High Wind — Northeast Aroostook, Maine

2024-12-12 · Northeast Aroostook, Maine

Event narrative

Wind gusts estimated at up to 60 mph toppled and uprooted trees...along with snapping branches. Downed trees...powerlines and snapped utility poles led to power outages.

Wider weather episode

Strong low pressure tracked west of Maine during the 11th initially drawing a warm front north across the region...with a cold front then approaching late. In response to a tightening pressure gradient...a strong low level jet strengthened in advance of an intensifying secondary low moving along the cold front during the evening of the 11th. Wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph...locally in excess of 60 mph...occurred across Downeast areas. Peak wind gusts across Downeast areas included 67 mph at Bar Harbor...66 mph at Brooklin and 61 mph at Blue Hill all in coastal Hancock county. A 62 mph wind gust was reported at Eastport in coastal Washington county. A 65 mph wind gust was reported near Bangor...with a 59 mph gust at Bangor International Airport...in southern Penobscot county. Across northern Maine an intensifying squall line...non-thunderstorm producing...crossed northern portions of Penobscot and eastern Aroostook counties. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were common with this intensifying squall line. The strong winds across the region snapped and toppled numerous trees while breaking branches. Thawed and saturated soil from record warmth and heavy rain more easily allowed trees to be compromised. Falling trees brought down powerlines and utility poles which led extensive power outages across the region. Power outages rapidly expanded from the evening of the 11th into the early morning hours of the 12th with increasing winds...particularly across portions of Hancock and Piscataquis counties. Power outages increased to around 14600 customers in Hancock county and 16600 in Piscataquis counties during the early morning hours of the 12th. Power outages spiked across eastern Aroostook county during the early morning hours of the 12th with the passage of the intensifying squall line...impacting around 24000 customers. Around 11500 customers lost power in Penobscot county during this event...with around 3500 customers in Washington county. Fallen trees and utility poles blocked roads across the region. Some structures received damage to roofs and siding.

Winds were the most impactful element of this event. However...the event did feature several other issues. An area of overrunning precipitation lifted across the region through the early morning hours of the 11th with an initial warm front. Precipitation was in the form of a light wintry mix...mostly freezing rain. Ice accumulations through the morning of the the 11th generally ranged from one to two tenths of an inch...locally up to around a third of an inch. Strong warm advection then allowed precipitation to turn to rain across the entire region during the afternoon. Abundant deep moisture was drawn north from the Gulf Coast region in advance of the cold front...leading to some of the highest precipitable water values ever recorded across the region during December. Heavy rain developed along the cold front with the intensifying secondary low. Rainfall totals of 1.50 to 2.50 inches were common in advance of the front...locally 3.00 to 3.50 inches. Thunderstorms across Downeast and east-central areas also contributed to the locally heavy rain totals. The heavy rains led to saturated soils. Unseasonable warmth also occurred in advance of the cold front. A temperature of 59 at Bangor on the 11th tied the previous daily record. Houlton tied a daily high temperature record for 12th of 58 degrees. The record warmth melted much of the early season snowpack and helped thaw the partially frozen soil...both of which factors also contributed to the soils saturation.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1224255. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.