The first part of March started off like a lion with Portland receiving 5.5" of snow with wind gusts over 35 mph. The departing storm then brought in some of the coldest March air in quite some time with many records set at the Portland JetPort.
The afternoon of the 6th, the temperature only got to 18°, which is the coldest high temperature ever recorded on the 6th. The average daily temperature ((high-low)/2) was only 9° - another record.
On the morning of the 7th, the mercury dropped to a record -6°, breaking the old record of -3° set in 1989. The daily maximum temperature on the 7th was also18°, again a record for the day. The 7th's daily average temperature was a cold 6°, a broken record for the day which was also set in 1989.
The 8th of March continued to break records for cold. The high for the day was only 19°, the low 0° and the average temperature was only 10°.
After a three day stretch of record breaking cold, a very warm day gave a tease of the coming of Spring. On the 14th of March Portland made it up to 59°. That itself is not a record- but the low for the day was 41°- 1 degree warmer than the old record set in 1946.
It was even warmer to the interior of Maine and New Hampshire. Concord, NH made it up to 74° on the 14th. Closer to home, Sanford hit 70°. An amazing swing in temperatures in just a few days. The warmth was short-lived as just two days later the cold was back.
Concord, NH set a daily record daily snowfall at 8.8" on the 16th. So from 74° to 8.8" of snow in two days.
Portland went from 59° to 7" of snow in those same two days. Bridgton went from 66° to over 10" of snow.

2006 was the warmest year on record in Portland, with the year beating the old record by 0.2°. The new record is 48.5°.

January kicked off the year on a very warm note, coming in at 8.6° above normal. Many local golf courses in southern Maine opened, allowing eager golfers to work on their game in the off season. January had 2 days with a thunderstorm, 11 days with light snow, 6 days with rain 18 days with fog, and was below average in rainfall by 0.38". We got between 4 and 7 inches of snow in Maine's lake region. Of note was a storm at the end of the month which flooded portions of Portland. Traffic was apparently stopped on Marginal Way in Portland due to flooding and seawalls at Kennebunk, Middle and Gooches beaches were damaged. 20 feet of pavement from Surf Street were washed away.
February was a month with 9 days of light snow, 5 days of rain and 11 days of fog. The month's precipitation rounded out at 0.39" below average. No thunderstorms were reported. February ended up 1° above normal. We got between 6 and 12 inches of snow around the 12th. 6 to 8 inches of snow affected York county on the 26th. The 17th of the month brought high winds in excess of 60 mph, causing over $125K in damage. More than 100,000 people were left without power.
March of 2006 was a dry month with a rainfall deficit of 3.12" and no thunderstorms. The month was above average by 0.8° and had 3 days with snow, 5 days with rain and 7 days with fog.
April was also a dry month with Portland receiving 1.24" less rain than average. There was one day with a thunderstorm, 2 days with snow, 11 days with rain and 11 days with fog. April was 2° above average. On the 4th, the mountains picked up between 6 and 10 inches of snow.
May was a very wet month with Portland receiving 8.52" more rain than average, or 12.34" of rain in the one month alone. The greatest 24-hour rainfall in this month was 3.57" rain received between the 2nd and 3rd. On the 12th of May, high surf and astronomical high tides flooded portions of the Maine coast, resulting in $400K in damage. The month was 0.8° above normal. May had two days with thunderstorms, 22 days with rain and 18 days with fog. No snow was reported. The thunderstorms in interior Maine on the 31st dropped one-inch hail in Rangeley.
June had 2 days with thunderstorms, no days with snow and 17 days with rain. It was a foggy month with 22 days having fog. The month ended 2.1° warmer than average and much wetter than average. Portland in June received 5.9" of rain over the average, making it a very wet month. Several area rivers like the Swift River at Roxbury and the Kennebec rivers reached flood stage. Thunderstorms dropped large hail in North Windham on the 1st, in Dixfield, Oxford, Auburn, Falmouth, Shapleigh and Gorham on the 19th and 20th. A person was killed in Fryeburg by a falling tree and route 302 was closed due to downed trees and limbs. IN New Sweden, winds exceeded 70 mph and a yard umbrella was driven through the windshield of a car. Another thunderstorm near Augusta brought more large hail to that area on the 30th. A lightning strike on the 1st of June caused $40K damage to a house in York.
July was a warm and foggy month with 4 days of thunderstorms; one of these thunderstorms flooded portions of route 232 in Bryant Pond. Another created a funnel cloud near Warren, Maine. A total of 12 days in July had rain, 21 days had fog and there was no snow reported. The month was 2.33" above average in rainfall and 3.3° above average in temperature. July's average of 72° is one of the warmest months ever recorded in Portland. Thunderstorms brought high winds to the area on the 18th and again on the 28th.
August of 2006 had 3 days with thunderstorms, 11 days with rain and 14 days with fog. The month was 0.67" below average in rainfall and was the only month of the year that ended up below average for the month. August was 0.3° below normal. There was no snow reported in August. A house in Falmouth was destroyed after being indirectly struck by lightning and high winds came to the area thanks to thunderstorms on the 2nd.
September ended up being 1.6° above average in temperature and 0.20" above average in rainfall. There were 2 days with thunderstorms, 16 days with rain, 17 days with fog and it was snow less.
October was a wet month, ending up 3.98" above average in rainfall. It was also warmer than average, ending up 1.3° above the average. There were 2 days with thunderstorms, 14 days with rain and 13 days with fog. There was no snow reported in October for Portland.
November was the warmest November on record, coming in at 5.5° above normal. There were 12 days with rain, 16 days with fog and no days with snow or thunderstorms. The month was 0.78" above normal for rainfall.
December rounded out 2006 as a warm month in a warm year. December was 6.9° above average, although not a record it cemented 2006 as a record warm year. December had 5 days with snow, 8 days with rain and 14 days with fog. There were no thunderstorms and the month ended up drier than average at 0.88" below average.

