NOAA's Weather Summaries for Past 4 Months

Below are the monthly weather summaries for the Portland, Maine Jetport, southern Maine's primary weather monitoring station. It has been a warm one so far this fall/winter, but there are still 3 months to go:

SEPTEMBER 2006 TURNED OUT TO BE ANOTHER WARMER THAN NORMAL
MONTH IN PORTLAND MAINE.

SEPTEMBER HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 60.3 DEGREES WHICH WAS
1.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS TIED 1948 AND 1957 AS THE 20TH
WARMEST SEPTEMBER IN THE PAST 66 YEARS OF TEMPERATURE RECORDS
AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT. THE WARMEST SEPTEMBER WAS 1961 WITH
AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 64.1 DEGREES AND THE COLDEST WAS 1950
WITH AN AVERAGE OF 54.5 DEGREES.

THIS IS THE 8TH MONTH THIS YEAR AND THE 11TH MONTH IN THE PAST
12 MONTHS TO HAVE TEMPERATURES AVERAGE ABOVE NORMAL. ONLY
AUGUST OF THIS YEAR HAD BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES...AND THAT
WAS BY ONLY 0.3 DEGREE.

THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE IN SEPTEMBER WAS 80 DEGREES ON THE 9TH
AND WAS THE ONLY TIME PORTLAND REACHED 80 DURING THE MONTH.

ON THE OTHER END OF THE SCALE, THE MERCURY DIPPED BELOW 40
TWICE DURING THE MONTH, RECORDED A LOW OF 39 DEGREES ON THE
27TH AND 37 DEGREES ON THE 30TH. THE AVERAGE HIGH FOR THE MONTH
WAS NEARLY 70 DEGREES /69.7 DEGREES/ AND WAS TIED WITH 1969
AS THE 31ST WARMEST IN 66 YEARS. THE AVERAGE LOW FOR THE MONTH
WAS NEARLY 51 DEGREES /50.9 DEGREES/ AND TIED 1998 AS THE 13TH
WARMEST.

THERE WAS ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH WITH OVER 3 AND A
HALF INCHES OF RAIN /3.57 INCHES/. THIS EXCEED THE NORMAL
SEPTEMBER RAINFALL BY 0.20 INCH AND RANKED AS THE 49TH WETTEST
SEPTEMBER IN 136 YEARS OF RECORDS. THE WETTEST SEPTEMBER ON
RECORD IS 1954 WITH 9.81 INCHES AND THE DRIEST IS 1948 WITH
JUST 0.30 INCH OF RAIN.

THE 3.57 INCHES IN SEPTEMBER GAVE PORTLAND A YEARLY TOTAL OF
43.62 INCHES OF RAIN THROUGH THE FIRST 9 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
NORMALLY PORTLAND ONLY SEES 32.47 INCHES OF RAIN FROM JANUARY
THROUGH SEPTEMBER, SO THIS YEAR IS RUNNING MORE THAN 11 INCHES
ABOVE NORMAL SO FAR.

THIS IS THE 4TH WETTEST FIRST 9 MONTHS OF THE YEAR ON RECORD.
THE TOP 3 ARE 1979 WITH 47.90 INCHES, 1920 WITH 46.65 INCHES,
AND 1991 WITH 45.91 INCHES. LAST YEAR, THE WETTEST YEAR ON
RECORD, HAD 39.10 INCHES THROUGH SEPTEMBER AND WAS THE 11TH
WETTEST FOR THE FIRST 9 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.

DESPITE RUNNING WELL ABOVE NORMAL FOR RAINFALL THIS YEAR, ONLY
4 OUT OF THE FIRST 9 MONTHS HAD ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL. THEY ARE
MAY, JUNE, JULY AND SEPTEMBER. THE REST HAD BELOW NORMAL
RAINFALL.

THE GREATEST 24 HOUR RAINFALL WAS 1.45 INCHES OF RAIN, BEGINNING
ON THE 19TH AND ENDING ON THE 20TH. THERE WERE 11 DAYS WITH
MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION AND ANOTHER 5 WITH A TRACE OF RAIN.
THIS LEFT PORTLAND WITH ONLY 14 DAYS WITH NO RAINFALL.

THERE WERE NO DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED IN PORTLAND DURING THE
MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 2006.


OCTOBER 2006 IN PORTLAND MAINE WAS MUCH WETTER THAN NORMAL AND
WARMER THAN NORMAL.

