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By Mark Bloomer Forecaster NWS Caribou, Maine Following a very cold but rather quiet January, Northern and Eastern Maine was buried with a major snowstorm which lasted from late Saturday night February 1st, well into the morning of February 3rd. The heaviest snowfall occurred during the day and into the evening of February 2nd. Up to two feet of snow fell across much of Aroostook county, and extensive blowing and drifting clogged roads and created drifts 6 to 8 feet high. The storm system began taking shape along the Mid Atlantic coast during the day on Saturday as a surge of jet stream energy cascaded southeast across the nation. As the energy began curling into a center of low pressure, another bundle of energy to it's north and west came streaming in. Saturday evening the storm rapidly intensified spreading snow across much of Maine. The storm center deepened considerably late Saturday evening into Sunday developing an upper level wind pattern that reached from well east of Nova Scotia, back west across New Brunswick. Several key ingredients are involved in sustaining a period of heavy snowfall. These include having cold air in place, having a good source of moisture, and having meteorological mechanisms occurring that can lift the moisture causing it to cool and condense into snow. In the case of the February 2nd snowfall, deep low pressure along the Downeast Maine coast channeled moisture in from areas of the gulf stream waters well south and east of Nova Scotia. The gulf stream ocean current channels warm water north through the Atlantic ocean waters off the east coast, and from there carries the warm water northeast passing well south and east of the Maritimes. Warm water releases considerably more moisture into the atmosphere than cold water, and since the storms circulation was able to draw moisture in off the warm waters of the gulf of Mexico, large amounts of moisture were being channeled westward from the Atlantic ocean into New Brunswick and Maine. As the storm deepened and pulled moisture westward through the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, (Continued on page 8) |
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Ground Hog Day Blizzard 2003 |
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Major northern Maine blizzard. What were the ingredients? |