There were 182 out of 365 days with fog, so one-half the year featured fog at some point during the day. 18 days featured thunderstorms, with 2 in the winter month of January. There was a tornado in North Berwick and another right down in Hampton, NH. Microburst winds snapped trees out in Somerville and high surf washed out roads near Saco. Extremely high seas and a rogue wave swamped boats and took away the lives of a few fishermen. The year of 2006, like 2005, was a year with a wet spring and first part of summer. But the summers of both years ended up being quite spectacular with summer-like temperatures and weather persisting well into September. There was no lake ice in southern Maine as of the last day of December 2006, and the ice to start the year was thin and late, with an early ice-out.

Temperature records go back to 1941, when the Portland readings were moved to the Jetport. Temperature averages are based on the 1971-2000 climate normals. Precipitation records go back to 1871.

Portland International Jetport from I-295

A thick fog rolled into Portland and other coastal communities reducing visibilities and knocking down temperatures. Fog stuck thick during most hours of the day right here along the coast. Interior areas were treated to almost full sun and summer-like weather conditions. During attendance of the Fryeburg fair on Wednesday the 5th, we were treated to summer-like temperatures of 80 degrees and full sun. Upon returning to South Portland, we had drizzle and 55 degrees. Whenever the fog was blanketing Portland, the temperatures were right around 55 degrees, approximately the same temperature as the ocean water in Casco Bay. On the 7th, there were only 7 hours of the day that did not have fog; of those 7 hours without fog being reported at the ASOS, 4 had haze. So of the 24 hours of the day, only 3 were without obscuration.

In addition to the snowfall, this storm brought high winds to the Portland area as it departed. A tight pressure gradient set up over northern New England which brought very gusty winds to Southern Maine.

