An extended period of critical fire weather is forecast through Saturday from southern New Mexico into the southern Plains. A Pacific storm with atmospheric river will bring heavy mountain snow and strong winds to the Sierra Nevada and heavy rainfall over parts of coastal southern California midweek. Read More >
...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.