CARIBOU, Maine — Above average rainfall contributed to significant flooding in parts of Aroostook County last month, according to meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Caribou.
And while temperatures statewide were well below average during the first half of April, the weather warmed up toward the end, Meteorologist Mark Bloomer of the NWS Caribou office said Thursday. The average temperature for the month still remained below average.
According to forecasters, April 1-15 ranked as the third coldest on record at Houlton, the fourth coldest in Millinocket, the fifth coldest in Caribou and the seventh coldest in Bangor.
The lowest temperature of 12 degrees was observed in Caribou on the morning of April 15, breaking the previously established record of 13 degrees that was set in 1981.
The average temperature for April is 40.8 degrees in Bangor and 35.8 degrees in Caribou, Bloomer said. The average temperature this April was 38.3 degrees in Bangor and 33.8 in Caribou.
Further south in Portland, last month’s average temperature of 41.8 degrees was well below the usual average of 46.4 degrees.
But temperatures jumped during the second half of the month, with Houlton, Millinocket and Bangor all seeing a high of 70 degrees or warmer on April 24. That was the warmest day of the month, according to Bloomer.
The highest temperature ever recorded in April was 86 degrees in 1990, while the lowest was four degrees below zero in April 2015.
The average rainfall for April is 2.66 inches in Caribou and 3.62 inches in Bangor, according to the weather service. Caribou saw nearly 2 full inches more rain this April, however, with 4.62 inches recorded last month. Bangor recorded a little over an inch more than average at 4.77 inches.
Portland also saw more rain with 5.83 inches, also well above the average of 4.33 inches.
The heavy rain and melting snow prompted the National Weather Service to issue numerous flood warnings throughout the month in northern Maine, with homes and camps along the Fish River chain of lakes inundated into early May, including at Portage, Saint Froid, Eagle, Square, Cross and Long lakes.
The month began with 20 inches of snow on the ground in Caribou and ended with a trace. Bangor residents saw the month begin with a trace and end with a trace.
