NWS Caribou, Maine Public Information Statement
405
NOUS41 KCAR 052203
PNSCAR
MEZ001>006-010-011-015>017-029>032-061015-
Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Caribou ME
503 PM EST Fri Dec 5 2025
................................................................
...NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE FALL 2025 CLIMATE NARRATIVE...
THE METEOROLOGICAL FALL (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER) SEASON WRAPPED UP
WITH GENERALLY ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES, AND SIGNIFICANTLY
BELOW AVERAGE PRECIPITATION, AT DESIGNATED CLIMATE SITES IN
CARIBOU, HOULTON, MILLINOCKET, AND BANGOR.
AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WERE AROUND NORMAL, WITH A SLIGHT WARM
ANOMALY. CARIBOU WAS 1.0 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL, WITH A SEASONAL
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 45.7 DEGREES. BANGOR WAS THE WARMEST
STATION, WITH AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BEING 0.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL
AT 49.2 DEGREES. MILLINOCKET RECORDED 1.3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL, AT
47.7 DEGREES. LASTLY, HOULTON WAS ABOUT 1.3 DEGREES ABOVE
AVERAGE, WITH A SEASONAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 45.8 DEGREES.
MAXIMUM AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WERE NEAR NORMAL, TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE
NORMAL. CARIBOU HAD THE COOLEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES, BEING 0.1
DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. BANGOR WAS ABOVE AVERAGE BY 1.4 DEGREES.
MILLINOCKET RECORDS MAXIMUM HIGH TEMPERATURES 1.8 DEGREES ABOVE
CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMAL. LASTLY, HOULTON WAS 2.3 DEGREES ABOVE
NORMAL FOR MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT AUTUMN.
THIS AUTUMN SEASON HAD SOME ABOVE AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES,
WITH SOME MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS GETTING BROKEN ON OCTOBER
6TH. CARIBOU BROKE ITS ALL-TIME HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR THE
MONTH OF OCTOBER, 83 DEGREES, DURING A HEAT EVENT. DURING THIS
SAME EVENT, MILLINOCKET REACHED 85, AND HOULTON REACHED 84
DEGREES, BOTH OF WHICH ALSO BROKE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME HIGH MONTHLY
RECORDS. BANGOR RECORDED 84 DEGREES, WHICH WAS THE SECOND HIGHEST
TEMPERATURE RECORD, RIGHT BEHIND A 86 DEGREE RECORD IN 1968. THE
PAST 5 YEARS HAVE BEEN WITHIN THE TOP 10 WARMEST OCTOBERS FOR
THESE CLIMATE SITES, WITH RECORDS DATING BACK TO 1953. THERE WERE
NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENTS THROUGHOUT SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, AND
NOVEMBER.
THE BIG STORY FOR THE AUTUMN SEASON WAS THE SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW
AVERAGE RAINFALL AND PROLONGED DROUGHT CONDITIONS. THROUGHOUT THE
ENTIRE FALL SEASON, MILLINOCKET GOT THE MOST PRECIPITATION
COMPARED TO THE OTHER CLIMATE SITES, RECEIVING 8.64 INCHES, WHICH
IS STILL ABOUT 3.62 INCHES BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMAL. BANGOR
ONLY RECEIVED 8.27 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION, RESULTING IN A 3.91
DEFICIT FROM CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMAL. CARIBOU RECEIVED 8.13 INCHES
OF PRECIPITATION, WHICH IS 2.65 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION BELOW
NORMAL. LASTLY, HOULTON GOT 7.47 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION, WHICH IS
A 3.58 INCH DEFICIT FROM NORMAL.
AT THE END OF AUGUST/EARLY SEPTEMBER, COASTAL AND CENTRAL MAINE
WAS IN SEVERE DROUGHT (D2). A THIN REGION IN CENTRAL MAINE JUST
NORTH OF THE SEVERE DROUGHT, IN PISCATAQUIS, PENOBSCOT, FAR
SOUTHERN AROOSTOOK, AND FAR NORTHERN WASHINGTON, WAS UNDER
MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) CONDITIONS. THE MAJORITY OF NORTHERN MAINE,
INCLUDING CENTRAL AND PORTIONS OF NORTHERN PISCATAQUIS, NORTHERN
PENOBSCOT, AND SOUTH/EAST AROOSTOOK, WAS ABNORMALLY DRY (D0). WEST
AROOSTOOK AND NORTHERN SOMERSET HAD NO DROUGHT. DROUGHT PEAKED IN
OCTOBER, WITH GENERALLY THE ENTIRE STATE IN SEVERE DROUGHT OR
HIGHER, SAVE FOR THE MODERATE DROUGHT IN THE CROWN OF MAINE AND
FAR WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE NORTH. DOWNEAST AND COASTAL MAINE ROSE
AS HIGH AS EXTREME DROUGHT (D3) THROUGHOUT OCTOBER. CONDITIONS
SLOWLY BEGAN TO IMPROVE IN NOVEMBER, WITH THE SEASON CLOSING OUT
WITH PORTIONS OF THE BANGOR REGION AND SOUTH/CENTRAL HANCOCK
COUNTY, WESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY, NORTHWESTERN PISCATAQUIS,
NORTHERN SOMERSET, AND NORTH/CENTRAL AROOSTOOK IN SEVERE DROUGHT.
EASTERN WASHINGTON, NORTHERN HANCOCK, NORTH/CENTRAL PENOBSCOT,
SOUTH/CENTRAL PISCATAQUIS, AND SOUTHERN AROOSTOOK IN MODERATE
DROUGHT.
BY THE END OF OCTOBER, THIS DROUGHT HAD BECOME THE WORST DROUGHT
IN MAINE HISTORY SINCE 2002. A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CROPS WERE
LOST DURING THE HARVESTING SEASON. MULTIPLE RECORD LOW RIVER
STREAMFLOWS ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MAINE, INCLUDING THE ST.
JOHN, FISH RIVER, ST. CROIX, AND MATTAWAMKEAG. MULTIPLE DRY WELL
REPORTS THROUGHOUT NORTHERN AND EASTERN MAINE WERE RECORDED DURING
THIS TIME.
FOR THE NEXT SEASONAL OUTLOOK GIVEN BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION
CENTER (CPC), LOOKING AT METEOROLOGICAL WINTER (DECEMBER-
FEBRUARY), THERE IS NOT A STRONG SIGNAL FOR ABOVE OR BELOW AVERAGE
TEMPERATURES OR PRECIPITATION. TYPICAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR
METEOROLOGICAL WINTER IN THESE CLIMATE SITES ARE IN THE TEENS TO
20S, WITH HIGHS GENERALLY IN THE 20S AND LOWS IN THE LOW-TEENS TO
SINGLE DIGITS. TYPICAL SNOWFALL FOR BANGOR DURING THE WINTER
SEASON (SPECIFICALLY DECEMBER-FEBRUARY) IS ROUGHLY 50 INCHES, AND
TYPICAL SNOWFALL FOR CARIBOU IS ROUGHLY 75 INCHES. CURRENTLY,
THERE IS LA NINA ADVISORY ISSUED BY THE CPC, AND CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED TO TRANSITION TOWARDS ENSO-NEUTRAL IN EARLY 2026. AUTUMN
WAS GENERALLY INFLUENCED BY NEGATIVE NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION
(NAO) CONDITIONS, AND CURRENT MODEL PREDICTIONS SHOW THE NAO PHASE
BEGINNING TO TRANSITION ON A POSITIVE TREND OR THE WINTER SEASON.
$$
ASB
NWS CAR Public Information Statement