THE HIGHLIGHT FOR THE MONTH WAS THE HIGH WIND AND HEAVY RAIN
EVENT ON THE 28TH, FOLLOWED BY MORE DESTRUCTIVE WINDS ON THE
29TH. RAINFALL ON SATURDAY, THE 28TH TOPPED TWO INCHES IN
PORTLAND WITH A RECORD SETTING 2.27 INCHES WHILE WINDS GUSTED
UP TO 52 MPH. WIND GUSTS PEAKED AT 55 MPH ON SUNDAY, THE 29TH.

THERE WERE TWO OTHER NOTEWORTHY RAIN AND WIND EVENTS DURING THE
MONTH. ON THE 12TH PORTLAND HAD A RECORD SETTING 2.69 INCHES
OF RAIN AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH. ON THE 20TH PORTLAND
MEASURED 1.67 INCHES OF RAIN AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.

THESE THREE DATES ACCOUNTED FOR ALL DAYS WITH OVER AN INCH OF
RAIN AND ALSO ACCOUNTED FOR MORE THAN THREE FOURTHS OF THE
MONTHS TOTAL RAINFALL WITH THE THREE DAY TOTAL OF 6.63 INCHES.

FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2006 PORTLAND RECORDED 8.38
INCHES OF RAIN, MAKING IT THE 5TH WETTEST OCTOBER ON RECORD.
PRECIPITATION RECORDS BEGAN IN 1871. THE WETTEST OCTOBER WAS
1996 WITH 16.86 INCHES OF RAIN /ALSO THE WETTEST MONTH EVER
RECORDED IN PORTLAND/ FOLLOWED BY 14.38 INCHES IN OCTOBER 2005,
12.27 INCHES IN 1962 AND 10.45 INCHES IN 1998.

THE 8.38 INCHES OF RAIN WAS NEARLY DOUBLE THE NORMAL OCTOBER
RAINFALL OF 4.40 INCHES OF RAIN FOR PORTLAND.

THERE WERE THREE DAYS IN THE MONTH WITH OVER ONE INCH OF RAIN,
WITH 2.69 INCHES ON THE 12TH, 1.67 INCHES ON THE 20TH AND 2.27
INCHES ON THE 28TH. THE RAINFALL ON THE 12TH AND 28TH SET
DAILY RECORDS FOR THE MOST RAINFALL ON EACH DATE.

SO FAR THIS YEAR PORTLAND HAS PICKED UP EXACTLY 52 INCHES OF
RAIN. THIS IS THE THIRD WETTEST JANUARY THROUGH OCTOBER ON
RECORD. THE WETTEST FIRST 10 MONTHS OF THE YEAR WAS IN 1979 WITH
54.61 INCHES OF RAIN, FOLLOWED BY 2005 WITH 53.48 INCHES OF
RAIN.

THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER THE 52.00 INCHES MARKS ONLY THE 20TH
TIME IN THE PAST 136 YEARS OF RECORDS THAT PORTLAND TOPPED 50
INCHES OF RAIN IN A CALENDAR YEAR. WITH TWO MORE MONTHS TO GO
PORTLAND COULD REACH THE 60 INCH PLATEAU. THAT HAS ONLY HAPPENED
THREE TIMES, MOST RECENTLY JUST LAST YEAR WHEN PORTLAND HAD ITS
WETTEST YEAR ON RECORD WITH 66.45 INCHES OF RAIN.

NORMALLY PORTLAND SEES 4.72 INCHES OF RAIN IN NOVEMBER AND 4.24
INCHES IN DECEMBER. SO IF PORTLAND RECEIVES NORMAL RAINFALL
FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS OF THE YEAR THEN THE YEARLY TOTAL
PRECIPITATION WOULD TOP 60 INCHES WITH AN ANNUAL TOTAL OF 60.96
INCHES OF RAIN.

THERE WAS NO SNOW DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER. THIS IS THE 79TH
TIME IN 126 YEARS OF SNOW RECORDS THAT PORTLAND HAD ZERO SNOWFALL
IN OCTOBER. NORMAL OCTOBER SNOWFALL IS JUST ONE TENTH OF AN INCH.

OCTOBER 2006 WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
OF 49.0 DEGREES. THIS EXCEEDED THE NORMAL OCTOBER TEMPERATURE
OF 47.7 DEGREES BY 1.3 DEGREES. OCTOBER 2006 TIED 1951 AS THE 29TH
WARMEST OCTOBER IN THE PAST 66 YEARS OF TEMPERATURE RECORDS. THE
WARMEST OCTOBER WAS 55.3 DEGREES IN 1947 AND THE COLDEST OCTOBER
WAS 43.6 DEGREES IN 1976.

