January 2024 Climate Summary For Northern And Eastern Maine

...JANUARY 2024 CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR NORTHERN/EASTERN MAINE...

JANUARY 2024 FOR THE REGION AS A WHOLE FINISHED WITH ABOVE AVERAGE

TEMPERATURES. PRECIPITATION WAS MOSTLY BELOW AVERAGE, EXCEPT

SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE ALONG THE COAST. SNOWFALL WAS NEAR AVERAGE

ACROSS THE REGION.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE AREA RANGED FROM 3.5 TO 5 DEGREES F ABOVE

1991-2020 NORMALS, BUT THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH THAT ANY OF THE LONG TERM

CLIMATE SITES HAD A TOP 10 WARMEST JANUARY.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OF THE MONTH OCCURRED ON THE 10TH AND

13TH WHEN SIGNIFICANT COASTAL FLOODING WAS OBSERVED ALONG THE

WASHINGTON AND HANCOCK COUNTY COASTS. ALTHOUGH THE OBSERVED WATER

LEVELS WERE HIGHER ON THE 13TH, HIGHER WAVE HEIGHTS AND MORE

SIGNIFICANT WAVE RUN UP LED TO MORE WIDESPREAD AND SIGNIFICANT

FLOODING ON THE 10TH.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SNOWSTORMS WERE OBSERVED ON THE 9TH INTO THE

10TH WHEN 2-4 INCHES OF SNOW WAS OBSERVED ALONG THE COAST AND 6 TO

12 INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS. ANOTHER EVENT ON THE 16TH ALSO

PRODUCED 2-4 INCHES ALONG THE COAST AND 6 INCHES TO AS MUCH AS A

FOOT FROM BANGOR NORTH TO THE SAINT JOHN VALLEY.

BY THE END OF THE MONTH, THE SNOW DEPTH ACROSS THE REGION RANGED

FROM 10 TO 18 INCHES ACROSS MOST OF AROOSTOOK COUNTY AND IN MOST

AREAS FROM MILLINOCKET NORTH WITH WITH LOCALLY UP TO 2 FEET ACROSS

THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS AND IN THE NORTH WOODS. AMOUNTS DROPPED OFF TO

4 TO 6 INCHES IN THE BANGOR AREA AND ALONG THE COAST.

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER`S FORECAST FOR FEBRUARY 2024 INDICATES

THAT THERE ARE NO STRONG CLIMATE SIGNALS THAT POINT TOWARD EITHER

ABOVE OR BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES.  THE ODDS ARE TILTED SLIGHTLY

TOWARD BELOW AVERAGE PRECIPITATION. AVERAGE TEMPERATURES RANGE FROM

LOWS/HIGHS OF AROUND ZERO/20 DEGREES F OVER THE FAR NORTH TO AROUND

10/AROUND 30 ALONG THE DOWNEAST COAST AT THE START OF THE MONTH, AND

FROM LOWS/HIGHS IN THE UPPER SINGLE DIGITS/UPPER 20S IN THE FAR

NORTH TO AROUND 15F/MID 30S AT THE DOWNEAST COAST. FEBRUARY IS ON

AVERAGE THE DRIEST MONTH OF THE YEAR WITH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION

(RAIN AND MELTED SNOW) OF 2.38 INCHES AT BANGOR AND 2.42 INCHES AT

CARIBOU. AVERAGE SNOWFALL RANGES FROM 15 TO 20 INCHES DOWNEAST AND

FROM 20 TO 30 INCHES ACROSS THE NORTH. FEBRUARY IS ON AVERAGE THE

SNOWIEST MONTH IN CARIBOU WITH AVERAGE SNOWFALL OF 25.3 INCHES. A

LITTLE OVER AN HOUR OF ADDITIONAL DAYLIGHT IS ADDED DURING THE MONTH

OF FEBRUARY.

$$

CB/VJN