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Weather
Friday, July 4, 2008
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| Day | |
 | Simply spectacular 4th of July! Humidity levels will be very comfortable..as dewpoints in the afternoon will be below 50. There will be plenty of sunshine..with some afternoon cumulus clouds..and just a slight chnace for a late-day shower in extreme NW Maine from Ft. Kent westward. Again, even there, only a slight chance of a late-day shower. Dry and very pleasant for everyone else !
It will be a touch breezy at times. W winds 5 to 15 mph. |
| Evening | |
 | Partly cloudy. For the fireworks in Limestone and Houlton expect temps in the upper 60s along with light winds.
SW winds 5 mph. For NewsSource 8, I'm Chief Meteorologist Ted Shapiro |
Weather Elsewhere
- Overcast and 67 degrees F at Bangor International Airport, ME at 10:50 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
- Overcast and 67 degrees F at Augusta State Airport, ME at 10:50 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
- Fair and 71 degrees F at Portland International Jetport, ME at 10:52 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
- Fog/Mist and 69 degrees F at Pease Air Force Base / Portsmouth, NH at 10:52 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
- Partly Cloudy and 61 degrees F at Burlington International Airport, VT at 10:50 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
- Mostly Cloudy and 74 degrees F at Boston, Logan International Airport, MA at 10:50 pm, Jul 03, 2008.
Presque Isle
Last Updated on Jul 3, 10:35 pm EDT |
Frenchville
Last Updated on Jul 3, 9:53 pm EDT |
Houlton
Last Updated on Jul 3, 9:53 pm EDT |
Source: National Weather Service
Weather Notes
Weather Notes
***FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE***...NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE CLIMATE NARRATIVE FOR JUNE 2008...
THE MONTH OF JUNE WILL GO IN THE RECORD BOOKS AS BEING DOMINATED BY
A HIGH AMPLITUDE-BLOCKING PATTERN OVER EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. AN
UNSEASONABLY STRONG UPPER LEVEL TROUGH ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PATTERN
ACROSS QUEBEC PROVINCE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOE A RATHER COOL AND WET
START TO THE SUMMER SEASON FOR NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE. A COUPLE
OF STRONG COLD FRONTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PATTERN PROVIDED SEVERAL
EPISODES OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE REGION EARLY IN THE MONTH.
MOST NOTABLE WAS THE OCCURRENCE OF TWO SEPARATE MICROBURST EVENTS...
ONE AFFECTING JUST SOUTH OF PRESQUE ISLE AND THE SECOND OCCURRING IN
FORT KENT. BOTH EVENTS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR A NARROW SWATH OF DAMAGE
CONSISTING OF UPROOTED TREES AND DAMAGED HOMES.
MUCH OF THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH FEATURED THE DEEP TROUGH ROTATING
COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM SOUTHERN QUEBEC PROVINCE ACROSS NORTHERN NEW
ENGLAND AND THEN LIFTING BACK TO THE NORTH AND NORTHWEST ACROSS
QUEBEC PROVINCE. SIGNIFICANT PIECES OF ENERGY ROTATING THROUGH THIS
TROUGH WERE TIED TO A SERIES OF SURFACE TROUGHS AND FRONTS ACTING TO
FOCUS WIDESPREAD CONVECTION THROUGHOUT MUCH OF NORTHERN AND EASTERN
MAINE. LOCALLY VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACCOMPANIED THE CONVECTION ACROSS
THE REGION WITH MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTALS RANGING FROM 1 TO 5 INCHES
ACROSS INTERIOR AND COASTAL DOWNEAST MAINE TO 5 TO 15 INCHES ACROSS
THE CENTRAL...NORTHERN AND WESTERN PORTION OF THE REGION.
PRECIPITATION DEPARTURES RANGED FROM A MINUS 0.03 AT BANGOR TO
NEARLY 2 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL... 1.96 AND 1.97 AT HOULTON AND
MILLINOCKET RESPECTIVELY. THE PRECIPITATION DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH
AT CARIBOU WAS SLIGHTLY ABOVE TWO AND A HALF INCHES /2.56 INCHES/.
