Though spring has sprung officially since March 20, Aroostook County was still seeing temperatures in the low teens earlier this week and wind chills of below zero. Though the later half of the week has temperatures predicted to be over 40 degrees, continuous cold has caused some Aroostook residents to wonder if winter weather will ever really go away.
Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tony Sturey at the National Weather Service office in Caribou went on record to assure residentsthat things will eventually warm up.
“Unless we go into an ice age, the bitter cold will eventually stop,” he joked. “This winter, January was just brutal. All the adjectives used to describe the temperatures have been adjective-d out,” he added, “Aroostook County saw historic cold this winter: Big Black River set an all-time state low of minus 50 degrees on Jan. 16.”
According to Sturey, the spring of 2009 in Aroostook County is looking to be closer to average than last spring.
“In 2008 we had historic snowfall during the winter into the early spring,” Sturey explained, “in April, we had a pretty big rain event which led to significant flooding. This winter hasn’t been as snowy by comparison,” he added. “We’ve had our fair share of storms, but our trend into this coming spring looks like more of a colder type regime especially early through the rest of March. We will probably go into April with a near normal temperature pattern and near normal precipitation pattern,” Sturey said.
According to Sturey, Aroostook County saw about 10 storms this winter that produced seven or more inches of snow or a considerable amount of sleet and freezing rain.
“Temperatures are really starting to respond as the sun angle gets higher,” predicted Sturey. “Perhaps around the second week into April we will start seeing significantly diminished snow piles,” Sturey explained. “Right now, we’re carrying about 21 inches of snow here as we approach mid-March. During March, we usually get about 20 inches of snow and we can even get about 10 inches of snow in April,” Sturey added.
Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tony Sturey at the National Weather Service office in Caribou went on record to assure residentsthat things will eventually warm up.
“Unless we go into an ice age, the bitter cold will eventually stop,” he joked. “This winter, January was just brutal. All the adjectives used to describe the temperatures have been adjective-d out,” he added, “Aroostook County saw historic cold this winter: Big Black River set an all-time state low of minus 50 degrees on Jan. 16.”
According to Sturey, the spring of 2009 in Aroostook County is looking to be closer to average than last spring.
“In 2008 we had historic snowfall during the winter into the early spring,” Sturey explained, “in April, we had a pretty big rain event which led to significant flooding. This winter hasn’t been as snowy by comparison,” he added. “We’ve had our fair share of storms, but our trend into this coming spring looks like more of a colder type regime especially early through the rest of March. We will probably go into April with a near normal temperature pattern and near normal precipitation pattern,” Sturey said.
According to Sturey, Aroostook County saw about 10 storms this winter that produced seven or more inches of snow or a considerable amount of sleet and freezing rain.
“Temperatures are really starting to respond as the sun angle gets higher,” predicted Sturey. “Perhaps around the second week into April we will start seeing significantly diminished snow piles,” Sturey explained. “Right now, we’re carrying about 21 inches of snow here as we approach mid-March. During March, we usually get about 20 inches of snow and we can even get about 10 inches of snow in April,” Sturey added.
