February 2014 Climate Summary for northern and eastern Maine

FEBRUARY 2014 FINISHED WITH SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL. IT WAS THE COLDEST FEBRUARY AT CARIBOU AND BANGOR SINCE 2007.

TEMPERATURES AVERAGED FROM 1 TO 3 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL ACROSS MOST OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT CARIBOU OF 12.8 DEGREES WAS 1.4 DEGREES BELOW THE 1981-2010 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE. AT BANGOR...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 18 DEGREES WAS 2.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. UNLIKE JANUARY WHEN THERE WERE WILD SWINGS OF ABOVE AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES FEBRUARY FEATURED SHORTER AND LESS INTENSE SWINGS OF ABOVE AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THERE WERE NO NEW TEMPERATURE RECORDS ESTABLISHED AT EITHER CARIBOU OR BANGOR THIS PAST FEBRUARY.

THE HIGH TEMPERATURE THIS PAST FEBRUARY AT BANGOR WAS 47 DEGREES ON THE 22ND. THE LOW 13 BELOW WAS OBSERVED ON THE 18TH. AT CARIBOU...THE HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 41 DEGREES WAS OBSERVED ON THE 22ND...AND THE LOW OF 17 BELOW WAS OBSERVED ON THE 18TH.

LIQUID PRECIPITATION (RAIN AND MELTED SNOW) ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE WAS CLOSE TO NORMAL WITH ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL IN MANY AREAS. AT CARIBOU A TOTAL OF 27.3 INCHES OF SNOW WAS OBSERVED...WHICH WAS 5.1 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. AT BANGOR...A TOTAL OF 25.2 INCHES OF SNOW WAS OBSERVED...WHICH WAS 10.5 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL.

THE TWO BIGGEST SNOWFALL EVENTS OCCURRED BACK-TO-BACK ON FEBRUARY 13TH-14TH AND FEBRUARY 15TH-16TH. THE FIRST EVENT PRODUCED OVER A FOOT OF SNOW IN MUCH OF WASHINGTON AND HANCOCK COUNTIES WITH AMOUNTS DROPPING OFF RAPIDLY TO THE NORTH. THE SECOND STORM PRODUCED MORE WIDESPREAD AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE.

THE MONTH BEGAN WITH A SNOW PACK ON ONLY A COUPLE OF INCHES DOWNEAST AND 12 TO 18 INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN MAINE. THE SNOW PACK INCREASED DURING FEBRUARY...AND BY THE END OF THE MONTH THE SNOW PACK RANGED FROM 6 TO 12 INCHES DOWNEAST AND MOSTLY FROM 18 TO 30 INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN MAINE WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 3 FEET ACROSS THE NORTH MAINE WOODS.

LIKE THE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS BELOW NORMAL WITH NO BLIZZARDS OR HIGH WIND EVENTS. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED AT CARIBOU WAS 7.2 MPH AND AT BANGOR WAS 6.7 MPH. THE PEAK WIND SPEED FOR THE MONTH AT CARIBOU WAS 40 MPH ON THE 17TH. THE PEAK WIND SPEED AT BANGOR THIS PAST FEBRUARY WAS 38 MPH ON THE 16TH.

THE OUTLOOK FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES AN INCREASED LIKELIHOOD OF BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES THIS MARCH. THERE ARE NO STRONG CLIMATE SIGNALS THAT WOULD TILT THE ODDS TOWARDS AN UNUSUALLY WET (SNOWY) OR DRY MONTH. DAYLIGHT INCREASES RAPIDLY WITH A NEARLY 2 HOUR INCREASE IN AVAILABLE DAYLIGHT DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS ON SUNDAY, MARCH 9TH.