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Harsh Holiday Week - GUTNER BLOG

Two snow events and record cold for this Thanksgiving week.

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Remember last Friday when I said that Thanksgiving week looked quiet and good for traveling? Well, I lied. Over the weekend, things changed drastically. Now, we're staring at an incredibly harsh week of weather.

It begins this morning with a weak area of low pressure sliding through the Gulf of Maine. Light, but steady, snow will fall, especially along the coast. This weak storm system will move out during the middle of the day and the afternoon will become tranquil. Amounts will be small.

Late tonight, a second storm system will eject out of the Ohio Valley and take a similar path to today's. The difference is in the mid and upper levels. A strengthening, slightly negative, short wave will enhance the low and slow it down producing larger amounts of snow. There may be some banding features too which could produce 1" per hour snow rates during the middle of the day. Snow will fall from sunrise through sunset so driving conditions will not be good at all.

It looks like a solid 3-6" of snow will fall for the southern half of the State, including Bangor, Augusta, L/A and Portland. There may be a jackpot area away from the coast in far southern Maine too. Lighter snow amounts will fall in Northern Maine.

Mother Nature won't relent. On Wednesday, a lot of people will be on the roads, either traveling or getting those last second errands completed when an arctic front blasts in during the afternoon and evening. Snow squalls will fire up along the boundary. I'm very concerned some could get caught in some of these intense snow showers which could create white-out conditions and drop an inch of snow in a matter of minutes. Please plan accordingly.

Once the squalls end, temps will plummet Wednesday night with record cold to follow on Thanksgiving Day.

The mini-max record in Portland is 29, in Bangor it's 24...I expect both records to fall. The wind will be howling too, creating wind chills near zero.

Sorry to bring the bad news, but this is looking like one long cold week of weather.

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Todd

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