Beachgoers flock to Kettle Cove State Park on Friday, when record temperatures hovered near 80 in Portland and went even higher in Augusta and elsewhere. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Friday’s warmth set records, but normal temperatures about 25 degrees cooler are in the forecast for Saturday and next week.

The high in Portland of 79 degrees Friday eclipsed the old record of 77 for the date in 1941. In Augusta, it was even warmer, with the high of 82 breaking the old record of 72 set in 1949, said Stephen Baron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.

The normal high for April 14 is 53 degrees, Baron said.

A high pressure area brought in the warm air, he said, and the lack of leaves on the trees allowed sunlight to reach the ground unfiltered. In addition, the snowpack in southern Maine is gone, meaning sunlight isn’t reflected back into the atmosphere allowing temperatures at ground level to get warmer, Baron said.

Because trees have not yet sprouted leaves and the snowpack is melted, it’s not unusual for temperatures in April to bounce up well above normal, he said.

“This is the time of year that this usually happens,” Baron said. “It’s not terribly uncommon.”

But it’s also not unusual for temperatures to snap back to normal, Baron said, and that should happen Saturday, when highs are expected to reach only the low to mid-50s. That’s expected to continue next week, he said, but there are no big storms in sight, although there might be some rain Monday.

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