Aroostook County reports 2nd record 14 below zero

PRESQUE ISLE – On Tuesday afternoon, Kate Stewart was chastising herself for not watching the Weather Channel on Monday evening.

“I always check the Weather Channel for the next day’s forecast, but last night, I didn’t,” said the Cambridge, Mass., resident, who was shopping while visiting friends in the area. “And so I opened the door early this morning to get the newspaper and nearly froze to death.”

Freezing was the norm in Aroostook County on Tuesday morning, as the area once again saw record low temperatures.

It was 14 degrees below zero at the National Weather Service office in Caribou at daybreak. That was cold enough to mark the lowest temperature on record for March 25 since 1939. The previous record low temperature for March 25 was zero degrees Fahrenheit, according to meteorologist Tony Mignone of the NWS office.

On Monday, the NWS office also recorded a temperature of 14 degrees below zero at 5:49 a.m., low enough for the lowest temperature on record for March 24 since 1939. The previous record low temperature for March 24 was minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit in 1989.

Sunday’s low temperature of minus 6 also broke the record.

A deep snowpack is helping to draw the lower temperatures into the area, but a slight warm-up is expected over the next few days, Mignone said Tuesday.

jlbdn@ainop.com

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