February 2025 Monthly Climate Narrative 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