July 2015 Climate Summary for northern and eastern Maine

...July 2015 climate summary for Northern and Eastern Maine...

July 2015 featured below normal temperatures. Precipitation was highly variable and ranged from well below normal across most of Down east Maine to above normal across northwest Maine.

At Caribou, the average temperature of 64.5 degrees was 1.1 degrees below normal.  It was the coolest July since 2009, and ranked as the 25th coolest July on record.  At Bangor, the average temperature of 67.0 degrees was 1.5 degrees below normal.  It was also the coolest July since 2009, and ranked as the 19th coolest july on record. Six of the first 7 months of 2015 have featured below normal temperatures.  Year to date it has been the coldest year on record At Bangor, and the 6th coldest at Caribou.

Temperatures this past July at Caribou ranged from a low of 45 degrees on the 17th to a high of 85 degrees on the 30th.  At Bangor, temperature ranged from a low of 47 degrees on the 17th to 87 degrees on the 12th and 29th.  There was an unusually cool air mass toward the middle of the month that sent temperatures down into The 30s in many of the normally colder valleys across northern Maine on the 16th and 17th.  Houlton had back to back lows in the 30s.

Precipitation was more variable in nature, and ranged from only 25 To 50 percent across much of Down east Maine to as much as 200 percent of normal across parts of northwest Maine.

There was a lack of severe weather this past July with no severe thunderstorm warnings issued until the afternoon of the 27th when thunderstorms knocked down trees in Allagash and Saint Francis.  On the 28th, ping pong sized hail was observed in Alton in Penobscot County.

At Bangor, only 1.16 inches of rain was observed, which was 2.30 Inches below normal.  It ranked as the 8th driest July on record. At Caribou, 3.19 inches of rain was observed, which was 89 hundredths (0.89") of an inch below normal.

The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for the month of August for our region calls for an increased likelihood of above normal temperatures.  There are no strong climate signals that would point toward an unusually wet or dry month.

The average temperatures begin to slowly drop during the month of August.  At Caribou (Bangor), the average high falls from 76F (80F) To 71F (75F).  The average low temperatures at Caribou (Bangor) fall from 55 (58) to 50 (53). One and one half hours of daylight is lost during the month of August.