October 2024 Monthly Climate Narrative for Northern and Eastern Maine

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

OCTOBER 2024 WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL WITH MUCH BELOW AVERAGE 
PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE REGION. TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM ABOUT 1.5 
TO 3.5 DEGREES (F) ABOVE THE 1991-2020 NORMALS. PRECIPITATION WAS 
GENERALLY BETWEEN 25 AND 50 PERCENT OF NORMAL. 

IN CARIBOU, IT WAS THE 9TH WARMEST OCTOBER ON RECORD. SIX OF THE 10 
WARMEST OCTOBERS IN CARIBOU HAVE OCCURRED SINCE 2007, INCLUDING FIVE 
SINCE 2017. RECORDS IN CARIBOU DATE BACK TO 1939. ELSEWHERE, 
TEMPERATURES FOR OCTOBER 2024 FELL OUTSIDE THE TOP 10 WARMEST ON 
RECORD. THE WARMEST DAY OF OCTOBER CAME ON THE 31ST, WHEN ALL FOUR 
SITES SET RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR THE DAY. BANGOR SAW A HIGH 
TEMPERATURE OF 78 DEGREES, WHILE CARIBOU SAW A HIGH OF 77 DEGREES. 
MILLINOCKET AND HOULTON REPORTED HIGH TEMPERATURES OF 75 AND 73 
DEGREES, RESPECTIVELY. THE HIGH TEMPERATURES IN CARIBOU, BANGOR, AND 
MILLINOCKET WERE THE WARMEST TEMPERATURES FOR SO LATE IN THE YEAR AT 
THOSE SITES.

THE FIRST FREEZE OF THE YEAR OCCURRED ON OCTOBER 9TH IN CARIBOU, 
WHICH WAS THE 6TH LATEST FIRST FREEZE DATE ON RECORD. OF THE TEN 
LATEST FIRST FREEZE DATES ON RECORD IN CARIBOU, FIVE HAVE OCCURRED 
SINCE 2010. THE FIRST FREEZE IN HOULTON OCCURRED ON OCTOBER 8TH, 
WHICH IS THE 2ND LATEST ON RECORD. THE RECORD LATEST FIRST FREEZE IN 
HOULTON WAS OCTOBER 11TH, 1957. MIILINOCKET HAD ITS FIRST FREEZE ON 
OCTOBER 9TH, ITS 13TH LATEST FIRST FREEZE ON RECORD. BANGOR SAW ITS 
FIRST FREEZE ON OCTOBER 17TH, ITS 12TH LATEST ON RECORD. RECORDS IN 
HOULTON, MILLINOCKET, AND BANGOR DATE BACK TO 1948, 1903, AND 1925 
RESPECTIVELY.

THE COLDEST MORNING OF THE MONTH OCCURRED ON THE 29TH, WHEN MANY 
LOCATIONS SAW LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS. BANGOR RECORDED A LOW 
TEMPERATURE OF 17 DEGREES ON THE 29TH. THIS WAS THE COLDEST 
TEMPERATURE IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER IN BANGOR SINCE 1944. THE ALL-
TIME LOWEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER IN BANGOR WAS 11 
DEGREES, SET ON OCTOBER 30TH, 1941.

YET PERHAPS THE MOST NOTEWORTHY ASPECT OF OCTOBER 2024 WAS HOW DRY 
IT WAS ACROSS THE REGION. AT CARIBOU, IT WAS THE 9TH DRIEST OCTOBER 
ON RECORD. IT WAS ALSO THE 9TH DRIEST OCTOBER IN BANGOR. MEANWHILE, 
MILLINOCKET AND HOULTON SAW THEIR 7TH AND 10TH DRIEST OCTOBERS ON 
RECORD, RESPECTIVELY. EVAPORATION, AS MEASURED IN CARIBOU, WAS 1.81 
INCHES FOR OCTOBER 2024. AT THE START OF THE MONTH, THE US DROUGHT 
MONITOR HAD MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) CONDITIONS ALONG THE DOWNEAST 
COAST. ABNORMALLY DRY (D0) CONDITIONS WERE PRESENT IN MOST OF THE 
REST OF THE AREA OUTSIDE OF THE SAINT JOHN VALLEY AND THE NORTH 
WOODS. AT THE END OF THE MONTH, D1 CONDITIONS COVERED MOST LOCATIONS 
SOUTH AND EAST OF KATAHDIN, AS WELL AS IN AROOSTOOK COUNTY ALONG THE 
NEW BRUNSWICK BORDER. DO CONDITIONS COVERED MOST OF THE REST OF THE 
AREA EXCEPT IN THE SAINT JOHN VALLEY AND TOWARDS THE QUEBEC BORDER.

