Tuesday temperatures hit record highs for the month of November in some northern Maine cities and towns, and neared records in the rest of the state.
In Caribou it was 75 degrees Fahrenheit, besting the 68 degrees it reached on Nov. 1, 2019. Record temperatures also were reached Tuesday in Houlton (73) and in Millinocket (74), according to the National Weather Service.
The balmy temperatures near or above 70 degrees in Maine were part of a broader relative heat wave that set dozens of records for November along the East Coast from Maine to Georgia and into Ohio.
Portland reached 72 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, nearing its record for the month of 74 set on Nov. 1, 2003. Bangor tied its second-hottest November day ever on Tuesday with 72 degrees, reaching temperatures not seen since November of 1938. Bangor’s hottest November day on record is Nov. 6, 1938, when it reached 75 degrees.
Normal high daily temperatures in Maine for this time of year are around 50 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
The current seasonal-relative heat wave in Maine is consistent with record temperature data that suggests Maine’s climate is getting warmer, with the ratio of hot-record days increasing relative to the number of cold-record days in the state.
This past summer, on August 14, the hottest average daily temperature in the Gulf of Maine hit a record 69.85 degrees Fahrenheit, exceeding a daily average record that had been set in 2012, according to data compiled by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.