CARIBOU, Maine — Like a number of other people in Aroostook County, Caroline Hagan of Houlton has been silently berating herself when she complains about the extended span of hot temperatures that The County and the state is experiencing.
“I admit that the heat is a bit of an inconvenience,” she said Monday. “It makes it harder to exercise outdoors and work in my garden for long periods of time like I want to, but it sure beats endlessly loading wood into your stove when the temperature is 20 degrees below zero.”
According to the National Weather Service in Caribou, Tuesday was expected to be the hottest day of the week, when temperatures could exceed 90 degrees.
The average high temperature for the month is 74.3 degrees, while the average low is 52.9 degrees.
Based on the forecast temperatures through the end of July, the NWS in Caribou is predicting that this will be the 10th warmest July on record. It will still be well shy of last July, which was the warmest July on record and also the all-time warmest month in Caribou.
Temperatures will likely begin to cool down next month, according to the weather service, especially during the second half of the month.
The warmest temperature ever observed in August was 95 degrees, which was recorded on several occasions, including Aug. 2, 1975. August 2018 was the all-time warmest month in Caribou, according to forecasters, with an average temperature of 68.9 degrees. That was followed by August 2015, when an average temperature of 68.2 degrees was recorded. Finally, an average temperature of 68 degrees was observed in 2012.
The coldest average temperature on record is 58.5 degrees, which was observed in Caribou in 1964. That was followed by 58.6 degrees in the city in 1941 and 1982, and 58.7 degrees, which was recorded in 1956.
The all-time wettest month was August 1981, when 12.09 inches of rain fell in Caribou. The figure included the all-time wettest 24-hour period at Caribou, when 6.89 inches of rain fell during that same period.
The city customarily sees an average of 3.76 inches of precipitation in August.
The driest August on record in Caribou occurred in 2002, when just 0.55 inches of rain fell. In 1957, just 0.93 inches was observed, and 1.39 inches of rain was recorded in the city in 1975.
The frequency of thunderstorms, including severe thunderstorms, begins to drop off in August. August ranks as the third most active month in terms of the reports of thunderstorms that produce damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes.
