Bitterly cold arctic air will descend upon Maine later this week.
The week starts out fairly mild, Monday highs in the 30s, dry and increasing cloudiness. Light snow will move in Monday night, with a dusting up to an inch possible. The coast is more likely to see an inch.
Cooler weather moves in Tuesday with sunshine returning. Highs will be in the 20s.
Wednesday also looks quiet and cool. Many inland towns will start off below zero, with coastal areas waking up in the low single digits. We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds Wednesday afternoon, with highs climbing into the 20s.
Thursday will be mild, with highs on the coast above freezing and in the low 30s inland.
But a powerful Arctic cold front will move into Maine on Thursday night. Temperatures early Friday will be in the teens but fall into the single digits or even lower by the afternoon.
Winds also will be quite blustery, making it feel even colder as wind chill values could approach 30 to 40 below by Friday night.
Saturday is expected to start off well below zero across the state.
The coldest temperatures will be in the mountains and in northern Maine, where they will fall as low as 25 or 30 below zero. For southern and central Maine, inland towns will see early morning temperatures as low as 20 below zero, while coastal communities will see temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below zero.
These may be some of the coldest temperatures parts of Maine have seen in several years.
Saturday afternoon won’t see much of an improvement, with highs only reaching into the single digits and some inland areas and mountain towns staying below zero all day.
Winds will remain blustery, and it may feel as cold as negative 30 in some spots through the day.
But the cold will not last long. By Sunday, highs will rebound into the 30s.
