Fast moving low pressure lifting across Maine brought heavy snow to northeast Aroostook county during the morning and early afternoon hours of the 18th. Snowfall rates of around 2 inches per hour occurred from the late morning through early afternoon.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS CAR wrote it up.
Fast moving low pressure lifting across Maine brought heavy snow to northeast Aroostook county during the morning and early afternoon hours of the 18th. Snowfall rates of around 2 inches per hour occurred from the late morning through early afternoon. Storm total snow accumulations ranged from 7 to 9 inches.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Caribou, ME wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 18, 3:13 AM EST, 5 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME
313 AM EST FRI JAN 18 2008
.SYNOPSIS...
LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN QUEBEC THIS MORNING AS
SECONDARY LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
COAST. THIS SECONDARY LOW WILL LIFT RAPIDLY NORTHEAST INTO SOUTHERN
MAINE BY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON THEN INTO NORTHEAST NEW BRUNSWICK BY
THIS EVENING. WEAK LOW PRESSURE WILL CROSS NORTHERN MAINE LATE
SATURDAY AND PULL AN ARCTIC FRONT ACROSS THE STATE SATURDAY
EVENING AND SATURDAY NIGHT. BRISK NORTHWEST WINDS AND BITTER COLD
AIR WILL FOLLOW FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY.
&&
.NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
STORM SYSTEM WHICH HAS BEEN ADVERTISED TO AFFECT OUR FA TODAY ON
TRACK W/ NO MAJOR CHANGES NOTED FROM THE 00Z MODEL SUITE...
PRIMARY LOW PRES LOCATED OVR THE NRN GRT LAKES W/ SECONDARY LOW
PRES JUST OFF THE MID ATLC COAST ATTM. THE PRIMARY LOW FCST TO
TRACK INTO WRN QUEBEC THIS AM WHILE THE SECONDARY LOW LIFTS UP TO
THE SRN NEW ENGLAND COAST. THE PRIMARY SFC LOW IS THEN PROGGED TO
TRACK INTO N CENTRAL QUEBEC BY LATE TODAY WHILE THE SECONDARY LOW
STRENGTHENS AND LIFTS NE INTO SRN MAINE BY EARLY AFTN AND INTO NE
NB BY 00Z THIS EVE.
STEADIER PRECIP HAS ALREADY OVRSPRD SWRN MAINE AND IS CONTG TO
LIFT NEWD. XPCT SNOW TO OVRSPRD OUR SRN AND SWRN AREAS OVR THE NXT
1-2 HRS AND REACH FAR NERN AREAS BY 12Z... THE SECONDARY LOW WILL
BE ACCOMPANIED BY ABUNDANT MOISTURE GIVEN ITS ORIGINS IN THE GULF
OF MEXICO. MODELS ALSO CONT TO SUGGEST A PERIOD OF STRONG UPWARD
MOTION N AND NE OF THIS SYSTEM. THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO
INGREDIENTS SUGGESTS THERE WILL BE A 2-3 HR PERIOD OF FAIRLY
ROBUST SNOWFALL W/ 1 TO BRIEFLY 2 INCH PER HR RATES PSBL ACROSS
THE FA AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SECONDARY SFC LOW. CURRENT TIMING
WOULD PLACE THE HVST SNOWFALL WINDOW FROM 10-14Z INTERIOR
DOWNEAST AREAS W/ CENTRAL AREAS FROM 12-17Z AND NRN AREAS FROM
15-19Z. SFC-BL TEMP PROFILES AND CRITICAL THCKNS VALS CONT TO
SUPPORT A CHANGEOVER TO RAIN BY MID AM DOWNEAST AREAS WHERE STRONG
WAA ON SSE WNDS WILL TRANSPORT FAIRLY MILD ATLC AIR INLAND AND
THIS WILL LIMIT ACCUMS ACROSS THIS AREA... OTHERWISE...XPCT A
FAIRLY CONSISTENT SWATH OF ABOUT 6 INCHES OF SNOW FOR MUCH OF THE
REMAINDER OF THE AREA. ATTM DO NOT XPCT WDSPRD SNOW ACCUMS OF 7
INCHES OR GREATER W/ THE LIMITING FACTORS BEING THE XPCTD RAPID
MOVEMENT OF THE PRECIP THRU THE AREA AND THE FAIRLY MILD LOW=LEVEL
TEMPS WHICH SHOULD KEEP SNOWFALL RATIOS AROUND 10:1 DURING THE
MAJORITY OF THIS EVENT. IF THE PRECIP DURATION IS LONGER THAN
XPCTD AND/OR SNOW RATIOS HGHR THAN 10:1 THEN ALL BETS WILL BE
OFF... AS A RESULT...WILL HANG ONTO CURRENT SNW ADV CENTRAL AND N
W/ AN XPCTD CHANGEOVER TO RAIN XPCTD TO KEEP SNOWFALL TOTALS BLO
ADV CRITERIA DOWNEAST AREAS.
