MAINE, USA — Last weekend was pretty hot across Maine.
This weekend also looks hot, but the case for extreme heat in Maine is not quite as clear-cut as last weekend's forecast.
There's a warm front meandering north, which could put a cap on just how warm Maine gets this weekend.
Elsewhere, record heat is back in the forecast. Daily records are likely to fall in places like Hartford, Providence, and Boston.
What's more impressive is that all-time May records might be broken, too.
In other words, the highest temperatures on record in May could happen across parts of New England this weekend.
Since last weekend, I've been watching the potential for heat, and the National Weather Service is highlighting that risk, too.
Heat advisories, which highlight the potential for dangerous heat, are already posted for most of Rhode Island, central Massachusetts, and inland Connecticut. Parts of the Hudson River Valley and western Vermont are highlighted now, too.
For us locally, southern New Hampshire is under a heat advisory through the weekend.
Before I talk about the actual forecast, I want to break down how this happens.
The image above shows a "Bermuda high," which is almost always a strong signal of warmth for us in the biz.
If you follow the wind around the high, southwest wind pumps heat and humidity up the eastern seaboard and into New England.
If this is such a strong signal for warmth, why is Maine forecast to be cooler?
Well, a southwest wind for most of New England means air is coming from over land. Since land heats up quickly, the air above it does, too.
For coastal Maine, though, a southwest wind comes off of the Gulf of Maine. The water temperature is only around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, since we're still so early in the season, and this will keep things in Maine just a bit cooler.
To be clear, inland areas in Maine may still make a run at 90 degrees, but the coast will almost certainly be cooler.
So, what spots in New England are looking at this record heat?
Other stations in New England that are not on this list could set monthly records, but I wanted to list some of the bigger cities.
It's worth noting that most of these all-time records for May have been set since 1990. May heat is certainly something that stretches back much further, but the magnitude of May heat seems to be increasing a bit.
I think the most likely spots to see an all-time record broken are Hartford, Connecticut, and Manchester, New Hampshire.
These spots are pretty well insulated from any coastal influence, and a southwest wind direction tends to just pump heat into them.
It's possible that somewhere between central Connecticut and central Massachusetts actually breaks 100 degrees on Saturday or Sunday.
Boston is also forecast to be within 2 degrees of the all-time May record, but even a slight sea breeze would prevent that from happening.
We'll see just how hot things can get, but I am thinking at least one of these records will be broken or tied.
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