Winter Weather — Northern Franklin, Maine

2022-02-27 · Northern Franklin, Maine

Event narrative

Snow squalls crossed the western lakes and mountains between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm. The Steven A. Bean Municipal Airport observed a visibility of less than 1/4 mile and a wind gust of 46 knots at 5:15 pm. Spotter in Sandy River reported visibility less than 100 feet in a snow squall.

Wider weather episode

An arctic cold front drove through the Northeast on the evening of the 27th. The upper shortwave trough was rapidly transitioning to negatively tilted and at its strongest forcing for ascent as it crossed the local area. The temperatures at 850 hPa dropped from around -10 degrees Celsius in the evening to -19 degrees Celsius by morning. Low level lapse rates were very steep, approaching 9 degrees Celsius per kilometer. This led to some small amounts of low level CAPE, which considering the time of year were quite impressive. The result was a well organized line of snow squalls that affected the majority of the local forecast area, bringing widespread travel impacts due to dangerous short term blizzard conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1009423. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.