March 28, 2024
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Maine snowfall totals unusual for December

More shoveling, more snowmen and more skiing – and that does not include just the ski resorts in Maine’s western mountains.

Many areas of the state got rain this past weekend, but whether you live in Caribou, Calais, Camden, Kittery, or any place in between, you’ve seen more snow this December than you did last year.

A lot more.

According to the National Weather Service, as of Sunday the Bangor area has been hit by more than 13 times the amount of snow it got for the same month in 2006. Though about 13 inches is considered normal for Bangor for December, only 2 1/2 inches fell in the area last year, as opposed to more than 34 since Dec. 1 this year. That rate is more than an inch a day.

The most snow the Bangor area got in any December was in 1927, when 51 inches piled up, according to weather service statistics.

It’s not unusual for Aroostook County to get snow when the rest of the state is getting rain, but even so, the central part of The County has gotten much more snow than it usually does. Approximately 25 inches is normal in December for the area, but this year nearly 51 inches of snow have piled up in and around Caribou, according to weather service statistics. Last year, Caribou got only 8 inches of snow in December. The area’s record for the month is just under 60 inches, set in 1972.

The Portland area, which also gets about 12 inches of snow in a normal December, has received more than 30 inches for the month this year. Last year, it got less than 3 inches.

“It’s been a pretty active December,” Dana Wardwell, public works director for Bangor, said Friday. “It’s been very challenging.”

Most winters average out in terms of precipitation, Wardwell said, but heavy snowfall or other frozen precipitation in December is more difficult for highway crews to deal with than similar weather in March. This time of year, when the days are relatively short, plow truck drivers have to use more salt and sand to combat the slick roads.

“You’re not getting the assistance of the sun,” Wardwell said. “You have to use more materials.”

In Mount Desert Island’s Acadia National Park, cold weather means more activities in the winter. Acadia gets its share of winter hikers when the weather is mild, Ranger Chris Wiebusch said Friday, but when the ice forms and the snow sticks the park also gets cross-country skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers and ice climbers.

“A lot of years, we don’t even have snow for Christmas,” the ranger said. “When the weather’s nice, people are out.”

Wiebusch said many park visitors have brought their winter sports gear with them this month, but there have been relatively few incidents to be handled by rangers. He said that with state law now allowing night ice-fishing, that could change.

“If you wanted to, you could be out on Eagle Lake all day and all night,” Wiebusch said. “We’ll see what happens. We may have more evening activity.”

Mike Murphy, president of the Narraguagus Snowmobile Club, said Friday that the club is so unused to having snow in December that it had not marked all of its trails in western Washington County by the time there was a useable base on the ground. Though recent rain exposed bare ground on some trails, many club members have been out on their sleds, he said.

The club has not held any events yet. Because there is usually little snow in December, the club didn’t plan to have any events until January, he said.

“We’ve had so many years we haven’t had snow,” Murphy said, but this year “it’s been great. Hopefully we’ll keep this all winter so people can ride.”

btrotter@bangordailynews.net

460-6318


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