Recovery to face hurdles over the weekend

Maine Continues to Recover

At the time of this post at 4:30 Thursday afternoon, Central Maine Power reported 113,676 outages and Emera Maine with 22,453. The weather may hamper re-connection efforts Friday and Friday night. Saturday looks good for more progress. Sunday into Monday will be the next hurdle. Once that clears, Tuesday and Wednesday appear to be favorable to continue.  

Showers for Friday 

A cold front will pass through the region on Friday. Showers are likely in northern areas for the morning commute.  Southern and eastern areas appear dry until late morning / early afternoon, although there may be a scattered shower in the outflow ahead of the front. 

Rain tapers to showers by mid-afternoon over the north, and the remaining activity ends by early evening statewide. 

After the front passes, a rather stiff northwesterly breeze picks up. This chart may be a bit high on speed, but gusts in the 20-30 mph are likely, and may go higher in the mountains.  The breeze begins to slowly diminish in the wee hours of Saturday. Along with the wind comes cooler temperatures. The state wakes up generally in the 30s, with some upper 20s likely for the rooftop. As high pressure moves in, the breeze settles to bring colder temperatures for Saturday night. 

Cold Air Damming Concerns For Sunday

A warm front approaches from the southwest Sunday morning and overspreads the region during the day. With cold air in place, the concern for cold air damming over the western foothills and mountains, Greenville / Jackman on up to the north becomes a concern for the morning, and possibly into the early afternoon. Periods of light snow and sleet are possible which may slick the roads up a bit. The higher elevations may see some accumulations before changing to rain in the afternoon. 

Southern and eastern areas appear to stay above freezing for now. Cold air and models have issues, so it would be wise to stay tuned on this. 

Drought Update

All of the recent rainfall from the storms has scaled back the drought considerably in the estimation of Drought Monitor. Abnormally dry conditions still persist for much of the coastal plain of Maine on up into southern Aroostook County. 

The three year departure from normal paints a different picture, however. The recent rain did knock the deficit down a little, but many areas in the northeast are still running far behind. Folks with well water are advised to continue to conserve, regardless of what type is in usage.  

Temperatures Appear To Remain
Generally Above Normal

Snow lovers may grumble a bit when they see this, but the outlook appears warm for November. While the white stuff will make an appearance now and then, it may have a hard time hanging around. Cool downs will happen here and there, but the trend for now appears to be on the warm side.

Given the amount of tree damage from the recent storm, this may be a blessing in disguise. It will give more time for ski areas to deal with blown down trees. It also gives snowmobile and Nordic ski clubs a chance to get out and clean up at least some trails before the snow falls and stays as winter progresses. 

An abundant amount of snow soon after a storm of this magnitude would be worrisome for potential snowmobile and skiing accidents given the widespread tree destruction. 

To Change Or Not Change The Clocks?

A friendly reminder here that this is the weekend where the clocks go back an hour. There is a significant amount of debate on whether to abolish changing the time twice a year. A commission in Massachusetts recently took up the idea and recommended that a move to the Atlantic time zone would be a good move. It would depend on the other five New England states and New York approving the measure. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment on the Pine Tree Weather Facebook page associated with this post.  

An updated 7-Day Outlook is posted on that page.

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- Mike