February 2025 Climate Summary for Northern and Eastern Maine

...FEBRUARY 2025 CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR NORTHERN/EASTERN MAINE...

FEBRUARY 2025 FEATURED NEAR TO BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES, NEAR 

AVERAGE PRECIPITATION (RAIN AND MELTED SNOW EQUIVALENT), AND ABOVE 

AVERAGE SNOWFALL ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. TEMPERATURES 

WERE NORMAL TO 1.0 DEGREES (F) BELOW THE 1991-2020 NORMALS OVER 

CENTRAL AND NORTHERN AREAS. TEMPERATURES WERE 3.3F BELOW NORMAL AT 

BANGOR, MAKING IT THE COLDEST FEBRUARY THERE SINCE 2015. ALL FOUR 

MAJOR CLIMATE SITES FINISHED BELOW NORMAL FOR THE FIRST MONTH SINCE 

NOVEMBER 2023. HOWEVER, NONE OF THE CLIMATE SITES FINISHED IN THE 

TOP 10 FOR EXTREMES FOR TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, OR SNOWFALL. 

TEMPERATURES WERE CONSISTENTLY AT OR BELOW NORMAL FOR THE FIRST 

THREE WEEKS OF THE MONTH ACROSS THE REGION. IN CARIBOU, THE MERCURY 

DID NOT RISE ABOVE FREEZING FOR THE FIRST 22 DAYS OF THE MONTH. THIS 

CAPPED A STRETCH OF 35 CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES AT OR 

BELOW FREEZING IN CARIBOU. THIS WAS THE 15TH LONGEST STREAK ON 

RECORD AND THE LONGEST SINCE 2015. RECORDS IN CARIBOU DATE BACK TO 

1939. A BRIEF WARMUP OCCURED THEREAFTER, WITH CARIBOU REACHING ITS 

MONTHLY HIGH OF 45F ON THE 25TH. THE COLD ALLOWED FOR SIGNIFICANT 

ICE BUILD UP ON AREA RIVERS AND LAKES. ALSO, FROST DEPTH IN CARIBOU 

REACHED 32 INCHES LATE IN THE MONTH. THIS WAS THE LARGEST FROST 

DEPTH RECORDED IN AT LEAST THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

PRECIPITATION WAS GENERALLY 75 TO 100 PERCENT OF NORMAL FROM THE 

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS SOUTHWARD, AND UP TO 130 PERCENT OF NORMAL FURTHER 

NORTH. AT THE START OF THE MONTH, MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) CONDITIONS 

EXISTED SOUTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM DEXTER TO MEDWAY TO DANFORTH. 

ABNORMALLY DRY (D0) CONDITIONS WERE PRESENT TO THE NORTH AND WEST, 

EXCEPT ACROSS THE SAINT JOHN VALLEY AND NEAR THE QUEBEC BORDER. 

THESE CONDITIONS WERE VIRTUALLY UNCHANGED AT THE END OF THE MONTH. 

NEARLY ALL OF THIS PRECIPITATION FELL IN THE FORM OF SNOW FROM THE 

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS NORTHWARD. TO THE SOUTH, PRECIPITATION FELL MOSTLY 

AS A MIX OF SNOW, SLEET, AND/OR FREEZING RAIN. NO SIGNIFICANT RAIN 

EVENTS OCCURED DURING THE MONTH.

SNOWFALL WAS ABOVE NORMAL REGIONWIDE, WITH THE LARGEST POSITIVE 

DEPARTURES OCCURING IN THE NORTH. IN CARIBOU, 35.3 INCHES OF SNOW 

FELL DURING THE MONTH. THIS WAS 10.0 INCHES ABOVE AVERAGE, THE 13TH 

SNOWIEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD, AND THE SNOWIEST FEBRUARY SINCE 2021 

(38.0 INCHES). THE TWO MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OF THE MONTH CAME IN 

QUICK SUCCESSION, WITH ONE ON THE 13TH, AND ANOTHER ON THE 16TH AND 

17TH. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS GREATER THAN 10 INCHES OCCURRED IN BOTH 

EVENTS NORTH OF THE KATAHDIN REGION. BOTH EVENTS SAW MIXED 

PRECIPITATION IN THE BANGOR REGION AND DOWNEAST. THE 16TH AND 17TH 

EVENT WAS THE LARGER OF THE TWO, WITH 18 INCHES OF SNOW FALLING NEAR 

ROVKWOOD AND 16 INCHES OF SNOW IN LIMESTONE. UP TO 0.10 INCH OF 

FREEZING RAIN AND UP TO 1.0 INCH OF SLEET FELL OVER DOWNEAST MAINE 

AND THE BANGOR REGION ON TOP OF SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW.

AT THE START OF THE MONTH, SNOW DEPTH WAS JUST 3 TO 9 INCHES IN MOST 

PLACES, WITH 12 TO 18 INCHES WEST OF ROUTE 11 TOWARDS THE QUEBEC 

BORDER. THE SNOW AND CONSISTENT COLD ALLOWED SNOWPACK TO BUILD TO 15 

TO 35 INCHES ACROSS THE NORTH, WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS TOWARDS THE 

QUEBEC BORDER. THE BANGOR REGION AND DOWNEAST SAW SNOW DEPTHS BUILD 

TO 6 TO 15 INCHES BY THE END OF THE MONTH, WITH THE LOWEST AMOUNTS 

IN COASTAL WASHINGTON COUNTY. SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT AMOUNTS AT THE 

END OF THE MONTH WERE GENERALLY 2 TO 3 INCHES FOR THE BANGOR AREA 

AND DOWNEAST. FURTHER NORTH, SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT AMOUNTS WERE 

GENERALLY 3 TO 6 INCHES, SIWHT UP TO 8 INCHES IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN 

TOWARDS THE QUEBEC BORDER.

THE CLIMATE PREDICITION CENTER'S (CPC) OUTLOOK FOR MARCH 2025 

INDICATES NO STRONG CLIMATE SIGNALS TOWARDS ABOVE OR BELOW AVERAGE 

TEMPERATURES. ODDS ARE SLIGHTLY TILTED TOWARDS ABOVE AVERAGE 

PRECIPITATION FROM THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS NORTHWARD. THERE ARE NO 

STRONG CLIMATE SIGNALS TOWARDS AN UNUSUALLY WET OR DRY MARCH FOR 

BANGOR AND DOWNEAST.

NORMAL MARCH TEMPERATURES (1991-2020) INDICATE THAT AVERAGE 

TEMPERATURES RISE SIGNIFICANTLY DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH. AT THE 

START OF THE MONTH, AVERAGE HIGHS IN THE NORTH ARE IN THE UPPER 20S. 

THESE RISE TO NEAR 40 DEGREES BY THE END OF THE MONTH. AVERAGE LOWS 

RISE FROM THE UPPER SINGLE DIGITS TO THE LOWER 20S DURING THE MONTH 

IN THE NORTH. DOWNEAST, AVERAGE HIGHS RISE FROM THE MID 30S TO THE 

MID 40S. AVERAGE LOWS DOWNEAST RISE FROM THE TEENS TO THE UPPER 20S 

DURING MARCH. NORMAL MARCH SNOWFALL IS 21.4 INCHES IN CARIBOU AND 

15.2 INCHES IN BANGOR. A LITTLE OVER AN HOUR AND A HALF OF DAYLIGHT 

IS GAINED DURING MARCH. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME THIS YEAR BEGINS ON 

MARCH 9TH.

$$

NC