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Mackworth Island at the end of September
2006 was the warmest year on record in Portland, with the year beating the old record by 0.2°. The new record is 48.5°.
January kicked off the year on a very warm note, coming in at 8.6° above normal. Many local golf courses in southern Maine opened, allowing eager golfers to work on their game in the off season. January had 2 days with a thunderstorm, 11 days with light snow, 6 days with rain 18 days with fog, and was below average in rainfall by 0.38". We got between 4 and 7 inches of snow in Maine's lake region. Of note was a storm at the end of the month which flooded portions of Portland. Traffic was apparently stopped on Marginal Way in Portland due to flooding and seawalls at Kennebunk, Middle and Gooches beaches were damaged. 20 feet of pavement from Surf Street were washed away.
February was a month with 9 days of light snow, 5 days of rain and 11 days of fog. The month's precipitation rounded out at 0.39" below average. No thunderstorms were reported. February ended up 1° above normal. We got between 6 and 12 inches of snow around the 12th. 6 to 8 inches of snow affected York county on the 26th. The 17th of the month brought high winds in excess of 60 mph, causing over $125K in damage. More than 100,000 people were left without power.
March of 2006 was a dry month with a rainfall deficit of 3.12" and no thunderstorms. The month was above average by 0.8° and had 3 days with snow, 5 days with rain and 7 days with fog.
April was also a dry month with Portland receiving 1.24" less rain than average. There was one day with a thunderstorm, 2 days with snow, 11 days with rain and 11 days with fog. April was 2° above average. On the 4th, the mountains picked up between 6 and 10 inches of snow.
May was a very wet month with Portland receiving 8.52" more rain than average, or 12.34" of rain in the one month alone. The greatest 24-hour rainfall in this month was 3.57" rain received between the 2nd and 3rd. On the 12th of May, high surf and astronomical high tides flooded portions of the Maine coast, resulting in $400K in damage. The month was 0.8° above normal. May had two days with thunderstorms, 22 days with rain and 18 days with fog. No snow was reported. The thunderstorms in interior Maine on the 31st dropped one-inch hail in Rangeley.
June had 2 days with thunderstorms, no days with snow and 17 days with rain. It was a foggy month with 22 days having fog. The month ended 2.1° warmer than average and much wetter than average. Portland in June received 5.9" of rain over the average, making it a very wet month. Several area rivers like the Swift River at Roxbury and the Kennebec rivers reached flood stage. Thunderstorms dropped large hail in North Windham on the 1st, in Dixfield, Oxford, Auburn, Falmouth, Shapleigh and Gorham on the 19th and 20th. A person was killed in Fryeburg by a falling tree and route 302 was closed due to downed trees and limbs. IN New Sweden, winds exceeded 70 mph and a yard umbrella was driven through the windshield of a car. Another thunderstorm near Augusta brought more large hail to that area on the 30th. A lightning strike on the 1st of June caused $40K damage to a house in York.
July was a warm and foggy month with 4 days of thunderstorms; one of these thunderstorms flooded portions of route 232 in Bryant Pond. Another created a funnel cloud near Warren, Maine. A total of 12 days in July had rain, 21 days had fog and there was no snow reported. The month was 2.33" above average in rainfall and 3.3° above average in temperature. July's average of 72° is one of the warmest months ever recorded in Portland. Thunderstorms brought high winds to the area on the 18th and again on the 28th.
August of 2006 had 3 days with thunderstorms, 11 days with rain and 14 days with fog. The month was 0.67" below average in rainfall and was the only month of the year that ended up below average for the month. August was 0.3° below normal. There was no snow reported in August. A house in Falmouth was destroyed after being indirectly struck by lightning and high winds came to the area thanks to thunderstorms on the 2nd.
September ended up being 1.6° above average in temperature and 0.20" above average in rainfall. There were 2 days with thunderstorms, 16 days with rain, 17 days with fog and it was snow less.
October was a wet month, ending up 3.98" above average in rainfall. It was also warmer than average, ending up 1.3° above the average. There were 2 days with thunderstorms, 14 days with rain and 13 days with fog. There was no snow reported in October for Portland.
November was the warmest November on record, coming in at 5.5° above normal. There were 12 days with rain, 16 days with fog and no days with snow or thunderstorms. The month was 0.78" above normal for rainfall.
December rounded out 2006 as a warm month in a warm year. December was 6.9° above average, although not a record it cemented 2006 as a record warm year. December had 5 days with snow, 8 days with rain and 14 days with fog. There were no thunderstorms and the month ended up drier than average at 0.88" below average.
There were 182 out of 365 days with fog, so one-half the year featured fog at some point during the day. 18 days featured thunderstorms, with 2 in the winter month of January. There was a tornado in North Berwick and another right down in Hampton, NH. Microburst winds snapped trees out in Somerville and high surf washed out roads near Saco. Extremely high seas and a rogue wave swamped boats and took away the lives of a few fishermen. The year of 2006, like 2005, was a year with a wet spring and first part of summer. But the summers of both years ended up being quite spectacular with summer-like temperatures and weather persisting well into September. There was no lake ice in southern Maine as of the last day of December 2006, and the ice to start the year was thin and late, with an early ice-out.
Temperature records go back to 1941, when the Portland readings were moved to the Jetport. Temperature averages are based on the 1971-2000 climate normals. Precipitation records go back to 1871.
A thick fog rolled into Portland and other coastal communities reducing visibilities and knocking down temperatures.
Fog stuck thick during most hours of the day right here along the coast. Interior areas were treated to almost full sun and summer-like weather conditions. During attendance of the Fryeburg fair on Wednesday the 5th, we were treated to summer-like temperatures of 80 degrees and full sun. Upon returning to South Portland, we had drizzle and 55 degrees. Whenever the fog was blanketing Portland, the temperatures were right around 55 degrees, approximately the same temperature as the ocean water in Casco Bay. On the 7th, there were only 7 hours of the day that did not have fog; of those 7 hours without fog being reported at the ASOS, 4 had haze. So of the 24 hours of the day, only 3 were without obscuration.
An unusually warm and muggy airmass provided plenty of moisture and energy for some strong thunderstorms that left parts of Portland, Maine under water.
The day started with temperatures and dew points around 70 degrees. The boundary layer was very moist and outside of an inversion or 'cap' aloft, every indication was that this day would bring weather of interest. A sea breeze did develop in the afternoon, but it never got very far inland. Temperatures in Cape Elizabeth were about eight degrees (F) lower than here in South Portland, with South Portland reaching the 83°F mark. There appeared to be a large amount of 'training' going on again in New Hampshire, where storms the day prior left almost 5 inches of rain in some places like Canaan. The 'cap' kept a lid on most of the convection in Portland, but the mountains provided the necessary break to allow for air to rise and form thunderstorms.
In downtown Portland heavy rain caused water to back-up onto and flood Commercial street. Several parts of high street were washed out, closing it to traffic.
Commercial Street in Portland, Maine
Close-up of Commercial Street flooding
Water flowing out of manholes on the Eastern Promenade
Lightning near Bug Light in South Portland
Spring arrives today at 7:33 AM (EST).
Well, you wouldn't know it by looking out your back door, but spring officially arrives today!
The current snowfall estimates for greater Portland show about 2 feet on the ground in the City and about 3 feet in the Northern suburbs! It looks to be quite some time before we see the daffodils.
A complex low-pressure system brought more snow to an already blanketed Maine.
A slow-moving Norlun-type trough brought as much as 18 inches of snow to southern Maine. This Norlun trough is also know as a Northern New England Inverted Trough.
These events bring a snowfall that usually exceed HPC guidance. The precipitation that falls from these systems is convective in nature and usually comes in bands off the ocean; the heavy snow bands roughly aligned with the trough axis in this event. These events present difficulty for snowfall total forecasting due to its convective nature. Convective systems in the summer can leave a half-inch of rain in one place and nothing at all 20 miles away; winter convective systems can sometimes bring thunder and lightning. This winter featured several "Thundersnow" events, but no known occurrences during this storm. The persistent southeast winds brought much snow over the foothills and mountains as the elevation gave some extra lift to the air at the surface; this extra lift results in enhanced snowfall totals in these areas.
This event was interesting in many ways. One thing I did notice in the surface observations over PA during the evolution of this event was a fairly long line of weak but opposed winds. This will be an interesting case from which to judge future events for sure.
| Portland Gets Over 100 Inches of Snow for the Season with the Recent Snow: 3/12/05 |
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| 18 inches | Gorham, ME |
| 15.9 inches | Bridgton |
| 12 inches |
Portland (north) |
| 11 inches | South Portland |
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