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Pressure falls of more than 8mb in three hours off Nantucket as secondary low formed. Dry slot cut off steady precipitation around 8pm in South Portland. Flurries and a second round of light snow brought less than one inch overnight. Many areas near Mexico and China, Maine along with areas of Waldo County received around a foot of snow. Portland, Falmouth and many other areas along the coast south of Casco Bay had surface temperatures right above freezing, which resulted in lighter accumulations. The computer models verified well and the dry slot was clearly evident in both IR and WV images.
April of 2007 will be remembered for quite a few things. The temperature roller coaster in March heralded the change from above average temperatures to below average temperatures. In fact April of 2007 ended up to be a very snowy and stormy month.
Our snowfall started on the 4th of April, and by midnight we had 6.1", which made it the 4th one of the top 10 snowiest days in Portland for that date. But the storm continued, dropping another 5.5" on the 5th. The storm total snowfall of 11.6" makes it the 5th largest snowfall in April since 1882. April for a month received 15.1" of snow, making it the 7th snowiest month in Portland to date.
But April of 2007 will not be remembered necessarily for the snow, but mostly for the Patriot's Day Storm of 2007. The National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) analyses of the storm show the lowest pressure at 968mb on April 16th at 8am. The lowest pressure of the "Perfect Storm," or the Halloween Storm of 1991, was 972mb on the 30th of October at 8am.
The Patriot's Day Storm of 2007 brought tremendous amounts of water and wind. Some areas over York county received close to 8 inches of rain from the storm, the Portland JetPort received over 5 ½ inches of rain. Winds were a huge issue with this storm, as the saturated ground does little to hold the trees. Winds gusted to 61 mph in Freeport and 59 mph in Portland. Unofficial gusts from Cape Elizabeth measured the wind at 81 mph all while the tremendous amount of rain overwhelmed the culverts and many roads were washed out. At one point, 22 roads within 20 miles of Westbrook were closed, according to the 511 service. Route 302 was completely barricaded near the golf driving range and Dunkin Donuts and National Guard were at numerous other intersections on Route 302 north of the Presumpscot River. Washed out roads meant travel to work was not only dangerous but also impossible for some people. The Crooked River in Naples was so swollen with storm run-off that it actually raised the level of the water on the Sebago side of the Songo Lock so high that the Songo River actually flowed backward. The Songo River carries the water from Long Lake and Brandy Pond toward Sebago Lake, but a lock is needed in the middle to enable boat traffic and to control lake levels. The water normally flows from near the causeway in Naples toward Sebago Lake. But this day the river was actually flowing toward Naples. People in this favored fishing spot indicated that the trout had just been stocked near the confluence of the Crooked and Songo rivers. But since the water was actually flowing the other way with the lock wide open on both ends, it looks like we'll have some good fishing in Long Lake this summer.
Along the coast, the buoys in the Gulf of Maine just 12 miles offshore showed wave heights of 31.5 feet before they stopped transmitting for a time. The big issue that doomed the ocean beachfronts was not just the huge waves, but that they arrived during a time of strong east winds and astronomical high tides. The strong east winds pile the water up along the shore. The astronomical high tides made the tides three feet higher than normal. So the combination of the two were a knock-out punch for numerous homes along the Maine coast.
Numerous navigational buoys were torn from their moorings. The Coast Guard flew extra flights over the Gulf of Maine to transmit the weather information to those who may have been out of VHF range. I suppose to prevent another Andrea Gail. The computer models showed the potential for this storm many days before, so preparations were aided and people had more time to prepare. Governor Baldacci issued a State of Emergency declaration that started at midnight before the storm's main punch arrived. Close to 130,000 customers were without power, and with a 2.3 people per household ratio, that is about 300,000 people in the dark, or about 25% of Maine's population.
Then after all the kerfuffle around the storm, things quieted down for several days. But then the roller coaster we call Spring was back... and Portland broke a record for the warmest April 23rd temperature- a record 81°. The day was also the warmest on average, with the maximum and minimum averaging out to 65°. April 23rd was the warmest day in 7 months in Portland.
The one last thing that people will remember about April of 2007 is the amazing end to the ski season! Sugarloaf got 95 inches of snow in April alone and closed for the season with 20-40" base depth, 112 trails open, 49.64 miles and 558 open acres of skiing. Sunday River and Sugarloaf closed on the 29th of April… I got my last runs of the year in on the 25th- the latest I've ever skied in Maine.
The first part of March started off like a lion with Portland receiving 5.5" of snow with wind gusts over 35 mph.
The departing storm then brought in some of the coldest March air in quite some time with many records set at the Portland JetPort.
The afternoon of the 6th, the temperature only got to 18°, which is the coldest high temperature ever recorded on the 6th. The average daily temperature ((high-low)/2) was only 9° - another record.
