Low pressure system with an occluded front move to the northeast of Maine, bringing gusty winds and heavy rainfall to northern and eastern Maine. Rainfall resulted in significant snowmelt for remaining snow pack, and with a deep frost depth still in place over most of the state, majority of rainfall acted as runoff.
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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.
Low pressure system with an occluded front move to the northeast of Maine, bringing gusty winds and heavy rainfall to northern and eastern Maine. Rainfall resulted in significant snowmelt for remaining snow pack, and with a deep frost depth still in place over most of the state, majority of rainfall acted as runoff. Runoff and additional river ice melt led to ice jamming along the Pleasant River, between Brownville and Milo. Flooding began on Tuesday, March 17th, and continued into Friday, March 20th. Piscataquis County EMs and members of the public were reporting ice jamming within the river. Pleasant River road did go down to one lane where the jam built up water pressure upstream.
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 17, 9:51 AM EST, 9 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Caribou ME 1051 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026 .WHAT HAS CHANGED... - Wind warnings and advisories ended, except across northern Aroostook County where wind advisories have been extended through 7PM. - The Flood Watch has been cancelled. Isolated ice movement and lingering runoff related issues are possible, but are not expected to pose a significant threat. - Added mention of potential for an isolated snow squall across northwestern areas this afternoon. - Added key message for cold wind chills tonight. - Updated marine and aviation discussions. && .KEY MESSAGES... 1) Strong wind gusts will continue today across far northern Maine. A few additional power outages are possible, mainly across northern Aroostook County. 2) An isolated snow squall is possible this afternoon across the North Woods and Saint John Valley. Any snow squalls may contain strong winds and significantly reduced visibility. 3) Wind chills ranging from 5 to 15 below zero are expected tonight into Wednesday morning across northern Maine. Frostbite on exposed skin can occur in as little as 30 to 60 minutes in these conditions. 4) A series of weak systems expected to pass near Maine from Thursday night through Monday. These storms could bring some light to possibly moderate snow to the area. && .DISCUSSION... KEY MESSAGE 1... Strong wind gusts will continue today across far northern Maine. A few additional power outages are possible, mainly across northern Aroostook County. KEY MESSAGE 1 DESCRIPTION... Surface low pressure across central Quebec will continue to deepen to around 950mb by this afternoon. Northern Maine will be post-frontal with rapidly rising pressures and a steep pressure gradient in place. Forecast soundings generally show steepening low level lapse rates with mixing towards 850mb, where winds are 40-50 kt. Boundary layer average winds around 35 to 40kt will yield frequent gusts in excess of 40mph and occasional gusts to near 50mph. A few stronger gusts are possible in any snow showers or squalls. KEY MESSAGE 2... An isolated snow squall is possible today across the North Woods and Saint John Valley. Any snow squalls may contain strong winds and significantly reduced visibility. KEY MESSAGE 2 DESCRIPTION... Forecast soundings show a well mixed boundary layer reaching into the dendritc growth zone across northwestern Maine. While moisture and instability is generally limited with less than 20 j/kg of CAPE, upslope enhancement may allow a few snow showers to develop with heating this afternoon. Strong boundary layer winds will meet squall criteria within any snow showers, but it is uncertain whether any snow showers will be intense enough to reduce visibility to less than a quarter mile. Any snow squall threat will diminish around sunset with loss of daytime heating. KEY MESSAGE 3...Wind chills ranging from 5 to 15 below zero are expected tonight into Wednesday morning across northern Maine. Frostbite on exposed skin can occur in as little as 30 to 60 minutes in these conditions. KEY MESSAGE 3 DESCRIPTION... Winds will remain elevated overnight with gusts to around 25mph. Strong cold air advection will continue with air temperatures falling into the single digits above zero across northern Maine. The combination of air temperatures and winds will produce wind chills around 15 below zero in the North Woods, 5 to 10 below zero elsewhere across northern Maine, and around zero to 5 above zero for Bangor and Downeast Maine. While these wind chills will not reach advisory criteria, values this cold can still produce frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 to 60 minutes. Patchy icy spots are also possible as any standing water from earlier rainfall freezes. KEY MESSAGE 4...A series of weak systems expected to pass near Maine