After a relatively mild January across most of the East, record-cold air poured in from Canada fueling a strong storm and reducing windchills to dangerous levels.
Bangor, Maine reported a record -29°F on January 22nd, which broke the previous record of -28°F set in 1934; -29°F is also the lowest temperature ever recorded at Bangor for the whole month of January. Other areas of Maine experienced extreme cold, a summary is below:

The National Weather Service issued Blizzard warnings over the coastal regions of Maine and Hurricane Force wind warnings over the coastal waters. Over a foot of snow fell in most of southern Maine, with mostly around a foot of accumulation. Localized ocean-effect snow bands, occurring right before onset of widespread precipitation, created higher snow totals in some areas of Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough. The deflection zone of the storm was positioned south west of our area; the areas affected by this area of precipitation enhancement received in excess of 3 feet of snow. The extreme cold meant high liquid-to-snow ratios, resulting in a light, fluffy snowfall.

The winds presented additional problems for a wide area of the Northeast. Very strong winds and the powdery snow worked together to undermine the efforts of road crews everywhere. White-out conditions and slippery roads kept all but the most intrepid inside watching the New England Patriots beat up on the Pittsburg Steelers, securing themselves a place in another Superbowl.
High winds created special problems for parking garage owners in Portland. The high winds brought snow into the parking garages, creating very slippery conditions from the lack of road salt (concrete).

Some of the high wind speeds from this event are listed below:

The first snow of the 2004/2005 Winter season fell with not much more than a wimper, in Maine at least. Like most of the late-season storms last Winter, this storm was held to the south by a High Pressure system nosing down from the Candian Maritimes. The cold air being brought down from Canada made it sufficently cold in southern New England to give some areas in excess of 6 inches of snow. The dome of cold air also worked to keep the storm track south of Maine, resulting in only minimal snow fall totals in the Pine Tree State.

Warm, muggy air sat over the Northeast for most of this week. While temperatures were not unusually high, the dewpoints were. Dewpoint temperatures in the upper 60s °F made for very sticky air and also meant that there was plenty of available moisture in the air for rainfall. An approaching cold front was the trigger for a potent line of Thunderstorms that moved through the Portland area at around 2:30pm. This line of storms resulted in the highest rain rate yet recorded at WeatherMaine in South Portland. The rain rate at 3:00pm was an amazing 12.52" per hour. In just 10 minutes, WeatherMaine's rain sensor recorded 0.40" of rain! Below is the matrix of the rainfall rates and 10-minute totals for this event.

In addition, a new record was set in Portland during this event:

...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT PORTLAND...

A RECORD RAINFALL OF 1.63 INCHES WAS SET AT THE PORTLAND
INTERNATIONAL JETPORT YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.42
SET IN 1991.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
700 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 2004

A very warm day set in for virtually all of the Northeast. Although very warm today, we did not break the old record; the record high temperature in Portland for this date is 95°F, set in 1984. Yesterday was similar to today inland, but significantly cooler at the coast. Evidence of the seabreeze yesterday: Sanford had a high temperature some 15 degrees F warmer than Portland's high reading.

NWS PWM ASOS High Temp Today:
92°F

WeatherMaine's High Temp Today:
Sensor 1: 93.6°F
Sensor 2: 91.0 °F

A strong high pressure ridge and off-shore winds helped Portland and other coastal areas of Maine surge into the 80's and 90's. The offshore winds kept the seabreeze at bay; pre-cold front veering of the winds helped to keep the winds offshore Several locations in southern Oxford county in Maine reported wind damage from the first line of thunderstorms that developed in the unstable air ahead of the front, likely due to daytime heating (solar insolation). A second line of storms is likely to follow the first as the Cold Front and associated dynamics approach the area.

Record heat set in for much of Northern New England on the heels of southwest winds. The morning started with foggy and cool conditions, but the strong Spring sun quickly warmed the temperatures. Both Portland and Bangor shattered their previous high-temperature records by several degrees. Other regional temperatures of note: Fryeburg, 92°F; Harrison, 93°F (unofficial).

The afternoon heating and an approaching cold front primed the air for some decent Thunderstorms. The line of storms looked unimpressive on radar imagery, but the storms quickly grew in intensity as they traversed York and Cumberland counties. WeatherMaine was on the Western Promenade in Portland, Maine to record the oncoming storms to the West of Portland. See the images and movies below!

