An ice jam developed at the confluence of the Mattawamkeag River and Penobscot River at the town of Mattawamkeag during the evening of the 12th. The ice jam persisted overnight with flooding developing during the morning of the 13th.
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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.
An ice jam developed at the confluence of the Mattawamkeag River and Penobscot River at the town of Mattawamkeag during the evening of the 12th. The ice jam persisted overnight with flooding developing during the morning of the 13th. At one point the ice jam was estimated to be around 4 miles long. The flooding affected several main and secondary roads including Route 2 and River Road. Some roads were closed...while other roads were covered with water of varying depths though remained passable. Some families were briefly evacuated along River Road. The ice jam released during the late afternoon of the 13th allowing flood waters to recede.
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 Mar 13, 4:04 AM EST, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME 504 AM EDT SUN MAR 13 2011 .SYNOPSIS... A SECONDARY COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON WHILE WEAK LOW PRESSURE TRACKS ALONG THE DOWNEAST COAST. CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. LOW PRESSURE FROM THE OHIO VALLEY AND THE LOWER GREAT LAKES WILL APPROACH THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... MODELS...PARTICULARLY THE 00Z GFS...SHOW A LITTLE MORE AMPLITUDE WITH A S/WV MOVG E IN THE SRN BR UPPER JET FROM THE LOWER GREAT LKS TDY. MEANWHILE...A NRN BR S/WV MOVG E ACROSS CNTRL QB TOWARD SRN LABRADOR BRINGS A SECONDARY COLD FRONT AND SEMI-ARCTIC AIR. THE SRN BR S/WV WILL BRING A RELATIVELY NARROW ENHANCEMENT OF SHWRS TO DOWNEAST AREAS BY THIS AFTN. STILL AHEAD OF THE SECONDARY COLD FRONT...SFC TEMPS OVR THIS AREA IS XPCTD TO REACH WELL INTO THE 40S DURG THE TIME OF BEST PRECIP CVRG...SO PRECIP TYPE SHOULD BE MSLY RN...WITH QPF A TENTH OF AN INCH OR LESS. ELSEWHERE AHEAD OF THE SECONDARY COLD FRONT TDY...SCT FLURRIES SN SHWRS OR RN/SN SHWRS ARE XPCTD WITH LITTLE IF ANY SNOW ACCUMULATION. BEHIND THE FRONT LATE THIS AFTN THRU TNGT...WE XPCT PTLY TO MSLY CLDY SKIES AND SCT FLURRIES AS SIG COLDER AIR MOVES INTO THE FA. SFC-500M LAPSE RATES SUGGEST SHALLOW VLY DECOUPLING OVR NW RVR VLYS VERY LATE TNGT...ALLOWING FOR LIMITED RADIATIONAL COOLING AND LOW TEMPS FOR OUR COLDEST VLY SITES TO REACH NEAR ZERO DEG F BY DAYBREAK MON. ELSEWHERE...LOWS WILL RANGE FROM THE UPPER SINGLE DIGITS N TO LOWER 20S ALG THE DOWNEAST COAST. && .SHORT TERM /MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE CONTROL THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE BIGGEST QUESTION MONDAY WILL BE THE EXTENT OF CLOUD COVER AND RATE AT WHICH IT MOVES SOUTHWARD OUT OF THE STATE. WILL GO WITH SUNNY SKIES TOWARDS THE CROWN AS THE ONLY MOISTURE AVAILABLE MAY PRODUCE SOME SCT LOW CUMULUS. FURTHER SOUTH...MORE MID-LEVEL MOISTURE ABOVE H700 MAY BRING MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES DURING THE MORNING INTO EARLY AFTERNOON BEFORE SLIDING SOUTHWARD. FOR MONDAY NIGHT...EXPECT CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS FOR THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. CMC DEWPOINTS CLOSE TO -10F AND VERY LOW H925 RH SUGGESTS STRONG RADIATIONAL COOLING ALTHOUGH SNOW PACK WON'T ASSIST AS MUCH AS LAST WEEK'S EPISODE. HAVE MAINTAINED LOW TEMP FORECAST FOR TEMPS DROPPING TOWARDS -5 TO -10F IN THE SJV AND ALLAGASH AND SUBZERO READINGS AS FAR SOUTH AS HOULTON. FOR BGR AND DOWN EAST...EXPECT TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/... MUCH WARMER TUES NGT ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE HIGH WITH WARM AIR ADVECTION AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM. LOWS