XPCT A FAIRLY RAPID END TO THE PRECIP FROM SW-NE THIS AFTN AS WE
DRY SLOT BEHIND THE SFC TROF WHICH CONNECTS THE PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY SFC LOWS. A WNW POST-SYSTEM FLOW ACROSS THE AREA TNGT
CONTS TO SUPPORT LOW CHC POPS FOR SW- ACROSS THE TRRN FAVORED
AREAS OF WRN AND NWRD AMINE...
HAVE DECIDED TO ISSUE A WND ADV FOR OUR COASTAL ZNS FROM MID AM
THRU LATE AFTN AS BTH THE NAM AND GFS CONT TO SHOW A 50-60 KT 925
JET JUST NOSING INTO OUR SRN AREAS AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SFC
LOW...
&&
.SHORT TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/...
WEAK SHORT WAVE APPROACHES FROM NORTHWEST LATER IN THE DAY SATURDAY.
OCEAN LOW IS EXPECTED TO PASS TO SOUTHEAST OF STATE SATURDAY
NIGHT INTO EARLY SUNDAY. WILL ACCOUNT FOR BOTH OF THESE SYSTEMS
WITH LOW POPS. HAVE CREATED POP GRIDS WITH BLEND OF NAM12...GFS40
AND SREF. SKY GRIDS FOR SAME PERIOD GENERATED WITH NAM/GFS
COMBINATION. VERY COLD AIR MASS IS EXPECTED TO ENTER THE STATE
LATER SUNDAY. TEMPERATURES SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT INITIALIZED
WITH GMOS THEN ADJUSTED SEVERAL DEGREES LOWER TO ACCOUNT FOR WARM
BIAS IN EXTREMELY COLD AIR MASS. ALL OTHER GRIDS FOR MONDAY
CREATED WITH GMOS.
&&
.LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
ALL GRIDS FOR MONDAY THRU THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD INITIALIZED
WITH GMOS. AN EXTREMELY COLD AIR MASS REMAINS IN PLACE MONDAY. FOR
THIS REASON GMOS TEMPERATURES WERE REVISED SEVERAL DEGREES BLOW
GMOS NUMBERS. ANOTHER VERY COLD AIR MASS EXPECT LATER IN WEEK FOR
FRIDAY....SO GMOS TEMPERATURES FOR THIS PERIOD WERE ALSO LOW BELOW
GMOS TO ACCOUNT FOR HIGH BIAS IN COLD AIR. ONLY OTHER CHANGE TO
GMOS WAS TO LOWER POPS MONDAY MORNING.
&&
.AVIATION /07Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
NEAR TERM: XPCT IFR TO LIFR CONDS IN SNOW N AND RN/SN SRN SITES
IMPROVING FROM SW-NE BY ERLY AFTN SRN SITES AND BY LATE AFTN NRN
SITES... PREDOM VFR CONDS XPCTD TNGT.
SHORT TERM: BRIEF PERIODS OF MVFR ARE POSSIBLE IN THE NORTH
SATURDAY...OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THIS PERIOD.
&&
.MARINE...
NEAR TERM: THE GLW FOR TDY STILL LOOKS GOOD PER LATEST MODEL WND
GUIDANCE AND USED TO WNAWAVE FOR SEAS WHICH YIELDED ONLY MINOR
CHANGES FORM THE CURRENT FCST.
SHORT TERM: HAVE INITIALIZED THE WIND GRIDS OUT TO 00Z MONDAY
WITH A 50/50 BLEND OF THE NAM12 AND GFS40. WITH SOUTHWEST FLOW DO
NOT EXPECT ANY MODEL BIAS SO WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES. FOR WAVES:
WIND WAVE PRIMARY WAVE FIELD IS WIND WAVE...WAVE MODEL NUMBERS
LOOK REASONABLE SO WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES. FOR MONDAY INTO
TUESDAY: HAVE CREATED WIND GRIDS WITH GMOS NOW CHANGES MADE. FOR
WAVES WILL INCREASE WAVE HEIGHTS 1 TO 2 FEET ABOVE WNA TO BETTER
FIT FORECASTED WINDS.
&&
.CAR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ME...SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 AM THIS MORNING TO 4 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON FOR MEZ001>006-010.
SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON FOR MEZ011-031-032.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 4 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON FOR MEZ029-030.
MARINE...GALE WARNING FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM EST THIS EVENING
FOR ANZ050>052.
&&
NEAR TERM...KHW
SHORT TERM...MIGNONE
LONG TERM...MIGNONE
AVIATION...KHW
MARINE...KHW/MIGNONE<!doctype html>
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snow accumulations ranged from 7 to 9 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maine in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Maine, January 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 73778.