By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — Above-normal temperatures paired with over an inch of rain turned The County into an ice rink this past weekend.
National Weather Service data shows that Houlton and Presque Isle received the highest amounts of rain, each at about 1.3 inches. Caribou followed just behind with 1.25 inches. Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Caribou Tim Duda explained that the region went from extremely below-normal temperatures to the current above-normal temperature due to a change in the jet stream pattern. The mild temperatures are resultant of a more southwesterly flow of the jet stream that’s bringing up some mild air, as opposed to the northwesterly flow of the jet stream of a couple weeks ago that brought sub-zero temperatures.
“For this time of year, normally we’d expect a high temperature in the upper teens — we had a high in the upper 30s yesterday, so we’re running a little bit above normal here to say the least,” Duda said late Tuesday morning.
The mild temperatures are expected to wane by this weekend.
“We’re expecting the temperatures right through the end of the week — at least for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — to be in the lower 30s and as we go into the weekend, it’s going to start cooling down,” Duda explained. “By the beginning of next week, we’re going to get another shot of some pretty cold air, and we’ll be back to high temperatures in only the teens,” he added.
Additional weather information can be found by visiting www.erh.noaa.gov/er/car/