from Thursday night through Monday. These storms could bring some light to possibly moderate snow to the area. KEY MESSAGE 4 DESCRIPTION... Ensemble solutions are in good agreement on a weak low pressure system passing to the north Thursday night into Friday. Uncertainty still exists in terms of how much snow will fall as some ensemble members keep the snow fairly widespread while others are much more conservative. Kept chance for snow across the area as these types of setups with even weak warm air advection and moist soundings can easily develop precipitation. Some snow/rain showers may linger into Friday. A couple models are showing potential for some strong snow showers but too far out to be definitive. Another weak system Friday night into Saturday is possible which could bring light to perhaps moderate snow across the area but guidance is still undecided in how this evolves. Ensembles show a troughing signal in the Sunday to Monday time frame and are trying to develop a storm somewhere over the northeast. Individual ensemble member solutions are quite scattered in terms of location and strength but there is general agreement this would be a stronger system than the other two. Most solutions show snow but it is too early to be more definitive on precip types as this will depend on track. && .AVIATION /14Z TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... Today...VFR. Periods of MVFR possible at northern terminals in low ceilings and -SHSN. WSW winds 10 to 15 kts with gusts 25-30 kts for southern terminals, and 15 to 20 kts with gusts to 30-40kts for northern terminals. Tonight...VFR. Southwest/west winds 10 to 20 knots with gusts up to around 25 knots. Wednesday...VFR. West/northwest winds 10 to 20 knots wih gusts up to around 25 knots. Wednesday night...VFR. Light SE winds increasing to around 10 kts. Thursday...Low chance of MVFR late. S winds possibly gusting to 15 to 20 kts. Thursday night-Friday...MVFR or lower possible, especially in the north. S winds 5 to 10 kts overnight becoming SW Friday. Friday night...MVFR or lower possible. LLWS possible. W/SW winds 5 to 10 kts. Saturday...MVFR or lower possible. NW winds 10 to 15 kts Saturday. Saturday night...MVFR or lower possible. N winds 5 to 10 kts. && .MARINE... Gale Warning in effect for all the waters til 2 AM Wednesday. Small Craft Advisory conditions expected Wednesday morning. Seas right around small craft criteria Wednesday night through Friday. Winds below small craft criteria through much of Friday then increase to above criteria late Friday. Small craft conditions likely Friday night through Saturday with about a 40% chance of gales on the outer waters Saturday night. && .CAR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ME...Wind Advisory until 7 PM EDT this evening for MEZ001-002. MARINE...Gale Warning until 2 AM EDT Wednesday for ANZ050>052. && DISCUSSION...SM/MWS/CN AVIATION...SM/MWS/CN
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
835 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM Rain 1 NNE Mount Katahdin 45.92N 68.91W
03/17/2026 M2.40 Inch Piscataquis ME Park/Forest Srvc
&&
JSPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
845 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0817 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 ESE Holden 44.75N 68.65W
03/17/2026 Penobscot ME 911 Call Center
Tree down partially blocking South Road.
&&
JSPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
850 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0849 AM Flood 2 N Holden 44.79N 68.68W
03/17/2026 Penobscot ME Fire Dept/Rescue
Eastern Ave in Holden is closed due to a
washout.
&&
JSPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
933 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0815 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 W Bar Harbor 44.39N 68.22W
03/17/2026 Hancock ME Public
Large tree down onto the utility lines on
Highbrook Road near Eden Street. Road closed
on the south side of Highbrook.
&&
JSPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
1011 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0945 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Dmg 1 ESE Hermon 44.80N 68.89W
03/17/2026 Penobscot ME Fire Dept/Rescue
Tree down into the road with power lines. US
Route 2 is reduced to one lane near New
Boston Road.
&&
JSPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Caribou ME
1034 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1034 AM Rain 8 NE Charlotte 45.09N 67.12W
03/17/2026 M2.54 Inch Washington ME CO-OP Observer
&&
JSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
An ice jam on the Pleasant River led to flooding which impacted portions of Pleasant Street, and Pleasant River Road in Milo. These roads were temporarily closed due to the flooding. Water levels fell by Friday afternoon.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maine in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Maine, March 2026
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: 1325960.