Winter Storm — Interior Waldo, Maine

2023-12-03 to 2023-12-04 · Interior Waldo, Maine

Event narrative

Precipitation began during the afternoon on the 3rd as a wintry mix of rain and snow as a warm front had lifted up into the foothills. Cold air damming held in place across the interior, and as precipitation intensity increased the temperatures cooled as far south as the hills of Waldo County. By early evening rain was changing to snow. This led to a large range in snowfall totals from the higher terrain to the lower elevations near Penobscot Bay. As winds become northwesterly during the morning of the 4th, snow tapered to snow showers and came to an end. Snowfall totals ranged from 4 inches near Penobscot Bay to 9 inches near Unity Pond.

Wider weather episode

Early on the 3rd a stalled frontal boundary was draped across southern New Hampshire and near the coast of Maine. Low pressure slowly developed along the southern end of the front and rode north along the Appalachians through the day on the 3rd. Low pressure occluded during the evening on the 3rd, with a secondary low pressure developing south of Nantucket. The bulk of the precipitation came with the initial push of warm air advection, winding down early in the morning on the 4th. However an inverted trough hanging back to the northwest of the low center extended light snow through much of the day on the 4th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1146355. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.