Wettest summer ever recorded

13 years ago

By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer

CARIBOU — As standing-water still glistens with sunshine in topographical troughs throughout the region, the questions is raised: “just how wet was this summer?”

“A little” is an understatement and “a lot” doesn’t cut it; this was the wettest summer on record, according to officials with the National Weather Service.

Caribou was doused with 9.03 inches of rain in June, 7.9 inches of rain in July and 9.58 inches of rain in August for a total of 26.51 inches of precipitation in the past three months (and September hasn’t exactly been dry, either).

Northern and southern Aroostook didn’t share in Caribou’s drenching to the same extent, but both areas experienced rainfall above normal.

Houlton received 5.26 inches of rain in June (1.6 inches above normal), 4.6 inches in July (.94 inches above normal) and 5.53 inches in August (1.85 inches above normal).

Frenchville received 7.38 inches of rain in June (normal record unavailable as the full-climate site hadn’t yet been established), 6.4 inches in July (2.09 inches above normal) and 6.75 inches in August (2.75 inches above normal).

But soil saturation isn’t solely resultant summer’s rainfall, as precipitation was above normal well before warm weather graced The County.

“We’ve had above normal rainfall going into the warmer months, and very much above normal rainfall over the summer,” explained Victor J. Nouhan, lead forecaster and climate focal point at the National Weather Service office in Caribou. “We’ve never had rainfall this consistently almost 200 percent or more above normal every month of summer.”

Summer of 2011 smashed the previous summer rainfall record of 18.86 inches set in 1981.

Noughan explained that, specifically, August of 1981 had tremendous rainfall while that year’s other summer months were relatively near or below normal levels.

“Typically speaking, it’s not unusual to get one or two consecutive months with above normal rainfall when you’re dealing with summer; but three consecutive months and a lead-in with above normal rainfall — this is a little different,” Noughan said, and studying the atmospheric conditions that created this summer’s high rainfall have been keeping him and his co-workers busy (and intrigued) this summer. (Seemingly paradoxical, for instance, Noughan explained that the same weather systems that caused northern Maine to get drenched this summer also resulted in setting the stage for the wildfires that have ravaged Texas.)

The average amount of precipitation received by the city in a standard year is 37.40 inches; Caribou’s received nearly 43 inches of precipitation from January through August, and there’s still fourth months of the record-breaking year to go.