March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Icy blast on heels of mild winter evens score

A cold blast with temperatures dipping into single digits in parts of Maine threatened to make up for a relatively balmy winter.

Wind gusts were expected to make temperatures ranging from single digits in the north to about 20 degrees in the south feel even colder, Augie Sardinha from the National Weather Service said Tuesday.

“It’s the old you-pay-me-now, or you-pay-me-later,” Sardinha said.

The storm brought snowfall to many parts of the state on Tuesday. Snow totals weren’t expected to exceed 2-3 inches before the coldest weather arrived overnight, Sardinha said.

The temperatures were expected to be about 10 to 15 degrees below normal, said Jim Mansfield, a meteorological technician.

The frigid weather seemed even colder after a mild winter. The winter of 1995 was the ninth-mildest in the 55 years since tabulations were kept at the Portland International Jetport, said Sardinha.

The snowfall total in Portland was roughly half what it should be in a normal winter, Sardinha said. The city recorded only 38.6 inches of snow as of Tuesday, he said.

As for the current cold snap, Sardinha said it isn’t as bad as it could be. Take for instance the blizzard of April 1982, when the high temperature one day was 23 in Portland, he said.

“It can always be worse,” Sardinha said. “This is some cold air, but it will be short-lived.”


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