THE FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON OCCURRED ON THE 14TH AND 15TH IN 
THE NORTH WOODS, WHERE UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW FELL. ANOTHER MINOR 
SNOW EVENT OCCURRED IN AROOSTOOK COUNTY ON THE 27TH, WHERE A TRACE 
TO 1 INCH OF SNOW FELL. OFFICIALLY IN CARIBOU, 0.1 INCHES OF SNOW 
FELL ON THE 27TH. THE 1991-2020 AVERAGE SNOWFALL FOR OCTOBER IN 
CARIBOU IS 1.7 INCHES, AND MEASURABLE SNOW HAS FALLEN IN 53/85 (62 
PERCENT) OF ALL OCTOBERS ON RECORD. NO SNOW FELL DURING THE MONTH 
SOUTH OF KATAHDIN. IN BANGOR, THE 1991-2020 AVERAGE OCTOBER SNOWFALL 
IS 0.6 INCHES, AND MEASURABLE SNOW HAS FALLEN IN 10/94 (11 PERCENT) 
OF ALL OCTOBERS, WITH 5 YEARS OF MISSING DATA.

FALL FOLIAGE PEAKED DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF THE MONTH ACROSS THE 
NORTH, AND TOWARDS MID MONTH NEAR BANGOR AND DOWNEAST. A STRONG WIND 
EVENT OCCURRED ON THE 12TH, WITH WIND GUSTS OVER 50 MPH. SINCE THE 
TREES IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AREAS STILL HAD LEAVES ON THEM, 
NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES WERE TAKEN DOWN. OVER 100 THOUSAND 
CUSTOMERS WERE LEFT WITHOUT POWER, WITH THE LARGEST OUTAGES 
OCCURRING IN PISCATAQUIS, PENOBSCOT, AND HANCOCK COUNTIES. 

THE CLIMATE PREDICITION CENTER'S (CPC) OUTLOOK FOR NOVEMBER 2024 
INDICATES THAT THE ODDS ARE TILTED TOWARDS ABOVE NORMAL 
TEMPERATURES. THE CPC SHOWS THE ODDS SLIGHTLY TILTED TOWARDS 
UNUSUALLY DRY CONDITIONS FOR DOWNEAST MAINE. ELSEWHERE, THERE ARE NO 
STRONG CLIMATE SIGNALS THAT POINT TOWARDS UNUSUALLY WET (SNOWY) OR 
UNUSUALLY DRY CONDITIONS IN NOVEMBER 2024. AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURES 
RANGE FROM THE MID 40S TO LOWER 50S (FROM NORTH TO SOUTH) AT THE 
START OF THE MONTH. BY THE END OF THE MONTH, AVERAGE HIGHS RANGE 
FROM THE UPPER 30S TO THE MID 40S. AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURES RANGE 
FROM NEAR 40 DEGREES AT THE START OF THE MONTH DOWNEAST, TO THE LOW 
TO MID 20S BY THE END OF THE MONTH. ACROSS THE FAR NORTH, AVERAGE 
LOWS DROP FROM THE LOWER 30S AT THE START OF THE MONTH TO THE UPPER 
TEENS BY THE END OF THE MONTH.

LIQUID PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER AVERAGES BETWEEN 3.25 
AND 4.00 INCHES ACROSS THE REGION. SNOWFALL IN CARIBOU FOR NOVEMBER 
AVERAGES 10.4 INCHES, WHILE IN BANGOR SNOWFALL AVERAGES 4.3 INCHES. 
ON AVERAGE, NOVEMBER IS THE CLOUDIEST MONTH OF THE YEAR ACROSS THE 
REGION. SNOWFALL IS POSSIBLE ANYTIME DURING NOVEMBER, BUT THE 
FREQUENCY OF LARGER SNOW EVENTS INCREASES MOST RAPIDLY DURING THE 
2ND HALF OF THE MONTH. NEARLY 2 HOURS OF DAYLIGHT IS LOST DURING 
NOVEMBER. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS THIS YEAR ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 
3RD.

$$

NC/CB