The Wrack: weather

So looks as if we got a bit "lucky" and missed the brunt of Hurricane Irene as the storm passed to our west dropping large amounts of rain on western New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. Here are some totals from our System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) weather station behind the Coastal Ecology Center.

Flooding in York County — is it becoming more common? Roads impassable, bridges washed out, basements full... the stories have become all too familiar in recent years.

The Mother's Day storm in May 2006 seemed an anomaly till the Patriots' Day storm hit in 2007. This March, the Wells Reserve measured 16 inches of rainfall, 5 inches more than Portland's record-setting 11. The roads closed and the sump pumps hummed again.

With the impressive amounts of rain in the last month or so, and some unusually warm temperatures in March and early April, I thought I would share some of the more interesting weather trends we recorded through our System Wide Monitoring Program here at the reserve. March was the wettest and warmest on record for the state of Maine!

Hello again,

Well another strong storm system battered the Maine coast again this past weekend. Here is a brief synopsis of that storm data courtesy of the System Wide Monitoring Program.

All data from 3/13 at 11pm to 3/15 at 3pm was collected on the SWMP Meteorological Station located behind the Coastal Ecology Center.

We had 6.7 inches of rain fall between late Saturday night (13th) into mid afternoon on Monday the 15th. The bulk of the rain (4.7 inches) fell on Sunday the 14th.

We had a max wind gust of 50mph here at the farm. Our average wind speed was 12mph but we had regular gusts between 20-40 mph.

Shaping up to be a wet and windy spring if this keeps up!

Whew! Nothing like some February rain showers huh? It's been a "weird" winter for lack of a more "technical" term.....

Here are some numbers from the most recent "Blast" that occured Thursday Feb 25 through early morning of February 26th 2010. (All data was collected on the SWMP Meteorological Station behind the Maine Coastal Ecology Center.)

York County's worst ice storm in decades knocked out power for 4 days at the Wells Reserve. No significant damage occurred to the Laudholm buildings. Surely some branches and trees fell, but trails are all open and the new fallen snow has already inspired at least one cross-country skier.

Photo by Nancy Viehmann

Sunday afternoon’s thunderclaps and downpours sent artists scurrying for cover in the Laudholm barn during the seventh annual Painterly Day and Fresh Paint Auction on Sunday. In the convivial spirit that marks the event, painters continued working and socializing and gazing in awe at the deluge.

By auction time most of the wild weather had passed and bidders made it another fine fundraiser for the Trust. Thanks to the artists, sponsors, volunteers, buyers, and browsers for another fun event.

The Wells Reserve weathered the Patriot's Day storm rather well. Manager Paul Dest reports these effects:

May’s flooding washed away two of the Reserve’s water data-logger units used for the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP). Replacing the units was well timed, though, as equipment upgrades now allow public access to “real-time” data on weather and water quality.

About 12 inches of rain fell in parts of southern Maine and seacoast New Hampshire between the 12th and 16th of May, and the sudden flow of fresh water into normally salty estuarine and marine waters will impact fish and shellfish in the region.

A few inches of new snow have covered the landscape... cross-country skiers can take advantage!