Cold start to the week, but warm air returns by Wednesday

Happy new year!

NEWS CENTER Maine

Before I get into the forecast, I wanted to share this…

The average temperature of 2021 makes it the fourth warmest year on record in Portland. The top five have all been since 2000.

If you want to go even further, the top ten warmest years in Portland have all been since 1990.

There’s a clear trend here, and warm records outpacing cold records clearly shows that things overall are getting warmer.

The Forecast

The start of 2022 looks active, with multiple storm chances in just the first week.

NEWS CENTER Maine

Behind the unsettled weather on Sunday, colder air will settle in to start off the first full week of the new year.

Watch for black ice through the morning. Temperatures will be cold, with highs only in the 20s.

Add in a breeze out of the north, and there will be an extra bite to one of the coldest days so far this season.

NEWS CENTER Maine

The air moderates a little bit on Tuesday, but only a little.

After a cold morning of temperatures mostly in the single digits, high temperatures end up near 30 degrees.

High clouds are possible, but the day will still be bright.

This is welcomed given how cloudy the past week has been.

NEWS CENTER Maine

On Wednesday, a storm tracks up by western New York and into Quebec.

This puts Maine right in the warm part of the storm, pushing temperatures into the upper 30s and low 40s as rain showers develop.

Any snowpack that survived the New Year’s Eve fog will probably not do well with this forecast.

The warmer air sticks around right into Thursday, where temperatures may again reach the 40s.

NEWS CENTER Maine

That could all change Friday, though.

Behind Thursday’s rain, colder air settles in quickly.

There are some indications that a storm might from on Friday, making good use of that cold air.

This winter has been pretty quiet thus far. Friday’s potential storm system is the closest we’ve seen to a classic nor’easter on the models in quite some time.

If you like snow, hope the European and Canadian weather models are correct. If you don’t, root for the American model.

Follow me on Twitter, @MikeSliferWX, for other local weather data and forecast info.