Southern Oxford storm history

Snow overspread the area on the evening of the 23rd as a warm front approached northern New England. In the late evening stronger lift arrived and snow became moderate to heavy at times through the morning of the 24th. This was especially true in eastern parts of Oxford County, s…

Oxford County averaged 2.35 inches of precipitation in December, approximately 1.8 inches below normal. Oxford continued to lead the state in total dry well reports, accounting for nearly 22% of all statewide submissions by year-end. The USDM on December 30th had 82% of the count…

Oxford County averaged 2.78 inches of precipitation in November, approximately 1.5 inches below normal. The rainfall deficits carried over from summer grew above 5 inches, making it the 5th driest stretch between July through November on record. While most of the county was class…

Oxford County averaged 2.26 inches of precipitation in September, approximately 1.5 inches below normal. The rainfall deficits carried over from summer grew above 5 inches, making it the 3th driest stretch between July through September on record. The USDM on September 30th had 4…

Snow squalls arrived over the western Maine mountains during the morning on the 7th. At 814 am the Bethel Regional Airport reported visibility falling to 1/4 mile and winds gusting to 35 mph. Around the same time at 802 am the webcam at Sunday River showed whiteout conditions and…

While snow began early in the morning on the 28th, snowfall rates picked up late morning through late afternoon. Snowfall rates where one inch per hour at times. Snow was heavy and wet, clinging to branches and breaking limbs. Power outages increased in the late afternoon, and th…

Snow overspread the area during the evening of the 3rd, heavy at times overnight into the morning of the 4th. Given the late season nature of the storm, much of the foothills observed temperatures at or just above freezing in addition to the heavy snow. As a result much of the sn…

Snowfall rates in excess of 1 inch per hour led to snowfall totals ranging between 11 inches in the Saco Valley and 22 inches in the Mahoosucs.

Snow squalls arrived in western Maine during the late afternoon on the 14th. The Eastern Slopes Regional Airport reported visibility of less than one quarter mile with winds gusting to 16 mph. Later the webcams near Bethel observed visibility of one quarter mile with a quick, lig…

Precipitation began during the evening of the 9th with a band of heavy snow lifting northeastward out of New Hampshire. Snowfall rates were briefly 1 inch per hour, before settling to a steady light to moderate snow. Snowfall rates increased again after midnight and snow continue…

Strong southeast wind gusts began the morning of the 18th. While wind gusts remained strong throughout the day, the damaging gusts occurred in several waves during the morning, again at midday, and once more in the evening. The Eastern Slopes Regional Airport recorded a peak gust…

Precipitation began around midday on the 3rd as a wintry mix of rain and snow as a warm front had lifted right up to the foothills. East facing aspects of the higher terrain had upsloping flow and relatively cooler temperatures to go along with the added lift, which allowed preci…

A hard freeze impacted the region shortly after midnight on May 18th with widespread sub-freezing temperatures. Temperatures ranged from freezing to the mid-20s. Fryeburg reported a low of 27 degrees. The temperatures were some of the coldest this late in spring in over the past …

Snow overspread the western Maine mountains shortly after midnight, early on the morning of the 4th. Snowfall quickly became moderate to heavy through the early afternoon hours. Snow quickly came to an end during the afternoon as low pressure moved into the northwest Atlantic and…

Light snow began after midnight on the 28th. By midday snow intensity picked up and became moderate at times through the late afternoon. Otherwise snow remained light and tapered off in the late evening, coming to an end from northwest to southeast. Snowfall totals ranged from 6 …

By midday on the 3rd wind chills were reaching -30 degrees. Ambient air temperatures continued to fall into the double digits below zero with winds gusting in excess of 35 mph. The coldest wind chill values approached -50 degrees, including -49 degrees at Bethel Regional Airport,…

Snow began during the evening of the 22nd. Snowfall quickly became moderate at times before midnight, then tapered to light snow which continued through most of the day on the 23rd. The Longfellow Mountains were on the northern edge of the heaviest snow band, with snowfall totals…

Light precipitation began on the morning on the 16th. Steady moderate to occasionally heavy snow started relatively quickly after the onset, especially at higher elevations. Southeast flow upsloping into the western Maine Mountains produced significantly more snowfall along the e…

Snow overspread the western lakes and mountains early in the morning on the 25th. A hybrid type snow band gradually transitioned into a laterally quasi-stationary band around daybreak. Moderate to heavy snowfall continued from that time through early afternoon, aided by upslope f…

Rain changed to snow around 8:00 pm on the 3rd. During the early morning on the 4th the snow intensity increased and became moderate to heavy at times through mid morning. Steady snow continued through the day and tapered off in the evening. Snowfall amounts ranged from 7 to 12 i…

Light snow began on the morning of the 29th, with the intensity of snowfall picking up after daybreak. An intense band of snow developed around mid morning over southern New England but remained mostly over the Gulf of Maine until midday. The band backed into coastal and Midcoast…

