You know what struck me today (five fingers, and it was Rick James!)? Summer ended very cleanly. Although it's a bit hard to research this kind of statistic, anecdotally it seems most years we have a few "burners" in September. You know, a couple of days over 85 F and sometimes even over 90 F. Last time we hit 80 F? September 7th and that was an underwhelming 82 F. It's still early, as we can warm up straight through October, but it's just something I was thinking about. (Also I've been thinking about youuuu)
We have a CHANCE to warm up late next week, but until then Maine will stay cool and unsettled.
Today: Mostly sunny and breezy. Northwest winds behind yesterday's cold front are bringing in dry and cool air statewide. Temperatures will stay in the 60s in most spots with some 50s in the mountains through the day. Sunshine will be plentiful but winds will be noticeably gusty up to 25 MPH.
Tonight: Clear and chilly. Overnight lows will drop into the 30s across interior and northern Maine while staying in the low 40s along the coastline. Patchy frost is likely.
Friday: A sunny start gives way to increasing clouds from the southwest. There is a low pressure system spinning down across PA currently, which will slowly push towards Maine during the day on Friday. Clouds will take over by noon in Portland, about 5 PM in Bangor while northern Maine stays sunny through the daylight hours. Rain will move into southern and western Maine through the late afternoon hours, becoming heavy by evening. Again, northern and central Maine will be several hours behind due to the motion of the system, so the rain holds off there until the evening. Temperatures are limited by lack of sunshine and end up in the upper 50s to low 60s.
Friday Night: Rain, heavy at times. That low over PA will turn into a quasi-coastal low overnight. That is: it will strengthen and grab some moisture from the Gulf of Maine but it won't become a full fledged "coastal bomb." Still, there will be some downpours, especially along the coastline. When it's not raining it will be mostly cloudy with some patchy fog.
Saturday: A wet start. Light rain is likely statewide but the heaviest rain will definitely end up over Downeast Maine as the low spins to the north. Eventually the heavy stuff will settle down by mid morning, but showers will pop up here and there through the rest of the day making it hard to plan anything outdoors. Sunshine will be VERY limited.
Sunday looks BETTER but still not good. The low pressure system will be up in Canada at this point but Maine will be caught in some general troughiness with an unsettled atmosphere. As a result look for scattered showers through the day, with the bulk of them occurring over northern and Downeast Maine. Southern Maine may end up with very minimal shower activity, but clouds should rule the day due to an onshore flow out of the southeast. So basically, if you HAVE to do something outside this weekend, Sunday afternoon is your best bet, especially south of Bangor.
Our pattern for the beginning of next week, to use a technical term, stinks. We remain on the troughy side with systems running up the coast at us. It's unlikely they all hit us but for now it looks unsettled with showers on Monday and Wednesday with perhaps a break on Tuesday. I don't have much faith in the way the computer models are handling those systems at the moment however, so don't plan based on that yet.
Ok lunch time, I'm starving and the "healthy and organic" snack selection my wife provides makes me want to eat an entire tub of ice cream.