A weak weather system is bringing some snow to the area this morning with 1 or 2 inches likely by the end of the day. A few places, especially north of Portland along the coast, could near 3 inch totals.

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The snow will wind down before dark. The radar loop below gives you an idea of how the snow will be moving through during the day today. There is warmer air to our south and therefore rain in places like Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.

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This isn’t a storm per se, but any amount of snow does make for slick travel on the roads. Last week multiple vehicles were sliding off various roads around the region. Temperatures will reach the 30s along the coast and upper 20 well inland today. Portland hasn’t been above freezing for a week. I expect today to break that string of subfreezing hours, but not for long.

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Colder air quickly flows into the area overnight and remains present the rest of the week. The chilliest readings will be felt tomorrow and Wednesday before a slow moderation takes place heading into the weekend. The push of air from the north keeps any storms from reaching Maine as the snowstorm drought continues.

No Big Storms
For the snow season Portland is only about 3 inches below average as I write this. After today’s snow that number will fall slightly. However, since December 1st, which takes out the heavy Thanksgiving snow, we are nearly a foot below average.

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It has been cold this month, but interestingly Portland has recorded fewer heating degree days this year than last January. In other words, it’s not as cold as 2014. We are running about 3 degrees below average in terms of temperature this January, with most of that because of the very cold air last week. The first week of January actually averages above normal.

Extended Forecast
This has been a relatively easy winter so far in terms of prolonged cold and deep snow and I don’t see that changing in the next 10 days. As a matter of fact a January thaw will begin late this weekend when many areas across southern Maine should reach near 40F. This won’t be warm enough to thaw lakes and ponds, so ice fishing should be quite nice and comfortable especially on Sunday.

It’s All The Jet Stream
The jet stream has been effective at keeping the dry air in place with only minor interruptions this month. Over the weekend, winds at the flight levels of transatlantic aircraft where blowing west to east at near 200 miles per hour. This added boost in tailwinds allowed many flights to arrive in London well before scheduled times. These winds caused the opposite problem for US bound flights causing them to use more fuel and one even had to stop in Bangor to get fueled up before continuing. The map below shows the position of the jet stream tonight. Notice the strong winds to our east. The key indicated winds near 150 miles per hour.

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Eventually later this month or in February the jet stream should reposition itself in a way to start increasing the chance of snow for Maine, until then it’s relatively smooth sailing.


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