Back again, belatedly, to say that May temperatures stayed pretty close to normal. The first 10 were a little cool, then mostly a little warm for the remainder of the month.
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Not much to cheer about for those looking for an early Spring. After two warm days to start the month, there were only two more days greater than 5 degrees above normal and 9 days at least 5 degrees below normal. The cool month was capped by 3" of snow on the 26th, the latest snow in Portland since 1993. The Portland record is 7" on May 10-11, 1945!
Well, not exactly, but despite a relatively warm day on the 31st (more about that later), the last 13 days of March averaged just about normal while the first 18 days (despite the fact that the two coldest days of the month were on the 3rd and 4th) were over 5 degrees above normal on average. The month as a whole was about 3 degrees above normal, making it the 5th consecutive month at least that warm, the longest such streak since we had 8 in a row from October 2011 to May 2012. The chances of the current streak continuing appear to be slim, as April has come in like a lion.
What was so unusual about the 31st? As warm as it was in Harpswell, the high temperature in Portland was 72, while it was only 55 here - 17 degrees cooler. February 2015 was the coldest on record in this part of Maine, while this February was the 9th warmest (since records began in Portland in 1940). The first chart compares daily temperatures in Harpswell. Valentine's Day was the only day colder than last year, and in fact it was colder than any day last February, but average temperatures for the month were about 16 degrees warmer this year, and four days were more than 30 degrees warmer. We hit 50 degrees on 10 days this year after never exceeding 41 last February. Temperatures for the Winter season were the warmest relative to normal of any season at my weather station, and it was the 2nd warmest winter recorded in Portland. We did manage almost 3' of snow this winter, but last year we had 8' through February!
A strong El Nino in the Pacific continued to bring much warmer than normal temperatures to Maine in January, with 9 more days at least 10 degrees above normal and none more than 10 degrees below normal. It was the third warmest month, relative to normal, at my weather station. We had a high of 52 degrees on the 10th and a low of +3 on the 5th. Not surprisingly with the warm temperatures, we only had 9" of snow, bringing us to 14" for the season, compared to 55" last winter through January.
To celebrate "Plus One" day, that memorable occasion when our normal average temperature in this part of Maine goes up one degree for the first time since August, here are the annual Global, US and Portland temperature summaries through 2015. Each graph shows the anomaly (difference) between average temperature each year relative to the 1951-1980 reference period. Global temperatures took a big jump this year to the highest level in the last 136 years, while the US and Portland temperatures in 2015 were held below record levels by the cold winter last year. Global temperatures have not been below the reference period since 1976 and seem unlikely to be that low any time soon.
Yes, 26 consecutive warmer than normal days, and 15 of those over 10 degrees above normal after having only 11 days at 10+ in January through November combined. It was by far the warmest month at my station in the last 5 years, over 8 degrees above normal. In Portland, where temperature records go back to 1940, December was the warmest month ever, measured relative to normal, and the record for Christmas day was broken by 9 degrees with a high of 62 (it was 64 in Harpswell). Temps did not fall below 20 in Harpswell until the 29th, also the first snow day of the winter. Portland snow records go back to 1881, and this was the second latest first snow in the last 135 years (the latest was the winter of 1999-2000, when the first snow was January 16th).
After a very warm (for November) first week, the rest of the month bounced between warm and cold days, with the warm days outweighing the cold ones. In total, November was about 3.25 degrees above normal, leaving the fall season (September-November) over 2 degrees above normal. This was the warmest season, relative to normal, since winter of '12/'13 (see third chart below).
December statistics will show even more unusual warm temperatures. As of the 27th, we have had 26 consecutive warmer than normal days. Stay tuned for details. October weather was pretty boring, so I'll talk about November first. Yes, it's true, the first week of November was the warmest week we've had in Harpswell (relative to normal) since Christmas week last December. We have averaged over 8 degrees above normal this week, by far the warmest week this year, relative to normal temps. But last December, before winter took hold, we were almost 12 degrees above normal from December 23rd through 29th! This week, we hit 70 for the first time in almost a month on the 5th (and probably for the last time until spring), and hit 65 on 5 consecutive days, from the 2nd through the 6th. This past spring, we didn't hit 70 until May 5th, so it might be another 6 months before we see 70 again.
October had 15 warmer-than-normal days and 16 colder-than-normal days, and ended up just slightly below normal for the month. First frost was on the 19th, but the tomato plants are still alive on November 7th and might last until Thanksgiving if we are lucky! Fourteen days warmer than normal by at least 5 degrees, and no days that much colder than normal in September. On the warmest of those warm days, we hit 92.7 degrees - the first day over 90 in over two years (since July 18, 2013) at my weather station. On average for the month, we were 3.5 degrees above normal, the warmest month compared to normal since last October.
Our very dry summer ended on September 30th when we had almost 4" of rain at my station (probably more like 5.5" based on a nearby rain gauge), including 1.6" in an hour. My station had never recorded more than 0.5" in an hour during the 2 years I've been keeping track of that statistic. |
SOURCEWeather statistics are based on 5-minute readings at an Ambient Weather station near Mill Cove off of upper Harpswell Sound. Archives
December 2015
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