Slow-motion sequence of Lightning:
634KB WMV

Full-speed sequence of four strikes:
1.5MB WMV

Individual Images:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Another day of brutal cold sat over northern New England. Record cold high temperatures were seen over much of the area; the only exception being Northern Maine where extreme cold is more common. Notable records for lowest daily high temperature set today include:

Portland, Maine
1°F (previous record 4°F)

Concord, NH
0°F (previous record 4°F)

Bangor, Maine
-6°F (tied record set in 1965)

December, 2003 has kept our shovels busy and our rivers running high. Several large winter storms dropped as much as 5 feet of snow in one week over much of the interior of Maine. This remarkable snowfall, however, has been eroded away by several large rain storms. The overall weather patterns in December featured two predominant storm tracks. The first being the classic Noreaster track, with upper-level energy swinging into the Southeast spawning a coastal low which then moves up the coast toward New England. The second being a 'warm track' which featured two major storms tracking through western New York. This pattern eventually brings warm air in at all levels of the atmosphere. Freezing rain occurs often with this track due to cold air damming. The result of the two major snowstorms staggered with two major rain storms is major flooding. Canton, Maine was overwhelmed with river water after the tremendous snowpack melted under warmer temperatures and rain water. The relatively thin river ice sheets were broken up and caused many ice jams around the region, including Farmington, Maine and Plymouth, New Hampshire. Several students' cars at PSU were flooded out and severely damaged by the Pemigewasset river.
The contrast between Christmas weather this year and Christmas last year is quite interesting. Last year, of course, was the December Blizzard- at WeatherMaine in South Portland, over 19 inches of snow was received during this event. This year's weather was that of rain and fog, a far-cry from the digging out of last year. The fog during Christmas eve night was very thick, and was the result of warm, moist air moving over our snowpack. The cold surface snow and ice cools the air near the surface. Since the amount of water the air can hold depends directly on its temperature, colder air can hold less water. As the air cools near the ground, it becomes saturated- like a towel than can hold no more water. This results in fog. There are complex processes involved with fog over snow, but it is mostly seen during 'warm track' storms in the winter.

Time Lapse of DEC 15, 2003 14" Snow Storm
(922K WMV | 640K MP4)

A Major Early-Season Snow Storm
December 8, 2003

The early morning hours of this date featured the arrival of a strong Fall extra-tropical storm. This storm was interesting for many reasons, including strong winds and heavy rain. Downed tree limbs were very common, and several trees around Cumberland Country were reported down; some across roads and many leaving residents without power. School in several towns was canceled as a result of the power outage and dangerous winds. The morning commute hour coincided with the arrival of the strongest winds from this storm.
The official, NWS, rain observations from Portland indicate that a new record was broken on this date. The 24-hour rainfall record for Portland, on this date, was 1.23" of rain in 24 hours, set back in 1970. The official record text is below:

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
442 PM EDT WED OCT 15 2003

...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT PORTLAND...

A RECORD RAINFALL OF 1.63 INCHES WAS SET AT PORTLAND TODAY. THIS
BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.23 SET IN 1970.

In addition to very heavy rainfall over the region, a high-wind advisory was also in place for much of the day. Some coastal areas experienced high surf and very strong, tropical storm-force, gusts. Some observations from Southern Maine for maximum wind gusts during the morning of Oct., 15th:

Wind Gusts Reported:
Cape Elizabeth: 62 mph
Gorham: 50 mph
Portland Jetport: 47 mph
Mount Washington: 113 mph

The strong winds also did much to strip the trees of their leaves and needles. Because this strong wind event occurred around the time of the peak foliage, the season should be shorter than usual- all leaves not securely attached to the trees would easily be stripped with strong winds. Also, drivers in the Northeast should exercise caution when driving on wet, leaf-covered roads, as several layers of leaves can be as slippery as ice.

