2015-16 is warmest winter on record for Caribou area (Maine) [View all]

[jpak]

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/02/29/news/aroostook/2015-16-is-warmest-winter-on-record-for-caribou-area/

CARIBOU, Maine — This winter is officially going down in the books as the warmest winter on record in the Caribou area, with an average temperature of 21.6 degrees, officials at the National Weather Service said Monday.

In Bangor, where the average temperature over the last three months has been 26.8 degrees, the winter was the fourth-warmest on record.

The meteorological winter is defined as the three-month period from December through February, according to Francis Kredensor, meteorologist with the NWS in Caribou. He said Monday that the Caribou average of 21.6 degrees was 7.6 degrees above the 30-year average. It surpassed the previous record warm winter of 2009-2010 by six-tenths of a degree.

“El Nino is playing a part in this warming trend, because during the El Nino years there are always changes in the atmosphere,” said the meteorologist, referring to the weather phenomenon caused by periodic warming in areas of the Pacific Ocean. The changing ocean temperatures can alter atmospheric conditions and affect weather patterns around the world.

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