WINTER
Maine’s winter of 2019 was low on drama. Snow, sleet and rain punctuated the three-month period January to March, but no one storm was extraordinary. All that precipitation made January the wettest since 1999 with 5.53 inches of all varieties. The winter months also saw some notable warming, with Jan. 1 and 24 both reaching 50 degrees, but perhaps nothing was as extreme as the -2 on Feb. 2 — the coldest day of the year — followed only three days later by 62-degree temperatures on Feb. 5. Those extremes aside, the winter season was quite stable with little excitement and a snow pack that stayed fairly steady. Meteorologist Mallory Brooke, owner of Nor’easter Weather Consulting LLC had this to say about winter 2019, “The biggest surprise for me was that there wasn’t a blockbuster snowstorm, but it was an interesting season because most (weather) systems at the coast were mixed and went from snow, to sleet, to rain — almost every time.”
SPRING
Wet was the theme of 2019’s spring months, April through June. Winter’s last gasp happened on April 8 and 9 when 3.8 inches of snow fell, but then quickly melted, giving way to cloudy, rainy weather. April 2019 will be remembered most for the number of rainy days, particularly from the 18th through the 27th when it rained nine out of those 10 days. A total of 5.19 inches of precipitation fell, 0.87 inches above normal. This marked the fourth out of the last five years with more than 5 inches of rain in April. Measurable precipitation fell 17 days in the month. While that didn’t break the record of 19 days set in 1933, it was the most rain in April in 40 years and ranks as the sixth rainiest on record. (Rain also fell on six of the first seven days of May.) Some unusual warmth moved in in May, with 70-degree temperatures a few times and a balmy 84 degrees registering on May 26. June finished off the spring season offering southern Maine more rain; it’s 5.85 inches were 2 inches above normal. Notably, spring 2019 had 47 days of measurable precipitation in southern Maine, the most since 1973.
SUMMER
Heat was the defining theme of the summer of 2019, but unlike last year when August went down as the hottest on record with an average temperature of 72.2 degrees, July made the record books this time. During the first week of the month, temperatures frequently went into the mid- to upper-80s and rose to 91 degrees on July 6. Mid-month, another stretch of hot weather arrived along with very humid conditions. The hottest day of the year was July 21st when the temperature peaked at 94 degrees. The low that day was 76 degrees, tying with July 22, 2011, as the warmest low temperature on record at Portland. In all, the month tied the record for warmest month ever with an average temperature of 73.1 — 4 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, August stayed relatively cool and temperate, with only a few days reaching the mid-80s and a little more rain than usual. September ended the season with some extremes — a 38-degree low on the 19th and an 89-degree high four days later — and dry, with less than half-an-inch of rain making it the third driest September on record.
FALL
Fall 2019 in southern Maine stood out for some October coastal storms that brought damaging wind and rain. A storm on the 16th and 17th set new sea level low pressure records for the month at Portland, with heavy rain and winds that gusted to 62 mph causing serious damage and widespread power outages. Five days later, another storm brought 2.05 inches of rain, with more high winds and subsequent tree damage and power outages. More rain fell on the 27th, and one more storm on Halloween brought more strong winds that peaked at 49 mph. A total of 6.23 inches of rain fell for the month, 1.36 inches above normal. Measurable rain fell on 16 days, tying the month for the third wettest October on record. November ushered in some early winter weather, with rain, sleet and snow falling on Nov. 12 in the middle of a two-week period of unseasonably cold temperatures. December offered up the first significant snowfall, but also a lot of rain. A total of 8.48 inches of rain fell for the month, 4.46 inches above normal and the fourth wettest December on record. A total of 26.1 inches of snow also fell, 12.9 inches above normal, making it the snowiest December since 2013.
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