BOF 000 CXUS51 KCAR 011133 CLMHUL CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU, ME 730 AM EDT THU MAY 1 2008 ................................... ...THE HOULTON CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 2008... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1948 TO 2008 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 86 04/27/1970 LOW -6 04/10/1977 HIGHEST 70 04/23 MM MM 79 04/23 LOWEST 20 04/07 MM MM 10 04/07 AVG. MAXIMUM 52.2 49.1 3.1 46.2 AVG. MINIMUM 28.8 27.8 1.0 25.8 MEAN 40.5 38.5 2.0 36.0 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 MM MM 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 0 MM MM 0 DAYS MIN <= 32 25 MM MM 26 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 MM MM 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM MM MM MINIMUM MM MM TOTALS 2.58 -0.26 DAILY AVG. 0.09 0.09 0.00 0.12 DAYS >= .01 10 MM MM 14 DAYS >= .10 6 MM MM 8 DAYS >= .50 1 MM MM 3 DAYS >= 1.00 1 MM MM 1 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 1.56 04/29 TO 04/30 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL MM MM TOTALS MM MM MM MM SINCE 7/1 MM 96.4 MM MM SNOWDEPTH AVG. MM MM MM MM DAYS >= 1.0 MM MM MM MM GREATEST SNOW DEPTH MM MM MM DEGREE_DAYS HEATING TOTAL 730 796 -66 862 SINCE 7/1 8693 8732 -39 8299 COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0 ................................................................. WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 6.1 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 30/270 DATE 04/02 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 47/290 DATE 04/02 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 16 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 7 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 7 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 64 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 1 RAIN 3 LIGHT RAIN 11 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 1 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 0 SNOW 1 LIGHT SNOW 5 SLEET 0 FOG 14 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 3 HAZE 1 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ...NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR APRIL 2008... THE FIRST FULL MONTH OF SPRING BROUGHT A REPRIEVE TO THE STORMY CONDITIONS AND RECORD SNOWFALL EXPERIENCED ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE DURING THE PREVIOUS SIX MONTHS. ALTHOUGH CONDITIONS WERE RELATIVELY TRANQUIL AT THE BEGINNING OF APRIL...A COUPLE OF MINOR PRECIPITATION EVENTS LEAD TO SOME LIGHT SNOWFALL ACROSS THE REGION. THE FIRST SUCH OCCURRENCE WAS ON APRIL FOOLS DAY...WHERE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS RANGED FROM 1 TO 4 INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. A SECOND EVENT TOWARD THE END OF THE SECOND WEEK IN THE MONTH FOCUSED ACROSS NORTHERN AREAS. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL TROUGH POSITIONED ITSELF ACROSS NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND AND RESULTED IN SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AGAIN FROM 1 TO 4 INCHES. HOWEVER...THE HIGHER TERRAIN HAD BENEFIT FROM COLDER AIR ALOFT WITH CASTLE HILL AND ASHLAND RECORDING AS MUCH AS 6 INCHES OF WET SNOW. HIGH PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT PROVIDED VERY MILD AND DRY CONDITIONS FOR MUCH OF THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH. ABUNDANT SUNSHINE BY DAY AND CLEAR CHILLY CONDITIONS AT NIGHT...ENSURED AN EASY METHOD FOR MELTING THE DEEP SNOW PACK ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN AND WESTERN AREAS. WITH VERY DRY AIR IN PLACE REPRESENTED BY EXTREMELY LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES...ON THE ORDER OF 15 TO 20 PERCENT DURING THE DAY...THE SNOWMELT WAS ENHANCED THROUGH THE SUBLIMATION PROCESS DURING THE THIRD WEEK OF THE MONTH. THROUGH THIS TIME... TEMPERATURES WERE AVERAGING BETWEEN 2 AND 3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHILE A DEFICIT IN PRECIPITATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES WAS NOTED IN MANY LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. THE MONTH OF APRIL ENDED WITH TEMPERATURES RANGING FROM 1.2 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AT BANGOR... 1.8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AT CARIBOU... 2.0 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AT HOULTON AND 2.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AT MILLINOCKET. PRECIPITATION ENDED UP FROM 0.07 AND 0.26 INCHES BELOW NORMAL AT CARIBOU AND HOULTON...RESPECTIVELY TO 1.61 AND 1.64 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AT MILLINOCKET AND BANGOR...RESPECTIVELY. WHEN VIEWING THE MONTHLY PRECIPITATION TOTALS...IT WILL SEEM THAT THESE TOTALS WERE NEAR NORMAL LEVELS. THE PARADOX LIES IN THE FACT THAT PRECIPITATION TOTALS WERE RUNNING WELL BELOW NORMAL LEVELS UNTIL THE ONSET OF THE HEAVY RAIN EVENT ON THE 29TH. THIS EVENT MORE THAN DOUBLED THE TOTAL PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS IN MANY AREAS ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. $$ FITZSIMMONS EOF