March 2020 Climate Review for Northern and Eastern Maine

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

MARCH 2020 FINISHED WITH ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES, SLIGHTLY BELOW
AVERAGE PRECIPITATION, MOSTLY BELOW AVERAGE SNOWFALL, AND A STEEP
NORTH TO SOUTH DIFFERENCE IN SNOW PACK.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION MOSTLY AVERAGED 1 TO 2 DEGREES ABOVE
AVERAGE, EXCEPT 3 TO 5 DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE OVER THE LOWER
PENOBSCOT VALLEY AND DOWNEAST AREAS. AT BANGOR, MARCH 2020 WITH AN
AVERAGE OF 34.4 DEGREES WAS 4.2 DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE FINISHING 12TH
WARMEST, BUT WELL BELOW THE WARMEST MARCH OF RECORD OF 40.1 DEGREES
RECORDED IN 1936. OVERALL, THERE WERE A LOT OF UPS AND DOWNS WITH
DAILY TEMPERATURES, BUT NO PROLONGED COLD OR WARM SPELLS. COLDEST
MORNINGS WERE THE 1ST, 2ND, AND 23RD WHICH FEATURED BELOW ZERO
MORNINGS ACROSS THE NORTH WITH ONE RECORD TYING LOW AT CARIBOU WITH
-6 DEGREES F ON THE 23RD. MILDER 40S AND 50S DAYTIME HIGH TEMPS
OCCURRED MORE FREQUENTLY IN MID TO LATE MARCH BETWEEN INTERMITTENT
COLD SPELLS, BUT OVERALL, THERE WAS NOT MUCH TOTAL RANGE BETWEEN
COLDEST AND WARMEST TEMPERATURES THIS MARCH COMPARED TO OTHER
MARCHES.

PRECIPITATION WAS GENERALLY ONLY 75 TO 100 PERCENT AVERAGE, WITH NOT
MUCH IN THE WAY OF NOTEWORTHY EVENTS. THIS ALSO REFLECTED IN
SNOWFALL WHICH WAS CAPPED AT ABOUT 100 PERCENT OF NORMAL ACROSS THE
FAR NORTH. AS HAS BEEN THE CASE MOST OF THIS PAST WINTER, MOST LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEMS TRAVERSED DIRECTLY ACROSS THE REGION FROM THE WEST,
ALLOWING LESS SNOW OVER CENTRAL AND ESPECIALLY DOWNEAST AREAS WHERE
WARMER AIR CHANGED SNOW TO RAIN BEFORE MUCH SNOW ACCUMULATION
OCCURRED.

REGARDING SNOW PACK, IT WAS A TALE OF TWO CITIES IF ONE COMPARED
BANGOR WHICH ONLY AVERAGED 0.3 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND (ABOUT 6
INCHES BELOW AVERAGE) TO CARIBOU WHICH AVERAGED 27.4 INCHES (ABOUT
10 INCHES ABOVE AVERAGE) FOR THE MONTH. MOST DAYS AT BANGOR RECORDED
NO SNOW ON THE GROUND, BUT THE SINGLE SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT ON THE
23RD AND 24TH RESULTED IN A MAXIMUM SNOW DEPTH OF 7 INCHES ON THE
24TH. AT CARIBOU, SNOW DEPTH RANGED FROM MINIMUM OF 23 INCHES ON THE
31ST TO A MAXIMUM OF 32 INCHES ON THE 14TH. THE CUTOFF OF STEADY
SNOWPACK THIS MONTH RAN JUST SOUTH OF A DOVER-FOXCROFT, MILLINOCKET,
DANFORTH LINE.