September heat wave breaks Maine records

GRAY – A third consecutive day of 90-degree September heat was expected Tuesday in Maine, where a pair of hot-weather records have melted away since Sunday.

But relief is in sight, according to the National Weather Service in Gray. A cold front is expected to enter northern Maine and reach the coast Wednesday, bringing showers and lower temperatures.

With most pools closed and children back in school, Mainers were looking for ways to keep cool Tuesday as temperatures made their way toward the 90s in central and southern parts of the state and well into the 80s in the north.

Temperatures on Monday topped out at 99 degrees in Fryeburg, 97 in Bangor, Lewiston and Sanford, 96 in Gray and 94 in Augusta. Millinocket and Wiscasset each hit 95, the weather service said.

The 93 degrees registered Monday afternoon in Portland shattered the old record of 88 degrees set on Sept. 9, 1960, the weather service said. The 92 degrees recorded in central Maine on Sunday tied the old record set Sept. 8, 1960.

The standing record for Sept. 10, which was threatened by predictions of another scorcher Tuesday, is 90 degrees.

Light winds moving west to east across the state were just strong enough to keep cooling sea breezes out of Maine’s southern and midcoastal areas on Monday, weather service meteorologist John Jensenius said.

That left high concentrations of ground-level ozone in the air, prompting the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to advise people with respiratory diseases such as asthma to limit exertion outdoors. Similar precautions were recommended for Tuesday.

The cold front Wednesday is expected to drop temperatures to 60 degrees by the afternoon, but they will climb back up to 70 degrees Thursday and near 80 on Friday.

The heat was not helping firefighters battling a 40-acre blaze Monday in dense forest on the side of Black Pinnacle Ridge in Shawtown Township in Piscataquis County.

Bulldozers were be driven in to help build fire lines and helicopters began dropping water on the fire to contain it. Forest Ranger Jim Downie said the fire threat has been very high across much of the state in recent weeks because of hot, dry conditions.