Mother Nature, I know we’re all nostalgic for the “good old days,” before the pandemic. However, bringing back below freezing temperatures not felt here in Maine since 2018, is not helping. No one wants to relive these bone chilling temperatures, with this morning’s subzero windchill making it “feel like” between -20 to -35ºF in Maine.
I suppose you want us to thank you for resisting the temptation of going all the way back to 2009, when the coldest temperature in Maine was recorded. That record minimum temperature of -50°F was recorded at Clayton Lake, an unincorporated village in Aroostook County, on January 16, 2009, by an automated observing station operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS) near the Canadian border. Were Mainers excited to make that record? Sure we were! But we don’t want to repeat it, and we especially don’t want to break it. Even the most competitive Mainers, including myself, will all agree, no one wants to come even remotely close to the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth of 129 below zero at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
Perhaps I’m mistaken, and today’s current subfreezing temperatures have nothing to do with nostalgia. Mother Nature, if this frigid drop in temperature is your way of trying to apologize for making 2021 one of the top 5 warmest years on record in Maine, this is not the way to go about it! Sure a few days of bitter cold will skew the average temperatures for the year. However, perhaps focusing on consistency, rather than extremes, would be an overall better approach. Speaking of extremes, If anyone from “away” is interested in learning their state’s highs and lows, the NOAA State Climate Extremes Committee has you covered with their interesting Extreme Records by State chart.