THE AVERAGE HIGH WAS 58.5 DEGREES, 0.6 DEGREE ABOVE THE NORMAL
OF 57.9 DEGREES. THE AVERAGE LOW WAS 39.5 DEGREES, 2.1 DEGREES
ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 37.4 DEGREES. THE AVERAGE HIGH RANKED TIED
FOR THE 37TH WARMEST WITH 2004 AND THE AVERAGE LOW RANKED TIED
FOR THE 17TH WARMEST WITH 1969. TEMPERATURE RECORDS GO BACK TO
1941 AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT.

THERE WERE ONLY TWO DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 70 OR HIGHER WITH THE
WARMEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH JUST 72 DEGREES OCCURRING ON
THE 9TH. THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 27 DEGREES
ON THE 22ND. FOR THE MONTH THERE WERE 5 DAYS WITH LOWS OF 32
OR COLDER.

HERE IS A LIST OF DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED IN PORTLAND DURING
OCTOBER 2006...

DATE RECORD PREVIOUS RECORD
12 2.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION 1.76 INCHES IN 1871
28 2.27 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION 1.68 INCHES IN 1902


PORTLAND MAINE HAD A MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL AUTUMN IN 2006, AFTER HAVING
THE WARMEST AUTUMN ON RECORD JUST LAST YEAR. THIS AUTUMN HAD AN AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE OF 51.0 DEGREES, JUST A HALF DEGREE BELOW THE RECORD 51.5 DEGREES
RECORDED LAST YEAR AND IN 1961. THE COLDEST AUTUMN WAS IN 1976 WITH AN AVERAGE
OF 45.6 DEGREES. THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR AUTUMN IS 48.2 DEGREES.

NOVEMBER LED THE WAY TO THIS BEING SUCH A WARM AUTUMN, SETTING A RECORD FOR
THE WARMEST NOVEMBER WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 43.8 DEGREES. SEPTEMBER WAS
TIED AS THE 20TH WARMEST IN THE PAST 66 YEARS OF TEMPERATURE RECORDS AND OCTOBER
WAS TIED AS THE 29TH WARMEST.

IN ADDITION TO BEING A VERY WARM FALL IT WAS ALSO VERY WET. PORTLAND
MEASURED 17.45 INCHES OF RAIN MAKING IT THE 9TH WETTEST FALL ON RECORD.
THE WETTEST FALL WAS JUST LAST YEAR WITH 24.18 INCHES OF RAIN. THE
DRIEST FALL ON RECORD WAS 1915 WHEN ONLY 4.88 INCHES OF RAIN FELL.
NORMALLY PORTLAND CAN EXPECT 12.49 INCHES OF RAIN OVER THIS THREE MONTH
PERIOD.

NEARLY HALF THE AUTUMN RAINFALL OCCURRED IN OCTOBER WITH OVER EIGHT INCHES OF
RAIN /8.38 INCHES/ AND WAS THE 5TH WETTEST OCTOBER IN THE PAST 136 YEARS
OF RECORDS. SEPTEMBER AND NOVEMBER COMBINED FOR 9.07 INCHES OF RAIN. ALL
THREE MONTHS HAD ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL.

THERE WAS NO SNOW IN PORTLAND THIS AUTUMN, WHICH TIES THE RECORD FOR THE
LEAST SNOWIEST FALL SEASON, AS WELL AS HAVING THE LEAST SNOWIEST OCTOBER AND
NOVEMBER (SNOW IS BASICALLY NEVER OCCURRS IN SEPTEMBER, SO RANKINGS ARE
NOT KEPT FOR THAT MONTH). THERE ARE ONLY FOUR YEARS WITHOUT ANY SNOW DURING
THE FALL SEASON, THEY ARE 1918, 1960, 1973 AND 2006. THE SNOWIEST FALL WAS
1921 WITH 24.3 INCHES. NORMAL SNOWFALL FOR THE THREE MONTH PERIOD IS 3.3
INCHES.

HERE IS A LIST OF DAILY RECORDS THIS FALL...

