May 2018 Summary for Northern and Eastern Maine

...MAY 2018 MONTHLY CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR NORTHERN AND EASTERN
MAINE...

MAY 2018 FINISHED WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL
PRECIPITATION WITH A RAPID TRANSITION FROM A WINTERY LANDSCAPE FROM
EARLY LAST MONTH. THE MONTH BEGAN WITH MANY LEFT OVER OPEN LANDSCAPE
SNOW PATCHES AND SNOW IN THE WOODS BUT TRANSITIONED TO NEAR SUMMER
CONDITIONS WITH TREES AT FULL LEAF AT THE END OF THE MONTH.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION AVERAGED 1.0 TO 3.5 DEGREES ABOVE
AVERAGE WITH A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER THAN AVERAGE DIURNAL RANGE FROM
HIGH AND LOW TEMPERATURES. WARM AND COOL SPELLS ALTERNATED EVERY FEW
DAYS. THE WARMEST DAY ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL AREAS WAS ON MAY
31ST WITH SOME LOCATIONS EXCEEDING 90 DEGREES WHILE DOWNEAST AREAS
EXPERIENCED THERE WARMEST DAY ON THE 25TH WITH MANY LOCATINS IN THE
MID TO UPPER 80S. MANY OF THE AIR MASSES THAT TRAVERSED THE REGION
FROM CENTRAL CANADA WERE VERY DRY, RESULTING IN AN ABOVE AVERAGE
OCCURRENCE OF FROSTS AND BELOW FREEZING MORNINGS DESPITE THE OVERALL
TREND OF TEMPERATURE BEING ABOVE AVERAGE. MAY 2018 FINISHED 11TH
WARMEST AT MILLINOCKET AND 13TH WARMEST AT BANGOR.

TOTAL PRECIPITATION, WHICH WAS ENTIRELY RAINFALL AT MOST LOCATIONS,
ONLY AVERAGED 55 TO 70 PERCENT OF AVERAGE ACROSS THE REGION WITH
LENGTHY PERIODS OF NO PRECIPITATION. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL
OCCURRED ON THE 3RD AND 4TH, WITH SPORADIC LESSER RAINFALL DAYS OVER
THE REST OF THE MONTH.

THE OUTLOOK FOR JUNE 2018 FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER IS
CALLING FOR EQUAL CHANCES OF BELOW, NEAR, OR ABOVE AVERAGE
TEMPERATURES AND A SLANT TOWARD BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL FOR THE
REGION. NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURES RANGE FROM THE UPPER 60S ACROSS THE
SAINT JOHN VALLEY TO MID 70S OVER INTERIOR DOWNEAST AREAS WITH
CORRESPONDING LOWS RANGING FROM THE UPPER 40S TO LOWER 50S. AVERAGE
RAINFALL ACROSS THE REGION AS A WHOLE IS AROUND 3.50 INCHES.