Cold temperatures abound across the area today. High pressure, clear skies and light winds all contributed to bringing the first frost of the season to south coastal Maine. WeatherMaine's South Portland, Maine location had a morning low of 30°F. Other areas inland from the ocean had morning lows in the lower 20's °F, which resulted in a freeze in several inland areas. The overnight low in South Portland of 30°F is about 10 degrees Fahrenheit below the average. On average, Portland has a trace of snowfall by this date of the year.

Other low temperatures through the area:
Sanford: 25°F
Fryeburg: 23°F
Wiscasset: 29°F

South Portland Acorn

At the Weather Maine location in South Portland, Maine, Oak trees appear to be dropping their seeds earlier this year when compared to last Fall. The date of the first noticeable acorn drop last year was in the second week of September. The date of the acorn drop at this location is determined by the first early-morning audible 'roof drop' of the acorn sitting high above the roof. The morning squirrel harvest is very noticeable during this time, as the acorns can be heard bouncing off the roof, window frames and the parked cars- hopefully the relative cornucopia of food for the squirrels will keep them from digging up the lawn! The recent snap of cool air direct from Canada may have triggered this drop. Future occurrences of acorn drop and temperature trends will be logged.

After a day of record-tying heat, a synoptic-scale weather pattern consisting of a large ridge to the west and a large, high-amplitude negative-tilt trough centered over the Notheast. The upper-air winds were very strong for this time of year, and this brought in some chilly temperatures to most of Maine. The dewpoints on Friday were close to 73°F (6:50pm 8/25/03 it was 73.8°F). Once this blast of cool, dry air rolled into Maine, the dewpoints dropped rapidly. By Sunday, August 24, 2003, the dewpoint at Weather Maine had dropped to a pretty dry 31.1°F! That is a drop of over 40°F over one weekend! A marked dewpoint drop is a sure sign of the arrival of a new air mass.
The NWS (National Weather Service) issued frost warnings for Northern Maine's weather zones during this weekend, but there was no widespread frost over our Southern Zones. Sanford did get into the 30's on Saturday night, which after the recent hot weather, is quite a shock to the body. Welcome to sniffle season.

Friday's weather featured very hot and very humid weather. At Weather Maine, the heat index was in the 90's (°F) from 10am until after 7pm. The threat of thunderstorms diminished as a pre-frontal trough came through, decoupling the surface lifting from the upper-level support. There were a few large thunderstorms in New Hampshire, but most of the activity was isolated in nature, and confined to our South or West.

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
225 PM EDT SAT AUG 02 2003

...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM AT PORTLAND TIED AT 1252 PM...

AT 1252 PM TEMPERATURE AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT REACHED 91 DEGREES.
THIS TIES THE RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THIS DAY THAT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1955.

WeatherMaine.com had a high temperature of:
91.2 °F at 12:20pm (Sensor 1, South Portland)

This movie is 15 minutes of video sped up to 16 times the recorded speed, or about 1 minute in duration. The audio track is removed. A few lightning strikes occurred within the field of view of the camera, but the speed of the loop masks the bolts. The strong storm that caused the clouds and weather moved to the North of Scarborough and Portland before sliding off the mid-coast. No rain was received at our observing location.
This footage was taken from just off Route 1 in Scarborough, Maine near the Scarborough Municipal building.

Movie: Time-Lapse Storm Front (~1 MB)

Tropical Storm Ana
formed on April 21st and remained a tropical system until the 24th of April. Ana had a maximum wind speed of 45 knots during its life.
This is the first tropical system in the Atlantic ever recorded in April; records began in 1871.
You can get the Tropical Season (2003) history at Plymouth State University's Tropical Weather Pages.

...A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET IN PORTLAND TODAY...

THE TEMPERATURE AT THE PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL JETPORT HIT 83 DEGREES
AT 344 THIS AFTERNOON... BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 75 DEGREES THAT
WAS SET ON THIS DATE BACK IN 1941.