PORTLAND, Maine — Most of the time, early February in Maine means big snowstorms, wicked cold, and little hope for a spring-like feel for a long while. However, this year has been quite different on many levels.
We can’t buy a big snowstorm, temps are running well above typical numbers for winter averages, and Saturday felt like the end of April or early May with unusually loud thunderstorms moving from Oxford County all the way east to Washington County Saturday afternoon.
This month has been anything but typical, and on Saturday, something extremely rare happened in Bangor. For only the fourth time in history, thunder was reported during the month of February. Records go back to 1948.
There was also ¼ inch hail observed by many people in the path of the thunderstorms as they trekked west to east from the Oxford Hills all the way through Washington County to the Canadian border.
The thunderstorms sounded louder than summertime booms because there was an inversion in the atmosphere.
An atmospheric inversion acts like a layer in the sky that’s invisible, where warmer temps create a barrier and force the thunder back down to the ground level.
The radar was lit up with lightning detection showing the advancing line of thunderstorms.
You could see the leading edge of the clouds moving through Dover-Foxcroft late Saturday afternoon. Then the sky lit up with all of the vivid lightning that many reported.
Above is what an inversion looks like. Normally, temps decrease with height, but with an inversion, they increase. The rising air reaches warmer air and cannot rise further. The clouds, or in this case, sound from the thunderstorms, got trapped and bounced back down, rattling homes and windows.
Speaking of temps, records were broken in Portland and Augusta with mid 50s for highs. I even saw readings in the 60s in the Buxton area of York County.
Even after all of this, yes, there is snow in the forecast for less than three days from now. I don’t have a snow forecast map yet, but I can tell you about the best opportunity for plowable snow is along the southern coast.
Update coming on that Sunday. Stay tuned.
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