Skies anticipated to be clear for Monday eclipse

NWS increases anticipated snowfall amounts along coast as storm moves in

Wed, 04/03/2024 - 4:45pm
April 3, 4 p.m. (Image courtesy National Weather Service)

    A winter storm warning is now in effect for the immediate Midcoast and the National Weather Service is forecasting heavy snow overnight into Thursday morning.

    The worst conditions, including a combination of heavy snow, strong wind gusts, and coastal flooding, will occur around Thursday morning, said NOAA, in a 4:24 p.m. weather update.

    What is new:

    • Increased snow amounts a few inches along the coast, bringing some values just shy of a foot of snow. There will likely be a very sharp gradient of amounts with just a few inches of snow on immediate beaches, to significant amounts just inland.

    • Increased wind and wind gusts on the western slopes of higher terrain, mainly the White Mountains due to downsloping. Peak gusts late tonight and Thursday morning may exceed 60 mph. 

    Warmer temperatures near the coast may lead to sticky, wet snow and associated damaged tree limbs and power outages.

    Snow showers will linger through the first half of the weekend.

     
    Tonight
    Rain and snow likely before 11pm, then snow. Low around 31. Breezy, with an east wind 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
    Thursday
    Snow before 2pm, then rain and snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 37. Windy, with an east wind around 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
    Thursday Night
    Rain and snow, becoming all rain after midnight. Low around 35. Breezy, with a northeast wind 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
    Friday
    Rain. High near 43. East wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
    Friday Night
    Scattered rain showers before 2am, then scattered rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
    Saturday
    Rain and snow showers likely, becoming all rain after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
    Saturday Night
    Scattered rain and snow showers before 11pm, then scattered snow showers between 11pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. Blustery. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
    Sunday
    Partly sunny, with a high near 44.
    Sunday Night
    Partly cloudy, with a low around 30.
    Monday
    Sunny, with a high near 52.
     
    Then on Monday, according to NWS in Gray:

    On Mon the cloud forecast remains optimistic. I have used eclipse temp tool to reduce hourly values down during the hour of totality. I would suspect with fresh snow on the ground in the path that temp drop will happen rather fast. Otherwise looking at conditions for eclipse chasers there are a couple of concerns. 

    One is that there will be deep snowpack in areas of the path of totality...winter roads may be difficult or
impossible to travel. Other locations that see some sun or warmer temps before Mon will see melting...and off road mud may start to become an issue. 

    Finally in the higher elevations it will be near freezing...with inversion height forecast to be near ridgeline. This would lead to gusty winds and apparent temps closer to the lower to mid teens. Any hikers should be prepared for winter conditions in the mtns.

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