What a May so far. I know we are only on our 6th day of the month, but the past few days have been so wonderful, it certainly helps remind everyone why Maine is such a great place when the weather is warm. Of course, ice fishing, skiing and snowmobiling are wonderful as well.

There are a couple of downsides to all the nice weather. The fire danger and pollen are exceedingly high, both thanks to the lack of rain.

Beach Weather In May
We have some 80 degree weather on the way, which might be too warm, too early for some. I’m not sure what the ideal spring temperatures are for everyone, but it seems like 60s is a good range for spring and fall temperatures. May and October are the months when the average high is most prevalently in the 60s. In other words, average would indicate these two months should be bring what you might call spring and fall weather. Notice the chart below. You can see the average high temperature this month quickly rises into the 60s and stays there all month.

Here’s the issue. Averages are nice to talk about, and if we lived in San Diego, Miami or the North Pole, they might have more meaning. Here in New England the jet stream is often either moving south or north of us. While this river of air has a normal position, it’s highly variable over time.

In any given year the upper level winds can configure themselves making it cooler or warmer than average. The chart below shows the averages of all the May 6h in the record books for Portland. For today, using all this data, the high would be about 66 degrees.

Past Year
Here’s another graph from 2014, to help illustrate all the variability of temperature. This shows the daily temperatures as compared to the average and the records. Notice the jagged nature of the dark blue (actual 2014 temperatures) line. Portland, like other spots in New England doesn’t record average temperatures very often. We fall out of the “normal” temperature range quite a bit.

Mild Spring
Obviously the first 3 months of this year were colder than average, April was interestingly about average and May will most likely end up on the warmer side of average. The longer range forecast through mid-June continues this trend with the northeast corner of the United States expected to remain warmer.

Daily Weather
Sunshine continues to be abundant today with highs in the upper 70s to around 80F. It turns even warmer tomorrow with many areas into the low and perhaps mid-80s for interior York County. This is likely the warmest day we will have a for a while. High tide is in the middle of the afternoon and tomorrow is actually going to be a great beach day. The weekend will be cooler, but still see temperatures significantly above the average. You can also find me on Twitter @growingwisdom.