October 2021 Climate Summary for Northern and Eastern Maine

...OCTOBER 2021 CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR NORTHERN/EASTERN MAINE...

OCTOBER 2021 WAS MUCH WARMER THAN AVERAGE WITH BELOW TO AROUND 

AVERAGE TOTAL PRECIPITATION AND NO MEASURABLE SNOWFALL.

ALL OF OUR CLIMATE SITES AVERAGED ABOUT 5 DEGREES ABOVE THE 1991-

2020 CLIMATE NORMS. THE FOLLOWING ARE MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES 

(DEG F) AND RANKINGS FOR EACH SITE COMPARED TO ALL TIME RECORD

WARMEST OCTOBERS AND VARYING LENGTHS OF RECORD:

             ...2021...  ...ALL TIME RECORD...  ...RECORDS BEGAN... 

CARIBOU      49.9  2ND      51.4 FROM 2017             1939 

HOULTON      49.9  2ND      51.3 FROM 2017             1948 

MILLINOCKET  51.3  3RD      52.9 FROM 2017             1902 

BANGOR       53.1  4TH      55.5 FROM 2017             1925

THE WARMEST PORTION OF THE MONTH WAS BETWEEN THE 11TH AND 23RD WITH 

THE REST OF THE MONTH FEATURING SLIGHTLY BELOW TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE 

NORMAL TEMPS. WARMEST HIGH TEMPS OCCURRED ON THE 12TH AND 13TH WITH 

ALL CLIMATE SITES REACHING THE MID TO UPPER 70S. THE COLDEST LOWS 

OF UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S OCCURRED MOSTLY ON THE MORNINGS OF THE 

28TH-30TH. THE CONSISTENT WARMTH OF THIS MONTH AND LITTLE IN THE WAY 

OF SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DAYS RESULTED IN

DELAYED FALL TREE COLORS AND VERY LATE FIRST FREEZES FOR OUR 

REGION AS EXEMPLIFIED BY CARIBOU'S NEW LATEST FIRST FREEZE SET ON 

THE 25TH THIS MONTH WHICH WAS 8 DAYS LATER THAN THE PRIOR LATEST 

FIRST FREEZE RECORDED ON OCTOBER 17TH 1970.

TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH RANGED FROM ABOUT 60 PERCENT OF 

AVERAGE ACROSS NORTHERN AND INLAND EASTERN AREAS UPWARDS TO 120 

PERCENT OF AVERAGE ACROSS WESTERN INLAND AND DOWNEAST AREAS. MOST 

DAYS THIS MONTH WERE DRY OR FEATURED LITTLE IN THE WAY OF 

PRECIPITATION, WITH MAJOR RAINFALL EVENTS OCCURRING ON THE 16TH/17TH 

AND 30/31ST CONTRIBUTING TO THE LION SHARE OF THE TOTAL 

PRECIPITATION OF THIS MONTH. WARM TEMPERATURES PREVENTED ANY 

ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL EVENTS ACROSS ALL EXCEPT THE HIGHEST 

(UNINHABITED) PORTIONS OF THE REGION, NOT VERY UNUSUAL FOR OCTOBER 

GIVEN VERY LOW SNOWFALL AVERAGES. WHAT WAS UNUSUAL WAS THAT THERE

WERE EVEN HARDLY ANY FLURRIES THIS MONTH, WHICH NORMALLY OCCURS 

BY THE LATTER HALF OF OCTOBER, ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTH.

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER'S OUTLOOK FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IS 

CALLING FOR SOMEWHAT INCREASED ODDS OF ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AND 

SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE ODDS OF ABOVE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION FOR OUR 

REGION. NORMAL NOVEMBER TEMPS FOR THE 1991-2020 PERIOD FOR NORTHERN 

(DOWNEAST) MAINE ARE LOWS OF LOWER TO MID 20S (UPPER 20S TO AROUND 

30) AND HIGHS OF UPPER 30S TO LOWER 40S (MID TO UPPER 40S). NORMAL 

NOVEMBER TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE ENTIRE REGION IS AROUND 3.50 

INCHES WITH NORMAL SNOWFALL RANGING FROM 2 TO 4 INCHES OVER DOWNEAST 

AREAS UPWARDS TO AROUND 12 INCHES ACROSS FAR NORTHERN AREAS.  

$$

VJN/CB