Flash Flooding and Winter Storm in Maine, January 14 to 15, 1999

Low pressure moving northeastward from eastern Tennessee through the Mid-Atlantic States brought a mixture of precipitation to all of Maine. Although temperatures climbed to above freezing throughout the entire state, the ground in most areas remained below freezing due to extremely cold temperatures that had preceded the storm. Temperatures on Thursday morning,the 14th, prior to the storm's arrival, were generally between -10 and -40 throughout the state. By Friday morning, the 15th, temperatures had only climbed to the single digits in southern areas and were still below zero in northern Maine. By 11 pm, above freezing temperatures were reported throughout the state. Snow/sleet amounts throughout the state were mostly in the 2 to 6 inch range with total water equivalents from the snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain in the 1 to 2 inch range with some areas receiving more than two inches of water equivalent from the storm. Due to ground conditions and snowmelt, the rain caused street and underpass flooding problems in many urban areas and created even more problems when the whole mess froze after the storm departed and colder air moved back into the area.