Ok, I'll admit, the title was just to try to attract readers, but the weather sure has been on a cold and snowy streak here in Maine! The first graph shows we have yet to have an above normal day, temperature-wise, so far this month. That streak started on the 31st of January and will continue through today, the 21st, for a total of 23 consecutive days. In the previous 50 months that I have been keeping track, we never had more than 12 consecutive days colder than normal. If the forecast holds, tomorrow will end that streak by being a few degrees above normal. After that, the forecast is for more much-colder-than-normal temps for the remainder of the month. We'll see.
Through today, we will have had 14 out of 21 days in February that were at least 10 degrees colder than normal. The forecast says we will have at least a few more of those. Previously in my records, we had never had more than 9 days in a month that were 10 or more degrees colder than normal (March 2014). So far, February has averaged 12.5 degrees below normal. None of the last 50 months have been more than 5.3 degrees below normal (again, March 2014). That will be way off the scale of my latest graph (through January) of monthly temperatures vs normal.
Yes, it has been cold. How cold? Well, the second graph shows that the 19th was the first day this month when the low temperature (the blue diamond) was above 10 degrees. Another streak gone. In Portland, where NOAA has been keeping track of temperatures since 1941, it looks like this will be the coldest February ever recorded. The record low February is an average temperature of 15.6 in 1979. Through the 20th, Portland is averaging 12.9 and average temps are unlikely to change that much through the 28th based on the current forecast.
We have also had a long streak of snowy weather. Since January 24th, we have not gone more than two consecutive days without snow. As I write this, it is still snowing, but we have at least 3" today. That brings our total since January 24th to 67" in 28 days. This streak also appears to be about to end. The 7-day forecast is for no snow after tonight.
Wow! Amazing weather.
Through today, we will have had 14 out of 21 days in February that were at least 10 degrees colder than normal. The forecast says we will have at least a few more of those. Previously in my records, we had never had more than 9 days in a month that were 10 or more degrees colder than normal (March 2014). So far, February has averaged 12.5 degrees below normal. None of the last 50 months have been more than 5.3 degrees below normal (again, March 2014). That will be way off the scale of my latest graph (through January) of monthly temperatures vs normal.
Yes, it has been cold. How cold? Well, the second graph shows that the 19th was the first day this month when the low temperature (the blue diamond) was above 10 degrees. Another streak gone. In Portland, where NOAA has been keeping track of temperatures since 1941, it looks like this will be the coldest February ever recorded. The record low February is an average temperature of 15.6 in 1979. Through the 20th, Portland is averaging 12.9 and average temps are unlikely to change that much through the 28th based on the current forecast.
We have also had a long streak of snowy weather. Since January 24th, we have not gone more than two consecutive days without snow. As I write this, it is still snowing, but we have at least 3" today. That brings our total since January 24th to 67" in 28 days. This streak also appears to be about to end. The 7-day forecast is for no snow after tonight.
Wow! Amazing weather.