DATE RECORD PREVIOUS RECORD

(THERE WERE NO DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED IN SEPTEMBER)

OCT. 12TH 2.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION 1.76 INCHES IN 1871
OCT. 28TH 2.27 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION 1.68 INCHES IN 1902
NOV. 9TH 69 - RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE 66 DEGREES IN 1975
NOV. 9TH 53 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 48 DEGREES IN 1950 & 1996
NOV. 9TH 61 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 55 DEGREES IN 1995
NOV. 14TH 53 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 53 DEGREES IN 1951 (TIED)
NOV. 16TH 52 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 47 DEGREES IN 1960
NOV. 16TH 55 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 55 DEGREES IN 1960 (TIED)
NOV. 17TH 48 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 43 DEGREES IN 1950 & 1977
NOV. 17TH 54 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 51 DEGREES IN 1950 & 1957
NOV. 30TH 62 - RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE 58 DEGREES IN 1963
NOV. 30TH 48 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 42 DEGREES IN 2005
NOV. 30TH 55 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 48 DEGREES IN 2005



DECEMBER 2006 WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR ITS NEAR RECORD WARMTH AND
LACK OF SNOWFALL IN PORTLAND MAINE.

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 34.5 DEGREES TIED 1996 AS THE SECOND
WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. THE WARMEST DECEMBER WAS 34.8 DEGREES
IN 2001. IN CONTRAST THE COLDEST DECEMBER WAS IN 1989 WITH AN
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 14.1 DEGREES. NORMALLY DECEMBER HAS AN
AVERAGE OF 27.6 DEGREES. TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT THE PORTLAND
JETPORT FOR DECEMBER GO BACK TO 1940.

THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS A RECORD 43.3
DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS 42.8 DEGREES IN 1953. THE COLDEST
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS 24.7 DEGREES IN 1989 AND THE NORMAL
DECEMBER AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE IS 36.4 DEGREES.

THE AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 25.6 DEGREES, WARM
ENOUGH TO BE THE 3RD WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST AVERAGE LOW
TEMPERATURE WAS 27.8 DEGREES IN 1996 FOLLOWED BY 26.8 DEGREES IN
2001. THE COLDEST AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE WAS 3.4 DEGREES IN 1989
AND THE NORMAL DECEMBER AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE IS 18.7 DEGREES.

THE TEMPERATURE NEVER GOT BELOW ZERO DEGREES IN DECEMBER. IN FACT
THE COLDEST READING WAS ONLY 9 DEGREES AND THAT DIDN`T OCCUR
UNTIL THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH. THERE WERE ONLY 5 DAYS IN THE
MONTH THAT AVERAGE BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES, 4 DAYS THAT HAD
NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES AND 22 DAYS THAT HAD WARMER THAN
NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES.

THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 61 DEGREES ON THE 1ST.
THERE WERE 7 OTHER DAYS WITH HIGHS OF 50 DEGREES OR WARMER. ON
THE 14TH THE HIGH OF 55 WAS A RECORD FOR THAT DATE.

PRECIPITATION AND SNOWFALL WERE BOTH BELOW NORMAL. FOR THE MONTH
PORTLAND RECORDED 3.36 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION /RAIN AND MELTED
SNOW/ WHICH WAS ALMOST AN INCH /0.88 INCH/ BELOW NORMAL. A GOOD
PORTION OF THIS RAINFALL FELL IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD FROM THE 22ND
TO THE 23RD WHEN AN INCH AN A HALF /1.50 INCHES/ OF RAIN WAS
MEASURED.

THIS WAS THE 81ST WETTEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. PRECIPITATION
RECORDS GO BACK 136 YEARS TO 1871. THE WETTEST DECEMBER WAS
IN 1969 WITH 9.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION AND THE DRIEST WAS
IN 1874 WITH 0.93 INCH OF PRECIPITATION.

SNOWFALL WAS JUST UNDER 5 INCHES /4.6 INCHES/ FOR THE MONTH.
THIS WAS 9 INCHES BELOW THE NORMAL DECEMBER SNOWFALL OF 13.6
INCHES AND RANKED AS THE 99TH SNOWIEST DECEMBER IN THE PAST 126
YEARS OF RECORDS. THE MOST SNOW FELL ON THE 8TH WITH 2.8 INCHES
FOLLOWED BY 1.8 INCHES ON THE 30TH. THE REST OF THE MONTH
TOTALED JUST A TRACE OF SNOW.

HERE IS A LIST OF DAILY RECORDS SET OR TIED IN PORTLAND DURING
DECEMBER 2006...

DATE RECORD PREVIOUS RECORD
14TH 55 - RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE 50 DEGREES IN 2001
14TH 37 - WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE 37 DEGREES IN 1968, 983
& 2001 (TIED)
14TH 46 - WARMEST AVERAGE TEMP. 44 DEGREES IN 2001

HERE IS A MONTHLY RECORD SET IN PORTLAND...

...DECEMBER 2006... ...PREVIOUS RECORD...
43.3 DEGREES - WARMEST AVERAGE 42.8 DEGREES IN 1953
HIGH TEMPERATURE


.