peek, and I might risk personal injury should the owner
misunderstand my intent! Of course this wonderful blizzard that we are about to witness
may place a temporary hold on all things spring. But I have faith that it will only be
temporary! C.R.
Tuesday, April 1 Fort Kent (Map 67) Although this is April Fool's Day, Nature is
playing tricks by keeping the ground covered with lots of snow. However, the signs of
spring are here. The warm sun and the length of the day has caused some melting. The snow
is not very crusty for the top few inches. This weekend I saw a few Robins, and one
Killdeer. I also saw a large flock of crows.
The maple sap has started to flow and some of the sugar camps are opening up. A big
commercial one in Edmundston, N.B., has started to advertise on television.
I can't really say that mud season has started. I was on the woods roads, West of Baxter
Park yesterday and the roads are still frozen. It will be some time before mud season
arrives. But of course, in Nature, this could be in a week. D.R.
Tuesday, April 1. Garland (Map 32) In the wake of the snow storm many gravel roads in Garland and other nearby rural areas are impassable, due to an unusual combination of circumstances. Last week a two-day thaw melted just the top foot of the road surfaces, leaving a layer of mud on the still-frozen base, stranding many people. The roadside drainage ditches are still full and frozen, keeping the roads soaked. M.J.
From the Press
Bangor Daily News Saturday/Sunday, March 29-30, 1997, pages A1, A7
After the flood 10 years later;
'97 flood a question; heavy April rains a key factor
by Beurmond Banville
In 1987, spring floods devastated 14 of Maine's 16 counties. In 1991 and again in 1994
northern Maine was swamped by the numbing fury of swollen, ice-choked river.
What about 1997? Is Maine ripe again for a disastrous April soaking and, if so, what part
of the state is most vulnerable?
Unfortunately for those nervously eying rivers and streams as the 10th anniversary of the
1987 flood approaches, experts from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Weather
Service say there is no sure method for predicting when and where flooding will occur.
"At this time it is impossible to say,"said Thomas Hawley of the National
Weather Service in Portland. Hawley said that despite improvements in technology, flooding
is hard to predict more than 48 to 72 hours before it happens.
Numerous factors affect flooding, say experts, only one of which is the maount of snow on
the ground. More snow, logically, means more runoff when it melts. But a deep snowpack by
itself is not enough to cause flooding. Other factors, such as water content in the snow,
frost depth in the ground, the thickness of ice on the rivers, air temperature
fluctuations and, more importantly, rainfall, all play a role in causing rivers and
streams to overflow.
Based on an examination of known factors, experts say the possibility of flooding is
strongest in northern Maine, where snowfall has been heavy through the winter and the
snowpack's water content is high. But no area of the state can be deemed safe at this
point.
Joseph Nielsen of the U.S. Geological Survey said the data collected show "floods are
more probable than normal. How much more is impossible to say. All that water has to go
somewhere. If it warms up to 50 and we have rainstorms, it all could break loose."
A Maine Cooperative Snow Survey
Program map, developed by six Maine companies and three government agencies shows up
to 12 inches of water content in Maine's snowpack. The more water content, the more
quickly the snow melts and the more likely flooding becomes.
...
Significant efforts are being made to increase the amount of warning time prior to
flooding.
A new monitoring system composed of gauges with satellite transmitters is in place on
several Maine rivers and is being installed on others. Anyone with a computer can access
the information provided by the USGS at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/me/nwis/rt
More than machines are watching the rivers. Brian Burrell of the St. John River Forecast
Center in Fredericton, New Brunswick, said the snowpack in Northern Maine is 125 percent
of normal. The organization is keeping an especially watchful eye on the snowpack south
and west of Allagash because of what it can do to Canadian municipalities from Clair to
Fredericton, a distance of 175 miles along the St. John River.
...
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