WILL BE IN THE TEENS NORTH TO UPPER 20S DOWN EAST. TEMPS ON WEDS WILL WARM INTO THE 40S EVERYWHERE EXCEPT PERHAPS JUST SHY OF 40F IN THE SJV. THIS WILL ALLOW PRECIP TO BEGIN AS RAIN AS LOW PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE GULF OF MAINE LATE DAY. EXPECT RAINFALL OF UP TO A HALF INCH DOWN EAST AND LIGHTER AMOUNTS NORTH. AS WARM AIR UP TO H850 IS GRADUALLY ERODED DURING THE NIGHT IN AROOSTOOK...PRECIP COULD END AS SNOW WITH UP AN INCH POSSIBLE IN THE CROWN AS TEMPERATURES FALL JUST BELOW THE FREEZING MARK OVERNIGHT. WITHOUT ANY STRONG COLD AIR BEHIND THIS SYSTEM...TEMPERATURES WILL AGAIN REBOUND INTO THE UPPER 30S IN THE CROWN TO MID 40S DOWN EAST FOR THURS. ANOTHER SYSTEM APPROACHES FOR FRIDAY WITH THE PROSPECT OF SNOW IN AROOSTOOK AND NORTHERN PISCATAQUIS AND RAIN SOUTH OF A FAIRLY SHARP LINE AS LOW PRESSURE TRACKS RIGHT THROUGH THE STATE. THIS SYSTEM HAS SOME PROMISE OF ADVISORY-LEVEL SNOW IN THE FAR NORTH...BUT IT'LL DEPEND ON THE LOW NOT TAKING A MORE NORTHERN TRACK. && .AVIATION /06Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... NEAR TERM: VFR ALL SITES ERLY THIS MORN IS XPCTD TO TRANSITION BACK TO MVFR WITH CLDS...FLURRIES...SN SHWRS AND E CNTRL/DOWNEAST RN SHWRS BY AFTN...WITH MVFR VSBYS POSSIBLE FOR DOWNEAST SITES THIS AFTN. N WINDS AND LLVL COLD ADVCN WILL LIKELY KEEP THIN MVFR SC CLD DECK AND SCT FLURRIES WELL INTO THE NGT ACROSS MOST SITES AS ANY SIG VSBY REDUCING PRECIP MOVES E INTO THE MARITIMES. SHORT TERM: VFR MONDAY THROUGH LATE WEDS. MVFR TEMPO IFR LIKELY LATE WEDS INTO THURS MORNING. && .MARINE... NEAR TERM: INITIALLY SCA WV HTS TDY AS A WEAK SRLY COMPONENT SFC WIND HELPS KEEPS LEFT OVR SERLY SWELL OVR OUR WATERS. BEHIND THE COLD FRONT LATE THIS AFTN...A LLVL COLD ADVCN PRES SURGE AND INCREASED SFC PRE GRAD BEHIND LOW PRES MOVG E INTO THE MARITIMES WILL BRING WINDS UP TO SCA CRITERIA TNGT...SPCLY IN GUSTS...BUT WILL BEGIN DIMINISHING WV HTS DUE TO THE SHORTENED OFF SHORE FETCH. SCA CONDITIONS SHOULD END BY DAYBREAK MON AS WIND GUSTS AND SEAS FINALLY FALL BELOW 25 KT/5 FT. WENT WITH A BLEND OF OPNL 00Z GFS NAM AND CANGEM FOR WINDS AND BLENDED PRIOR FCST WV HTS WITH 00Z WW3 DATA TO BRING WV HTS CLOSER TO CURRENTLY SLGTLY LWR OBS BUOY WV HTS. SHORT TERM: LOW END SCA LIKELY WEDS NGT INTO EARLY THURS. && .CAR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ME...NONE. MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 5 AM EDT MONDAY FOR ANZ050>052. && NEAR TERM...VJN SHORT TERM...MCW LONG TERM...MCW AVIATION...VJN MARINE...VJN/MCW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME 349 AM EDT SUN MAR 13 2011 MEZ001>006-010-011-015>017-029>032-141100- NORTHWEST AROOSTOOK-NORTHEAST AROOSTOOK-NORTHERN SOMERSET- NORTHERN PISCATAQUIS-NORTHERN PENOBSCOT-SOUTHEAST AROOSTOOK- CENTRAL PISCATAQUIS-CENTRAL PENOBSCOT-SOUTHERN PENOBSCOT- INTERIOR HANCOCK-CENTRAL WASHINGTON-COASTAL HANCOCK- COASTAL WASHINGTON-SOUTHERN PISCATAQUIS-NORTHERN WASHINGTON- 349 AM EDT SUN MAR 13 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL MAINE...NORTH CENTRAL MAINE...NORTHERN MAINE...SOUTHEAST MAINE AND WEST CENTRAL MAINE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ANZ050>052-141100- COASTAL WATERS FROM EASTPORT ME TO SCHOODIC POINT ME OUT 25 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM SCHOODIC POINT ME TO STONINGTON ME OUT 25 NM- INTRACOASTAL WATERS FROM SCHOODIC POINT ME TO STONINGTON ME- 349 AM EDT SUN MAR 13 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. VJN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
An ice jam at the confluence of the Mattawamkeag River and Penobscot River caused flooding in the town of Mattawamkeag.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maine in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Maine, March 2011
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 286065.