Although autumn officially started at 3:50 a.m. Monday, it still felt an awful lot like summer.
Richard Varano, of Kennebunk, and his 3-year-old grandson Calvin Connell, who is visiting Maine from Texas, play in the water at Mother’s Beach in Kennebunk on Monday. The ocean was a good place to be on Monday, when Portland set a heat record. The temperature was 89 degrees at 5 p.m. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
The temperature in Portland hit 89 degrees at 5 p.m. Monday, breaking a previous high temperature record for Sept. 23 of 86 degrees set in 1941, according to the National Weather Service.
And if the temperature hasn’t dropped below 68 degrees by midnight Monday, Portland will tie another record for the highest low temperature on record for the date, 67 degrees set in 1970.
Portland also recorded the highest temperature in the entire state Monday.
The National Weather Service in Gray said Lewiston’s high temperature came in at 86 degrees, Sanford reported 88, Gray reached a high of 85 and Augusta hit 83 degrees.
It was even hotter across the border in New Hampshire, with Nashua reporting a high of 91 degrees.
The average high temperature in Portland for Sept. 23 is 67 degrees. The low temperature on Monday morning only dropped to 68 degrees.
“We didn’t even drop below what would have been the average high today,” said Derek Schroeter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.
Schroeter said highs were expected to be in the mid-70s Tuesday and stay in that range for the next week.
“It looks like the whole week will be above normal temperature-wise,” he said.
In addition to a record-setting temperature Monday, this September is also notable for the lack of rain. So far this month, Portland has received 0.16 inches of rain, well below the average of 2.4 inches.
A cold front to the west that will slowly move through the area brought some rain Monday night.
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