Heat Wave Takes It's Toll, Chill Returns

                                      Bill Hemmel of Lakes Region Aerials took this photograph of Lake Winnipesaukee New Hampshire on Friday March 23, 2012. The earliest Ice Out on record here.
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 Just two weeks ago the Lake was covered in Bob Houses, Ice Fishermen, and Snow Machines. How could all the ice disappear so fast? A remarkable convergence of variables caused a resonating standing wave of High Pressure at the surface and aloft here in the Eastern United States. From Minnesota to Maine the earliest hottest weather in modern history has just occurred. In Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine the temperature hit 80" earlier than any time since we began continuous weather records.
  This summary posted by The National Weather Service Office in Portland Maine quantifies this warm weather extreme.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
415 AM EDT FRI MAR 23 2012

...RECORD HEAT IN PORTLAND MAINE AND CONCORD NEW HAMPSHIRE...

...PORTLAND, MAINE...

THE PORTLAND JETPORT REACHED 82 DEGREES ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND.
THIS SHATTERED THE OLD RECORD OF 70 DEGREES SET IN 1948. THIS WAS
ALSO THE EARLIEST DATE THAT PORTLAND REACHED THE 80 DEGREE PLATEAU.
THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR THE EARLIEST 80 DEGREE READING WAS MARCH
29TH... IN 1945 WHEN THE TEMPERATURE REACHED 83 AND IN 1946 WHEN THE
TEMPERATURE REACHED 86.

THE 82 DEGREE READING IS THE FOURTH WARMEST EVER IN THE MONTH OF
MARCH AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT. THE HIGH OF 79 DEGREES ON THE 21ST IS
THE FIFTH WARMEST EVER IN THE MONTH OF MARCH. HERE IS A LIST OF THE
WARMEST HIGHS DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH...

RANK TEMPERATURE DATE
1 88 DEGREES MARCH 31, 1998
2 86 DEGREES MARCH 29, 1946
3 83 DEGREES MARCH 29, 1945
4 82 DEGREES MARCH 22, 2012
5 79 DEGREES MARCH 21, 2012
6 77 DEGREES MARCH 29, 1981
7 75 DEGREES MARCH 30, 1977
75 DEGREES MARCH 28, 1998
NORMAL 43.5 TO 47.1 DEGREES (MARCH 21ST THROUGH MARCH 31ST)

NOT ONLY WERE THE DAYTIME HIGHS SETTING RECORDS...SO WERE THE
NIGHTTIME LOWS. THE LOW OF 46 DEGREES ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21ST, SET
A RECORD FOR THE WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE FOR THE DATE AND ALSO SET A
RECORD FOR THE WARMEST LOW FOR ANY DAY IN MARCH. THE OLD RECORD WAS
45 DEGREES SET ON MARCH 31ST IN 1981, 1987 AND AGAIN IN 1998.
HOWEVER, THIS RECORD DIDN`T LAST LONG AT ALL. THE LOW TEMPERATURE ON
THURSDAY WAS 48...SETTING A NEW RECORD FOR THE WARMEST LOW
TEMPERATURE IN THE MONTH OF MARCH AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT.

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THURSDAY WAS 65 DEGREES... A RECORD FOR
THE DATE BUT NOT FOR THE MONTH. THE WARMEST AVERAGE FOR THE MONTH OF
MARCH IS 67 DEGREES SET ON MARCH 31ST, 1998 WHEN PORTLAND HAD A LOW
OF 45 AND AN ALL TIME MARCH HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 88 DEGREES.

HERE IS A LIST OF THE WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE MONTH OF
MARCH...

RANK TEMPERATURE DATE
1 48 DEGREES MARCH 22, 2012
2 46 DEGREES MARCH 21, 2012
3 45 DEGREES MARCH 31, 1981
45 DEGREES MARCH 31, 1987
45 DEGREES MARCH 31, 1998
6 44 DEGREES FOUR TIMES...MOST RECENTLY MARCH 31, 2010
NORMAL 26.5 TO 29.7 DEGREES (MARCH 21ST THROUGH MARCH 31ST)

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR WEDNESDAY WAS 63 DEGREES. THUS THESE
PAST TWO DAYS WERE THE 2ND AND 3RD WARMEST EVER FOR THE MONTH OF
MARCH AND TWO OF ONLY THREE DAYS TO HAVE AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF
60 OR HIGHER DURING MARCH.

HERE IS A LIST OF THE WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURES IN THE MONTH OF
MARCH...

RANK TEMPERATURE DATE
1 67 DEGREES MARCH 31, 1998
2 65 DEGREES MARCH 22, 2012
3 63 DEGREES MARCH 21, 2012
4 59 DEGREES MARCH 29, 1946
59 DEGREES MARCH 29, 1981
NORMAL 35.0 TO 38.4 DEGREES (MARCH 21ST THROUGH MARCH 31ST)

TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT THE PORTLAND JETPORT BEGAN ON NOVEMBER 25,
1940.

...CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE...

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 84 DEGREES WAS SET AT CONCORD NH ON
THURSDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 74 DEGREES SET IN 1946.

THIS IS THE 5TH DAY IN A ROW THAT CONCORD HAS SEEN A HIGH OF 80 OR
WARMER AND ALSO THE 5TH DAY IN A ROW THAT CONCORD HAS SET A RECORD
HIGH TEMPERATURE.

BEFORE THIS STRETCH OF WARM WEATHER THE MOST CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH
HIGHS OF 80 OR WARMER IN CONCORD IS JUST TWO. CONCORD REACHED 80 OR
WARMER ON MARCH 28TH AND 29TH IN 1945 AND ON MARCH 30TH AND 31ST IN
1998.

CONCORD HAS ONLY REACHED 80 OR WARMER 13 TIMES IN THE MONTH OF MARCH
AND FIVE OF THOSE HAVE OCCURRED THIS YEAR. THE 84 DEGREE HIGH ON
THURSDAY IS THE 5TH WARMEST EVER IN MARCH. THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE
IN CONCORD IN MARCH IS 89 DEGREES SET ON MARCH 31, 1998.

THE 81 DEGREE HIGH TEMPERATURE ON MARCH 18TH, THE FIRST DAY OF THIS
RECORD BREAKING FIVE DAY PERIOD, WAS THE EARLIEST DATE FOR CONCORD
TO REACH THE 80 DEGREE MARK. THE OLD RECORD FOR THE EARLIEST 80
DEGREE READING WAS MARCH 23, 1938 WHEN THE TEMPERATURE REACHED 80
DEGREES.

CONCORD HAS NEVER SET RECORD HIGHS FOR FIVE DAYS IN A ROW FOR ANY
MONTH OF THE YEAR. IT HAS SEEN RECORD HIGHS SET ON THREE CONSECUTIVE
DAYS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS...MOST RECENTLY FROM JULY 19TH THROUGH THE
21ST IN 1977.

TEMPERATURE RECORDS IN CONCORD BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1868.

$$

SJC


  Mount Washington Weather observer Mike Carmon posted this observer comment on The First Full Day
of Spring 2012.

 

22:45 Wed Mar 21st

photo - see caption below

Northern Prezis in May...err...March
Today was a near-historic day on the summit.

The theme of the past few comments has been very consistent-it's unseasonably warm. I'm sure that point has been hammered home, whether you've experienced it first hand or not. However, there's a difference between just eeking out new records, which is normally the case during a stretch of unseasonable weather, and completely shattering them.

Our record high for today was a mere 43F. So far today (with only a scant few hours left), we have not fallen BELOW this figure. That's right--our daily low temperature today has not fallen below the record HIGH for the day. That's quite a feat.

But wait...I have more for you:

Our all-time record high for the month of March was 54F set back on March 31st, 1998. During the observation I took at 2:52 PM EDT this afternoon, I recorded a temperature of 53.5F, tieing this all-time record for the month of March. That gives a good picture of just how unusual this mild stretch is.

During shift change today, we managed to make it up just past the 4-mile marker of the Auto Road with a truck/van with chains. Even though we hopped in the Snow Cat for the balance of the trip, it was only really necessary for two small sections of the road. There is plenty of bare pavement across the top half of the road already.

The snow pack--if it can be referred to as such anymore--has been reduced to patches and drifts scattered about the summit, which will experience one more day of mild temperatures on Thursday before a turn back towards typical late March weather. Even so, temperatures this time of year average in the upper teens, and the models are suggesting the summit won't dip that low until next week, at the earliest. We've even been able to open the sub door

Read more form Mount Washington Here.

Bernie Murphy of Plymouth Massachusetts shared this photo. Flora is 4 weeks ahead..
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We are now going back to regularly scheduled Spring Weather in New England. A series of Pacific Storms are crossing the country as Canada gets cold again. Dry wintry winds will result in elevated to extreme fire danger, before a mix of rain and mountain snow arrives Thursday. As Canada turns much colder and an Atlantic Blocking pattern shift that chill in our direction, our April showers will be mixed Rain and Fat April Snow Flakes into mid April. A Nor'easter is possible in there some where too.

As winter sports enthusiasts lament this warmth, we must shift our gears and adapt to what ever mother nature has to offer. This photo is last week. Next, I am off to Stowe for some final turns of the season.


Oh yeah, I want to share this too. Bob Hennessy sent a photo of Chris Parkinson Spraying the Judges at the annual Sugarbush Pond Skimming March 24, 2012

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