PORTLAND, Maine — Our Winter thaw is nearing an end. Highs will reach the 40s Monday and snow will melt again. However, a cold front will slice through this evening and changes will work in fast. Winds will swing into the northwest, guiding Arctic air back into Maine. Temps will drop from the mid 40s Monday afternoon to the mid teens by Tuesday morning. The biggest problem will be the wind. NW winds will gust to 50 miles per hour through the night and again on Tuesday. The result will be nasty wind chill readings making outdoor activities very unpleasant and challenging for all.
Wind chill values Tuesday morning will be awful, around 10 below for the coast, 15 below for the interior and 20 to 30 below for the mountains. There are Wind Chill Advisories in place for a lot of the State so make sure to dress warmly.
There is potential for some pretty big gusts tonight and Tuesday, 50 mph is entirely possible. That kind of wind usually doesn't result in widespread outages in the Winter, but a few outages are likely.
Temps will recover a bit through the remainder of the week but we are still only looking at highs in the 20s and 30s, seasonably cold. We'll see a little snow up north today and tonight as the cold returns, but the rest of the week looks storm and snow free.