This past winter season which is made up of the months of December, January, and February will go down in the climatic history books as the warmest winter season of all times for New England and much of the eastern portion of the United States.

At the NWS office in Caribou, the average temperature for the winter season was 19.23 degrees, which is a new record high for the season.  The previous warm record was from the 1959-1960 winter season, where the average temperature was 17.80 degrees.  As a comparison, our average winter season temperature is 13.20 degrees.

In Bangor, it was also a mild winter, but not the record-breaker as in Caribou.  This winter season was ranked the 4th warmest on record, coming in with the average temperature of 24.90 degrees.  The record warmest winter for Bangor remains the winter of 1996-1997 when 25.73 degrees was recorded.  As a comparison, the average winter temperature for Bangor is 20.74 degrees. 

For precipitation, both Bangor and Caribou recorded the 9th driest season on record, although from different years.

In Caribou, 5.30 inches of precipitation was recorded which com

pares to 2.38 inches recorded during the winter of 1943-1944.   The average precipitation for Caribou is 7.45 inches.

The 2001-2002 snowfall season so far in Caribou has been 84.7 inches.  In the 1943-44 season, 59.6 inches was recorded.  The average snowfall in Caribou is 111.2 inches.

In Bangor, the 7.40 inches of precipitation compares to the 3.98 inches recorded in 1979-1980 which is the driest winter season on record.  The average precipitation in Bangor is 10.05 inches. 

So far, the seasonal snowfall in Bangor has been 61.3 inches which compares to 22.2 inches that were recorded in the least snowiest season of 1979-1980.  The average seasonal snowfall is 76.7 inches.

Climatic averages are made up from data gathered over a 30 year period. The averages for both Caribou and

Bangor are based on the most recent 30 year averages:  1970-2000.

Most of the data gathered to build the nation's climatic picture comes from the national network of cooperative observers.  It consists of accurate and timely measurements of temperature extremes of every day, daily precipitation totals, and the other elements of weather observations.  This data is compiled, thus painting a picture on the health and change  of our atmosphere and planet. 

To find out more how climate data is used, visit the links to the Climate Prediction Center, the National Climatic Data Center, and the NOAA home page for many interesting programs and scientific studies.