Over the past three winters residents of northern and eastern Maine have experienced winter weather extremes. The winter of 2007-2008 will be remembered for its record to near record snowfall with some locations approaching 200 inches of snow. The winter of 2008-2009 will be remembered for the extremely cold outbreaks during which a new state record low of minus 50 was set. The winter of 2009-2010 will be remembered for its warmth. Based on data compiled by the National Climatic Data Center, for the winter season, 63 percent of the country experienced below normal temperatures. In contrast to this national trend, Maine experienced the third warmest winter and parts of northern Maine experienced the warmest winter on record.

An unusual and persistent weather pattern in place since December brought the warmest winter to Caribou Maine since official records began in 1939 and the 2nd warmest winter since 1926 to Bangor Maine. This weather pattern has also put Caribou and Bangor on track for one of the least snowiest snow seasons on record. Since meaningful snow can happen well into April, there is still a chance that snowfall totals can increase.

A large blocking pattern in the atmosphere over Greenland and the Canadian Maritimes displaced the storm track well to the south of Maine and into the Mid-Atlantic States. This resulted in a flow of relatively warm and moist maritime air over Maine during much of this winter. Warmer air combined with frequent cloud cover and windy conditions often kept nighttime temperatures from plummeting as typically occurs during this time of year. With the exception of a few short lived cold outbreaks, the state did not receive the normal steady supply of cold air from interior Canada.

In Bangor, overnight temperatures dropped to zero degrees Fahrenheit or less just three times this winter compared to 31 occasions during the winter of 2008-2009. In the winter of 2008-2009, Caribou residents endured a stretch of 40 days without reaching 32F. During the winter of 2009-2010, temperatures exceeded the freezing mark 46 days. Other temperatures from around the region included Houlton (average winter temperature 24.7F), Frenchville (average winter temperature 22.3F), Greenville (average winter temperature 22.8F), and Millinocket (average winter temperature 26.3F).

• Warmest average winter daily temperature…23.8 degrees. Previous record 20.8 degrees in 1957-58. The long term average winter temperature 14.6 degrees.
• Warmest average maximum daily winter temperature…31.1 degrees. Previous record…28.0 degrees was set in 1957-58. Long term average winter maximum temperature is 23.9 degrees.
• Warmest average minimum daily winter temperature…16.6 degrees. Previous record…13.6 degrees was set in 1957-58. Long term average winter minimum temperature is 5.2 degrees.
• 5th driest winter on record…4.93 inches of precipitation. The record driest winter in Caribou was 3.51 inches in the winter of 1947-1948.
• 4th least seasonal snowfall as of March 21, 2010…64.2 inches. The least snowiest season as of March 21 occurred in 1961-1962 with 53.5 inches.
• Least amount of accumulated heating degree days as of March 21, 2010…6713. The previously least accumulated heating degree days as of March 21 were the winter of 2001-2002 with 6804.

• 2nd warmest average daily winter temperature…28.7 degrees. The record…29.5 degrees was set in 1936-37. Long term average winter temperature is 22.0 degrees.
• 2nd warmest average maximum daily winter temperature…37.2 degrees. The record…39.7 degrees was set in 1936-37. Long term average winter maximum temperature is 31.5 degrees.
• 2nd warmest average minimum daily winter temperature…20.3 degrees. The record…20.7 degrees was set in 1932-33. Long term average winter minimum temperature is 12.4 degrees.
• 10th driest winter on record…6.66 inches of precipitation. The record driest winter in Bangor was 3.96 inches in the winter of 1947-1948.
• 14th least snowfall as of this date…55.7 inches. The least snowiest season as of March 21 occurred in 1979-1980 with 22.2 inches.
• 8th least amount of accumulated heating degree days as of this date…5780. The least accumulated heating degree days as of March 21 were the winter of 1932-1933 with 5168.

Note on above data

• Data provided by Applied Climate Information System (http://www.rcc-acis.org/) developed and maintained by the Northeast Regional Climate Center (http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu). Some Bangor data incomplete and not used during ranking evaluation.
• Climatological stations Caribou and Bangor contain ThreadEx data. For information on the ThreadEx project, refer to http://threadex.rcc-acis.org/
• Winter period defined as December 21-March 21 for the entire period of record.
• These data are preliminary and have not undergone final quality control by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Therefore, these data are subject to revision. Final and certified climate data can be accessed at the NCDC - http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

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