IN TERMS OF PERCENT OF NORMAL RAINFALL...THE ABOVE MENTIONED AMOUNTS
RANGED FROM 25 TO 100 PERCENT ABOVE NORMAL FOR INTERIOR AND COASTAL
DOWNEAST TO AS MUCH AS 125 TO NEARLY 300 PERCENT ABOVE NORMAL
RAINFALL FOR THE CENTRAL...NORTHERN AND WESTERN PORTION OF THE
REGION.
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PREVIOUS POST
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Powerful Thunderstorms ripped across portions of the viewing area on Sunday afternoon, June 8th. Even though there were numerous reports of funnel cloud sightings, National Weather Service Doppler radar did not suggest a tornado. Now, the official determination of tornado/no tornado is done AFTER THE FACT by a survey team.
Most likely what occurred is what is known as a microburst. A microburst is a local-scale phenomenon. What we saw yesterday was the microburst variety known as a wet microburst that works like this:
(From Wikipedia..THIS INFO IS ACCURATE--TS)
The atmosphere is warm and humid in the lower levels and dry aloft. As a result, when thunderstorms develop, heavy rain is produced but some of the rain evaporates in the drier air aloft. As a result the air aloft is cooled thereby causing it to sink and spread out rapidly as it hits the ground. The result can be both strong damaging winds and heavy rainfall occurring in the same area. Wet downbursts can be identified visually by such features as a shelf cloud, while on radar they sometimes produce bow echoes.
Now, if you were out recreating on Sunday..like a lot of folks, you could have known that these storms were approaching EVEN BEFORE YOU COULD SEE THE LEADING EDGE. HOW ? By carrying with you a small, battery operated WEATHER RADIO. These radios broadcast the latest warnings DIRECTLY FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND ARE TRULY LIFE-SAVING DEVICES TO HAVE WITH YOU. They are available at many local merchants and can also be purchased online. Please feel free to contact me if you need help in locating one.
One last thing; Sunday was a very humid day, with dewpoints well into the 60s.
ANY DAY that features that type of muggy air should be considered a thunderstorm "candidate" day...meaning you should tuck away in the back of your mind that thunderstorms are at least possible that day.
UPDATE: NWS SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMS MICROBURST WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WIND DAMAGE IN PRESQUE ISLE ON SUNDAY...WIND ESTIMATES OF 80 TO 85 MPH IN HARDEST HIT AREAS. FULL PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE POSTED WHEN AVAILABLE FROM NWS.
NOTE: The rotation that was observed at cloud level was in fact the rotating updraft feeding into the thunderstorm. There likely was some light debris that was carried upward by this rotating updraft..giving the appearance of a tornado. The roating updraft by the way is called a Mesocyclone.
MEANWHILE..REGARDING THE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN FORT KENT ON TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 10th: (FROM THE NWS)
NWS PERSONNEL CONDUCTED A STORM SURVEY IN FORT KENT MAINE TO
INVESTIGATE THE CAUSE OF WIND DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED TUESDAY
EVENING. AT AROUND 715 PM DOZENS OF TREES WERE BLOWN OVER. SOME OF
THESE LANDED ON ON HOMES AND POWER LINES. TREES WERE BOTH UPROOTED
AND SNAPPED WITH BOTH HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD TREES AFFECTED. TREE
DIAMETERS RANGED FROM SEVERAL INCHES TO UPWARDS OF 2 FEET.
THE CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE WAS A MICROBURST AS NOTED BY THE NEARLY
UNIDIRECTIONAL PATTERN OF THE TREE DAMAGE. MOST TREES WERE DOWNED
IN A SOUTH TO NORTH ORIENTATION SUPPORTING A STRAIGHT LINE WIND
EVENT. THE LENGTH OF THE DAMAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 1.25 MILES WITH
A WIDTH OF AROUND 2000 FEET. BASED ON THE TYPED OF DAMAGE OBSERVED
WIND SPEEDS ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE REACHED 85 MPH.
MICROBURSTS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND CAN
PRODUCE AS MUCH DAMAGE AS EF0 AND EF1 TORNADOES.
--Ted Shapiro
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