Warm and Dry start to October in northern & eastern Maine

…October 2013 off to a very warm and dry start at Caribou and Bangor, ME…

Through October 11^th the average temperature this month of 52.2 degrees is 5.2 degrees above normal.  It has been the warmest start to the month of October since 2005.  There have been a total of 4 days with a high temperature above 70 degrees.  On average (1981-2010 normals), there is only one 70 degree day during the entire month of October.   The last time there were so many 70+ degree days during the first 11 days of October was in 2005 with a total of 5. Every day this month except October 6^th has had an average temperature that was above normal.   Temperatures are expected to continue to average above normal over the next several days.  A change in the weather pattern late next week will likely bring much cooler weather to the area by next weekend.

At Bangor, the average temperature so far this October of 55.5 degrees is 4.6 degrees above normal.  It has been the warmest start to October since 2005.  There have been 5 days with a high temperature above 70 degrees.  On average there are only 2 days during the entire month of October with a high temperature of 70 degrees or warmer.

So far this month has been quite dry with measurable rainfall on only one day at Caribou.  A total of 9 tenths of an inch (0.90”) was observed on the 7^th.  Month to date rainfall is 35 hundredths of an inch (0.35”) below normal.  It has been the driest start to October since 2007.

At Bangor, a total of one half of an inch (0.50”) of rain has been observed so far this month, which is 1.02 inches below normal.  It has been the driest October since 2004.