On the morning of the 7th, the mercury dropped to a record -6°, breaking the old record of -3° set in 1989. The daily maximum temperature on the 7th was also18°, again a record for the day. The 7th's daily average temperature was a cold 6°, a broken record for the day which was also set in 1989.
The 8th of March continued to break records for cold. The high for the day was only 19°, the low 0° and the average temperature was only 10°.
After a three day stretch of record breaking cold, a very warm day gave a tease of the coming of Spring. On the 14th of March Portland made it up to 59°. That itself is not a record- but the low for the day was 41°- 1 degree warmer than the old record set in 1946.
It was even warmer to the interior of Maine and New Hampshire. Concord, NH made it up to 74° on the 14th. Closer to home, Sanford hit 70°. An amazing swing in temperatures in just a few days. The warmth was short-lived as just two days later the cold was back.
Concord, NH set a daily record daily snowfall at 8.8" on the 16th. So from 74° to 8.8" of snow in two days.
Portland went from 59° to 7" of snow in those same two days. Bridgton went from 66° to over 10" of snow.
Just two weeks after all-time January record high temperatures, winter returned to Maine as wind chills dropped to below zero readings in the weekend leading up to Monday the 22nd.
There were indications that snow showers would occur during the afternoon but most of us were caught off guard by the magnitude of the event. Light snow started to fall around noon on Monday and continued through the day. All indications were that this event would be short lived, resulting in just a dusting of snow in Portland. The snow was extremely light and fluffy and thus piled up quickly. Snow finally tapered off in the early morning hours of Tuesday, but not before dumping close to half a foot of snow in the Portland area. The snow totals of 5 to 6 inches in Portland came on only .12" of liquid equivalent- or a snow ratio of almost 40 to 1! Typically here in Portland we are talking about ratios of 10 to 1. In the winter sleet storm the week prior, the ratios were close to just 2 to 1. The event was caused by another Norlun trough, a colloquial name for an inverted trough. In an inverted trough here in northern New England, the winds will be blowing from a generally easterly direction. A normal trough results in westerly winds here in Portland. The wind direction is of ultimate importance, because the east winds bring in moisture in from the Gulf of Maine; the magnitude of the event was exacerbated by the ocean water temperatures, which were close to 2 degrees above normal. The ocean surface is much smoother than the land across southern Maine. That means the wind slows down as it crosses from the ocean to the land. This creates a zone of convergence, resulting in rising motion of the air. The air coming off the Gulf of Maine is quite moist. So as the moist air rises, clouds and snow results. The trough did not really move very far over the day, so the accumulations were focused on a bulls eye around greater Portland. These events are very hard to predict, especially given the relatively sparse data in the Gulf of Maine- the Norlun trough is a surface feature and thus can really be only diagnosed by surface observations. the GoMOOS network helps, but much more density of observation is needed for us to properly prognosticate these events.
Thermometers soared to record levels on the Saturday most will remember as the quintessence of Winter 2006/2007.
The interesting thing about this event is that the record high temperature was broken at 7am in the morning. We reached 67° in the afternoon, smashing the old record by 14°! The old record for the maximum daily high temperature was 53°, set back in 1949. This was also the warmest day ever recorded in January in Portland. The day was warm from end to end, with the Portland JetPort recording a new record warmest low temperature of 48°. This also ties 1950 as first place for warmest low temperature for a day ever recorded in January in Portland. If you average the high and low temperature, you get the daily average temperature. And Portland broke that record too! We set several new average temperature records: 1) Daily average temperature for today's date was 43° and the normal is 22° - the new record is an astounding 58°; 2) Warmest daily average temperature for any day in January- the old record was 56° on January 4th, the new record is the 58°.
Another very interesting part of this event is that when compared to the climate normals, the daily average temperature from this day exceeded the running average by more than any other record... We exceeded the normal daily average by 36°! The old record for this was set back in January 4, 1950 when our daily average temperature exceeded the average by 33°.
Rain showers were falling in the morning and then the occlusion came on through the area. This resulted in high dewpoints across the area (into the 50s!) and when the breaks of sun arrived behind the front, the temperatures soared. Clearing arrived in the Portland area and held through until the 'cold' front came through that evening. Many areas were still into the 60s (with isolated low 70s) and the frontal passage kicked up some low-topped thunderstorms. There were reports of downed trees in Coos County in New Hampshire and gusts to about 50 mph in the Oxford Hills. Portland had mostly just a quick shot of heavy rain. These storms triggered the EAS with Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued for Oxford, Franklin, Somerset and a few other counties. So not only was this day more summer-like than winter-like insofar as temperatures, but to have a severe thunderstorm warning in Maine in January makes this up to now a rare event.
Side note: Just two days later, areas like Fryeburg and Berlin, NH who were in the low to mid 60s got several inches of snow. This is a change from temperatures in the 60s to snow in just over 36 hours.
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