High Wind — Coastal Waldo, Maine

2024-01-10 · Coastal Waldo, Maine

Event narrative

East of a deep low pressure in the eastern Great Lakes a strong low level jet developed. Deep, fresh snow cover across the interior prevented the strong winds from penetrating too far inland, but along the coast damaging wind gusts began very early in the morning on the 10th. The strongest gusts continued through late morning on the 10th. A mesonet station in Belmont recorded a 71 mph wind gust around 515 am. Winds quickly diminished once the cold front moved through the coast.

Wider weather episode

A powerful storm tracked northeast through the Mid Mississippi River Valley on the 9th, rapidly deepening as it approached the southern Great Lakes. Precipitation formed along and ahead of the advancing warm front, which arrived in part of northern New England during the evening of the 9th. High pressure anchored to the north of Maine dammed low level cold air up against the mountains and allowed precipitation to start as snow for most locations in western Maine, except for those east of the coastal front. The coastal front was able to quickly mix westward as heavier precipitation moved into the area, and snow changed to rain into the foothills through midnight and the early morning hours. Rain closer to the coast and snow across the higher terrain was heavy at times through the overnight hours. Snowfall of 6 to 12 inches occurred in the higher terrain, with locally higher amounts in the high peaks. Rainfall was a widespread 2 to 4 inches where precipitation remained mostly rain. A strong low level jet accompanying the deep low pressure over the eastern Great Lakes arrived during the early morning hours on the 10th, with strong to damaging wind gusts along the coast. These warm winds along with rainfall helped to melt much of the fresh snow pack that had fallen on the 7th. The strongest east southeast winds also arrived just ahead of high tide, as they were approaching their monthly spring tides. Moderate to major coastal flooding and large, battering waves occurred all along the western Maine shoreline leading to widespread damage. By the morning of the 10th, snow, rain, and wind had all moved east of the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1147383. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.