CARIBOU, Maine — Coming on the heels of a record-setting July, two cities in Maine are also setting some heat records of their own this month, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou.
Donald Dumont, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Caribou, said that as of Wednesday, it was the second warmest August on record at Caribou since record keeping began in 1939 and the eighth warmest at Bangor since record keeping began in 1925.
Projecting out towards the end of the month, both cities have a chance of making it their warmest August on record.
The warmest temperature ever observed during the month of August was 95 degrees on several occasions, most recently Aug. 2, 1975.
The average monthly temperature for Caribou thus far in August is 69.7 degrees, which is 5.1 degrees above normal. In Bangor, the average monthly temperature thus far is 72.2 degrees, which is 4.3 degrees above normal.
In Caribou, the highest temperature recorded thus far was on August 6, when the thermometer hit 88 degrees. Bangor saw a high temperature of 95 degrees on August 5.
Last month, after residents experienced the record setting temperatures, meteorologists had predicted that Mainers would see temperatures creep down by degrees this month. August is typically the month in which the temperature drop accelerates during the second half of the month, according to meteorologists.
Last month, Caribou experienced its warmest July on record, according to the NWS at Caribou, a month in which the average high was 70.9 degrees — 5.3 degrees above average. The previous all-time warmest month at Caribou was recorded in July 1970, when the average temperature over the 31 days was 69.6 degrees. The weather service has been keeping such records in the area since 1939.
While other communities matched or beat daily records in July, no other area of the state hit a record for warmest month.
