Record-high temperatures were set across Maine on Saturday, and weather officials said additional records could be challenged Sunday and Monday as well.

Portland set a high of 75 degrees, beating the Nov. 5 record of 71 degrees set in 1994. The Saturday temperature also was the highest for any day in November.

“We’ve seen a previous high of 74 degrees in November, most recently in 2020, but never 75,” said Michael Clair, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.

Augusta set a high of 76 degrees, topping the previous Nov. 5 high set in 1994 by nine degrees. The previous high for any day in November was 74 degrees in Augusta.

Bangor and Caribou both set daily records by reaching 73 degrees on Saturday. The previous high in Bangor had stood since 1938.

The summer-like warm spell in early November is expected to last a couple more days before a cold front approaches Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing more normal temperatures. Highs are only forecast to reach the 50s on those days, with overnight lows in the 20s and 30s.

But Sunday and Monday could see temperatures rise into the 70s again, Clair said.

“We have some more daily records that will likely be challenged both in Portland and Augusta,” he said. “Augusta seems likely and Portland will be close.”

Clair said unseasonably warm weather has blanketed the East Coast over the last few days.

Another National Weather Service meteorologist, Stephen Baron, said he was surprised temperatures got that high Saturday in Portland. There had been rain early in the day, and cloudy skies would normally keep the temperature down. But the clouds broke, the sun came out, and the temperature rose.

Maine is experiencing a high-pressure system that features a clockwise airflow, Baron said.

“What’s happening is that is bringing up warm air from the south,” he said.

At the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, Dr. Sean Birkel of the Maine State Climatologist Institute has said that this past summer was Maine’s 10th warmest on record. Drought conditions persisted in many areas for a third summer in a row, especially in the southern half of the state.

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