Strong warm air advection forced a laterally translating band of snow into the western Maine mountains during the morning of the 17th. Within a couple hours snow was moderate to heavy. Snowfall rates were near 1 inch per hour for two or three hours leading up to midday. The dry s…

Snow overspread the western Maine foothills by mid afternoon on the 18th. Snow became moderate in the evening but otherwise remained light for the duration of the storm. Snow tapered off in the morning on the 19th, finally ending as a couple of waves of light snow enhanced by ups…

Rainfall in August was below normal for most of the region, with above normal rainfall only over southern Maine where drought conditions no longer remain. For the areas in moderate to severe drought, rainfall was 40-70% of normal for the month. Temperatures meanwhile were running…

The state of Maine activated its Drought Task Force. Several towns instituted voluntary water restrictions. Hydro operators balanced needs of lake levels, hydroelectric power generation needs, and the discharges to maintain stream flow needs downstream. In Maine, the South Berwic…

Winds began to sharply increase early in the morning on the 2nd. While strong wind gusts were common over a large portion of the area, damaging wind gusts were most likely in the lee of the taller mountains and ridges. Several wind gusts in excess of 50 knots were measured on loc…

Snow moved into the area just before midnight and continued through the morning hours on the 2nd. The bulk of the accumulation came with moderate to heavy snow in the mesoscale snow band as it moved north through the western Maine mountains. Snow continued into the evening in wav…

Snow moved into the area early afternoon on the 5th. Snow became moderate to to heavy through the late evening under the strongest banded precipitation. Warmer temperatures in the lower elevations resulted in less snow than the higher elevations. Snow totals ranged from 4 to as m…

Drought maintained through the beginning of October with no significant rainfall across the region. Things changed on October 13th when a significant rainstorm brought widespread rainfall across the region. Another significant rainstorm occurred on October 16-17th with more benef…

Drought continued to expand and intensified through the month of September with the state of Maine recording the driest September on record. D2 severe drought expanded to cover all of Western Maine by the end of the month. In addition, an area of D3 extreme drought developed acro…

Tropical Storm Isaias brought moderate impacts to Oxford County due wind gusts around 45 mph. Numerous snapped and uprooted trees along with broken branches caused downed power lines through the county. Oxford County reported 8,400 customers without power, with a restoration time…

Rain changed to snow across southern Oxford County in the early morning hours on May 9th and accumulated between 1 and 5 inches by midday. A few selected amounts were 4.5 inches in Bryant Pond, 4.5 inches in Hartford, and 1.6 inches in Norway.

Precipitation overspread southern Oxford County during the morning of the 9th as mostly rain at the lower elevations, and some snow in the mountains. Temperatures gradually cooled into the upper 30s, but by late afternoon heavier precipitation moved in, temperatures fell to the l…

Snow moved into western Maine mountains during the late afternoon on the 23rd and quickly became moderate to heavy. Forcing was driven primarily by warm air advection and banding near the low center never made it far enough northwest to affect the area, and so came to an end in l…

Light snow began on the morning of the 18th ahead of an approaching front. During the afternoon snow became moderate to heavy at times when a secondary wave developed near the southern New England coast. Snow quickly came to an end in the evening, but not before 6 to 8 inches of …

Snow began in the early morning hours of the 16th. The most persistent and heaviest bands of snow remained south of Route 2. Snow was moderate to heavy at times during the day, with an inch or more falling in an hour at times. Snow tapered off in the afternoon before coming to an…

Precipitation moved in very early on December 30th as snow at onset. Early on the morning of the 30th continued warm air advection aloft allowed a nearly stationary band of moderate to heavy snow to develop overhead and remain in place into the afternoon. Secondary low pressure d…

Snow began in the evening and quickly became moderate to heavy in the late evening. After midnight warmer air aloft allowed some of the precipitation to mix with sleet at times. The snow and sleet continued into the morning hours when precipitation quickly ended from west to east…

Persistent light snow along a weak warm front developed on the evening of the 29th over parts of the western Maine mountains. Secondary low pressure developed in the Gulf of Maine overnight and snowfall intensified through the early morning hours on the 30th. Snow quickly ended f…

A band of light to moderate snow developed over the mountains and foothills of western Maine late in the evening of the 19th in response to warm air advection developing aloft. Then heavy snow moved into area in the early morning hours and continued into the afternoon. Snow chang…

Light mixed precipitation changed over to moderate to heavy snow during the morning of the 9th. Snow was especially heavy in the higher terrain of the Mahoosucs, with lighter snow farther south through the foothills.

Steady snow developed on the evening of the 26th. Orographic lift of southeasterly winds created heavy snow at times in the higher elevations of the Mahoosuc Range. Surface temperatures near freezing made for a heavy, wet snow and scattered power outages due to downed tree limbs.…