BANGOR, Maine — Winter may not have arrived in time for Christmas, but it will rear its snowy head in Maine on Sunday and settle in Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou.
A storm is expected to move into southern Maine shortly after 1 a.m. and move up through Bangor and into Aroostook County and Down East between 3 and 4 a.m. Sunday.
Between 5 and 10 inches of snow are expected in northern sections of Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset counties and all of Aroostook County, meteorologist Mark Bloomer said Christmas Day.
Snow is predicted in areas north of Bangor, which is predicted to endure snow, sleet, then freezing rain as temperatures rise overnight to the mid-30s. The dividing line between that messy mix of precipitation and snow will run from Bangor to Calais, according to the weather service.
Rain is expected along the coast and in southern and western Maine, where temperatures are expected to remain above freezing during the day.
The storm is expected to move out of Maine Sunday evening, but high temperatures Monday will drop to the low- to mid-20s in Aroostook County, the mid- to high 20s in Bangor and the low 30s in southern Maine, according to meteorologists at the weather service stations in Caribou and Gray.
Portland broke its old temperature record with a Christmas Day high of 62, according to the weather service in Gray. The previous record was 53 set in 1994. Bangor tied its record of 54 set last year.
Snowless Christmas Days are unusual in northern Maine but not rare. There have been only six previous years, 1957, 1973, 1998, 2001, 2006 and 2010, when there has been less than an inch of snow in Bangor and Caribou on Dec. 25, according to information posted on the weather service’s website. An inch or more of snow has been on the ground 92 percent of the time on Christmas morning.
The average snow depth was 8 inches. The deepest snowpack was in 1989 with 29 inches. The snowiest Christmas was in 1997 when 8.7 inches fell.
Skies were expected to be cloudy Christmas night into Saturday in the majority of the state, but the full moon should be visible intermittently. It is first full moon on Christmas since 1977, according to a previously published report. The next Christmas full moon is predicted for 2034.