January 2021 Climate Summary for Northern and Eastern Maine

...JANUARY 2021 MONTHLY CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR NORTHERN AND EASTERN

MAINE...

JANUARY 2021 WILL REMEMBERED FOR MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES, MUCH

BELOW AVERAGE PRECIPITATION, INCLUDING SNOWFALL, AND BELOW AVERAGE

SNOW PACK.

THE MONTH FINISHED 7 TO 9 DEGREES ABOVE CLIMATE NORMS WITH NEARLY

STEADY MILD TEMPS, ESPECIALLY NIGHT TIME LOWS THE RULE RATHER THAN

ANY RECORD BREAKING EPISODES. ARCTIC AIR MASSES WERE ONLY PRESENT

OVER THE AREA AT THE BEGINNING AND PARTS OF THE LAST THIRD OF THE

MONTH WITH NO TRULY BITTER COLD DAYS. IN FACT, AT CARIBOU THE

OCCURRENCE OF ONLY 4 SUBZERO MORNINGS IS THE LEAST OF ANY JANUARY

SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1939, WITH 5 THE PREVIOUS MARK SET IN 1956.

AT CARIBOU, BANGOR, HOULTON, AND MILLINOCKET, JANUARY 2021 FINISHED

AS THE 2ND, 7TH, 4TH, AND 4TH WARMEST, RESPECTFULLY, WITH THE

MONTHLY MEAN OF 19.6 DEGREES AT CARIBOU ONLY BEATEN BY 21.3 SET IN

1956.

PRECIPITATION ONLY RANGED FROM 25 TO 60 PERCENT OF AVERAGE WITH THE

ONLY SIGNIFICANT EVENT, FALLING AS SNOW, OVER CENTRAL PORTIONS OF

THE REGION. AT CARIBOU, BANGOR, HOULTON, AND MILLINOCKET JANUARY

2021 RANKED AS THE 12TH, 11TH, 4TH, AND 9TH DRIEST, RESPECTFULLY. OF

COURSE, LOW PRECIPITATION MEANT LOW SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH WITH THE

13.0 INCH TOTAL AT CARIBOU THE 9TH LOWEST RECORDED FOR JANUARY AND

9.0 INCHES AT BANGOR THE 13TH LOWEST, BOTH ABOUT 10 INCHES BELOW

LONG TERM JANUARY AVERAGES. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL EVENT OF

THE MONTH WAS ON THE 2ND AFFECTING CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE REGION

WITH 9 TO 13 INCHES AND LESSER AMOUNTS NORTH AND SOUTH.

AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH FOR THE MONTH AS MEASURED AT CARIBOU AND BANGOR

WAS ALSO SCANT AVERAGING 7.4 INCHES (ABOUT 40 PERCENT OF NORMAL) AT

CARIBOU AND ONLY 2.4 INCHES (25 PERCENT OF NORMAL) AT BANGOR WHICH

WAS THE 19TH AND 12TH LOWEST OF RECORD, RESPECTFULLY, AT BOTH SITES.

AT CARIBOU, IT RANGED FROM A LOW OF 5 INCHES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE

MONTH TO A HIGH OF 10 INCHES REACHED TWICE DURING THE LAST THIRD OF

MONTH. AT BANGOR, SNOW DEPTH RANGED FROM ZERO ON THE MORNING OF THE

1ST TO A MAX OF 7 INCHES ON THE 3RD THROUGH 5TH WITH SNOW DEPTH THEN

DIMINISHING TO AROUND A TRACE TO 1 INCH LATE IN THE MONTH.THE SCANTY

SNOWPACK RESULTED IN A DELAYED START TO SNOW MOBILE SEASON ACROSS

THE NORTH WITH ONLY LIMITED TRAILS AVAILABLE.

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER`S OUTLOOK FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY IS

CALLING FOR SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN NORMAL ODDS FOR ABOVE NORMAL

TEMPERATURES AND ABOUT EQUAL ODDS FOR BELOW, AVERAGE, AND ABOVE

AVERAGE PRECIPITATION. NORMAL LOW AND HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR THE

MONTH RANGE FROM LOW SINGLE DIGITS TO LOWER 20S ACROSS THE NORTH TO

LOWER TEENS AND LOWER 30S ACROSS DOWNEAST AREAS. NORMAL

PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE REGION RANGES FROM 2.10 INCHES ACROSS THE

NORTH TO 2.75 INCHES ALONG THE DOWNEAST COAST. AVERAGE SNOWFALL

RANGES FROM 15 TO 20 INCHES OVER DOWNEAST AREAS TO 20 TO 25 INCHES

ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS.