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The first snow of the upcoming Winter occurred today at the Weather Maine observing location. Heat flux from the warm soil prevented any accumulation of snow, outside of a few spotty grassy areas near the Portland and Westbrook line. The rain of the night turned to snow at about 8:00a and continued until around Noon, in South Portland. Inland areas of Cumberland County reported around 2" of snow while the southern coastal zones were spared of any real accumulation
The early morning hours of this date featured the arrival of a strong Fall extra-tropical storm. This storm was interesting for many reasons, including strong winds and heavy rain. Downed tree limbs were very common, and several trees around Cumberland Country were reported down; some across roads and many leaving residents without power. School in several towns was canceled as a result of the power outage and dangerous winds. The morning commute hour coincided with the arrival of the strongest winds from this storm.
The official, NWS, rain observations from Portland indicate that a new record was broken on this date. The 24-hour rainfall record for Portland, on this date, was 1.23" of rain in 24 hours, set back in 1970. The official record text is below:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
442 PM EDT WED OCT 15 2003
...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT PORTLAND...
A RECORD RAINFALL OF 1.63 INCHES WAS SET AT PORTLAND TODAY. THIS
BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.23 SET IN 1970.
In addition to very heavy rainfall over the region, a high-wind advisory was also in place for much of the day. Some coastal areas experienced high surf and very strong, tropical storm-force, gusts. Some observations from Southern Maine for maximum wind gusts during the morning of Oct., 15th:
Wind Gusts Reported:
Cape Elizabeth: 62 mph
Gorham: 50 mph
Portland Jetport: 47 mph
Mount Washington: 113 mph
The strong winds also did much to strip the trees of their leaves and needles. Because this strong wind event occurred around the time of the peak foliage, the season should be shorter than usual- all leaves not securely attached to the trees would easily be stripped with strong winds. Also, drivers in the Northeast should exercise caution when driving on wet, leaf-covered roads, as several layers of leaves can be as slippery as ice.
Cold temperatures abound across the area today. High pressure, clear skies and light winds all contributed to bringing the first frost of the season to south coastal Maine. WeatherMaine's South Portland, Maine location had a morning low of 30°F. Other areas inland from the ocean had morning lows in the lower 20's °F, which resulted in a freeze in several inland areas. The overnight low in South Portland of 30°F is about 10 degrees Fahrenheit below the average. On average, Portland has a trace of snowfall by this date of the year.
Other low temperatures through the area:
Sanford: 25°F
Fryeburg: 23°F
Wiscasset: 29°F
Cooler weather arrived on the heels of a strong cold front swinging down from Canada. The cold front passed by the South Portland weather sensors of Weather Maine at around 5:30 PM on October 2, 2003; the time period (10 mins) of the lowest barometric pressure was at 5:20PM on this date, 29.87" Hg.
Barometric pressure typically rises after frontal passage. Winds quickly turned to the NW and became gusty. During the next half-hour after frontal passage, there was a very brief period of moderate rain with, interestingly, some embedded thunder.
This cold front spells trouble for many agricultural interests around Maine.
The National Weather Service in Gray, Maine issued a freeze warning for the inland areas of Maine. A freeze warning is issued when below-freezing temperatures during the growing season are expected. Frost is expected to affect most of Maine, outside of the coastal fringe areas.
Addenda: No frost was seen during this cold snap at the South Portland, Maine location.
Autumn Begins at 6:37AM EDT on
September 23, 2003.
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