Round two of another winter storm is bringing very heavy snow to southern Maine this evening.  Latest radar trends show the back edge of the snow just pushing into southern New Hampshire, and I will be watching the movement of this area all evening.  Another several inches of snow is likely, but the heaviest will be over in Portland between 8 and 10 p.m. There might be up to a foot and a half well northwest of Portland, and a few inches less right along the coast just to the south. Portland still has a shot at a foot of snow, but they will likely stay just under that mark. If Maine’s largest city does get a foot of snow, it would put them over 100 inches for the season. Even 100 inches is still about 40 inches under the all-time snowiest winter back in 1970-71.  

I’ll be updating my weather forecast for this week on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

 

The bottom line is that another major storm is bringing significant snow to the region. As the nor’easter has become a bit more organized this evening, the intensity of the snow has increased. Winds will also become stronger and there could be blizzard conditions for a time before the storm winds down between 8 p.m. and midnight, south to north.  

On the plus side, our ski areas will end up with some of the heaviest snow totals and this will help to extend the season well into April. This year I think that Easter skiing should be quite good. 

Wednesday looks like a quiet and cold day with highs in the upper 30s and lower 40s. The strong March sun will help to melt some of the snow, but it will be a slow process. Thursday there will be a low pressure area off our coast. The storm will form quite far out to sea, but some of the energy from the storm can push back towards the coast and provide a few inches of snow to parts of Cape Cod and extreme eastern Massachusetts.  This is one of those situations where the forecast can be totally wrong, so I am going to wait until tomorrow to give more details on whether we will see any more snow.  Chilly weather continues through the weekend, but it will be dry.

 

Gardening this week: A very common problem with house plants is aphids. These sucking insects leave a residue on the leaves that can then cause a secondary infection on your plants. If you notice a black shoot-like coating on your houseplants, you probably have black sooty mold. This problem, while not generally fatal to a plant, can be an indication of an insect infestation. Check out this week’s video on black sooty mold and see if your plants have this issue.

I’ll be updating my weather forecast for this week on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.