January 2018 Climate Review

...NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE MONTHLY CLIMATE NARRATIVE...

JANUARY 2018 FINISHED WITH SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND
WITH MUCH ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION AND SNOWFALL.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION MOSTLY RANGED FROM 1.5 TO 2.5 DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL, EXCEPT THE SAINT JOHN VALLEY AREA WHICH AVERAGED NEAR
NORMAL. THE MONTH OPENED WITH A CONTINUATION OF A COLD SPELL WHICH
BEGAN THE PREVIOUS MONTH AND FEATURED NEARLY A MONTH OF CONTINUOUS
BELOW FREEZING TEMPS WHICH ENDED ON THE 11TH. THE 11TH AND 12TH
FEATURED A MAJOR THAW WITH TEMPERATURES WELL ABOVE FREEZING.
AFTERWARDS, TEMPERATURES ALTERNATED FROM BELOW TO ABOVE AVERAGE
THROUGH THE REST OF THE MONTH. THE COLDEST TEMPS OF THE MONTH
OCCURRED MOSTLY IN THE FIRST WEEK, WITH OUR COLDEST NORTHWEST VALLEY
LOCATIONS RECORDING MINIMUM TEMPS DOWN TO LOWER -30S DEG F ON A
COUPLE OF MORNINGS. THE WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURES OCCURED ON THE
12TH WITH MANY EASTERN LOCATIONS REACHING 50+ DEG F.

THIS WAS A VERY WET JANUARY WITH MOST AREAS RECEIVING 150 TO 200
PERCENT OF AVERAGE EQUIVALENT PRECIPITATION. AT CARIBOU, THE 5.30
INCH TOTAL THIS MONTH FINISHED AS 2ND WETTEST JUST BEHIND THE 5.60
INCH WETTEST 1995 JANUARY OF RECORD. BANGOR`S TOTAL OF 5.53 INCHES
WAS 6TH WETTEST FINISHING SIGNIFICANTLY BEHIND THE WETTEST JANUARY
OF 7.64 INCHES IN 1979. MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION THIS MONTH WAS
COMPRISED BY THREE EVENTS: THE 4TH-5TH, 12TH-13TH, AND 23RD-24TH.
THE 4TH-5TH WAS AN AREA WIDE BLIZZARD WHILE THE 12TH-13TH WAS MOSTLY
RAIN AND THE 23RD-24TH A MIXED PRECIPITATION EVENT.

THE COMBO OF CLOSE TO AVERAGE TEMPS AND MUCH ABOVE NORMAL
PRECIPITATION RESULTED IN A WELL ABOVE AVERAGE SNOWFALL MONTH. THE
TOTAL OF 38.9 INCHES WAS THE 6TH SNOWIEST AT CARIBOU NOT TO FAR FROM
THE 44.5 INCH SNOWIEST TOTAL OF 1994 WHILE THE TOTAL OF 30.1 INCHES
WAS THE THE 13TH SNOWIEST MONTH AT BANGOR WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY LESS
THAN THE 48.4 INCH TOTAL RECORDED IN 1966. THE BIGGEST SNOW EVENT
FOR THE REGION AS A WHOLE WAS THE 4TH-5TH BLIZZARD WHICH FEATURED
ABOUT 14 TO 22 INCHES OF HIGHLY DRIFTED SNOWFALL TO MOST OF THE
REGION.

LASTLY, AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH THIS MONTH WAS ALSO ABOVE AVERAGE, WITH
THE 22.3 INCH AVERAGE AT CARIBOU 14TH HIGHEST NOT FAR BEHIND JANUARY
2017 WHICH FEATURED AN AVERAGE OF 24.8 INCHES, BUT WELL SHORT OF THE
RECORD 36.1 AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH OF JANUARY 1955. AT BANGOR, THE
AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH OF 11.3 INCHES WAS THE 12TH HIGHEST AVERAGE, WELL
BEHIND THE 27.4 INCH RECORD AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH JANUARY OF 1963.
MAXIMUM DAILY SNOW DEPTHS AT CARIBOU WERE 30 INCHES ON THE 8TH AND
9TH WITH A MINIMUM VALUE OF 15 INCHES ON ON THE 13TH. AT BANGOR, THE
MAXIMUM DAILY SNOW DEPTH WAS 33 INCHES ON THE 9TH, WITH TRACES
FEATURED ON THE 14TH-16TH AND 29TH-30TH. THE 12-13TH THAW/RAIN EVENT
RESULTED IN A NORTHERN MAJOR/DOWNEAST CATASTROPHIC REDUCTION TO
DAILY RUNNING SNOW DEPTH, AS EVIDENT FROM CARIBOU GOING FROM DAILY
SNOW DEPTHS OF 29 TO 15 INCHES AND BANGOR GOING FROM DAILY SNOW
DEPTHS OF 31 INCHES TO A TRACE FROM THE 11TH TO 14TH, WITH A SINGLE
DAY REDUCTION OF 17 INCHES (FROM 25 TO 8 INCHES) AT BANGOR FROM THE
12TH TO 13TH. SNOW PACK ACROSS THE NORTH WAS ABLE TO RE-BUILD DURING
THE LATTER HALF OF THE MONTH WITH OTHER MOSTLY SNOW EVENTS, BUT
STRUGGLED OVER DOWNEAST AREAS WHICH HAD SOME RAIN FROM OTHER
PRECIPITATION EVENTS. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE IMPACT OF THE THAW ON WINTER
RECREATION WAS LESS ACROSS THE NORTH.

THE OUTLOOK FOR FEBRUARY FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER CALLS
FOR AN INCREASED LIKELIHOOD OF BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES, AND AN
INCREASED LIKELIHOOD OF ABOVE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION (SNOWFALL).

AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURES RISE FROM 20 DEGREES TO THE UPPER 20S
ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS, AND FROM THE UPPER 20S TO MID 30S AT BANGOR.
THE AVERAGE LOWS RISE FROM NEAR ZERO ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS AT THE
START OF THE MONTH TO 5 TO 10 ABOVE BY THE END OF THE MONTH.  AT
BANGOR, THE AVERAGE LOWS RISE FROM 7 DEGREES ON THE 1ST TO 14 BY THE
END OF THE MONTH.  AVERAGE SNOWFALL IS 22.2 INCHES AT CARIBOU AND
14.7 INCHES AT BANGOR. THERE IS AN INCREASE IN JUST OVER AN HOUR OF
DAYLIGHT DURING THE MONTH.