Ellsworth’s Climate
The weather in the Ellsworth area can be characterized by one word; changeable, a trait it shares
with the rest of New England. A fine morning can be followed by a rainy afternoon or the other way
around. A summer day of tropical heat is often followed by a cool, foggy one. Several days of the
same kind of weather are considered a "spell" and local folks start to fret; "we could use some rain",
or "Isn’t the sun ever going to shine?" Weather, fickle as it is, is an intensely personal thing to
Downeasters.
Our weather, and hence our climate, is affected by several factors:
- Nearness to the ocean and its tempering effect
- North American storm tracks, which converge on New England and Maritime Canada
- Air Masses from very different kinds of source regions such as tropical oceans,
continental interiors, sub-arctic regions, and the cool ocean surface to the east.
The interplay of these factors means that weather systems or storms hold sway over the area
only briefly and rapidly move along.
Perhaps the most important storm for us in winter or in summer, is one we call a
"Nor’easter". This is a cyclone that moves off the continent south of Maine and moves slowly
across the Gulf of Maine with its winds spinning in a counter-clockwise fashion. That means that the
moisture-laden winds blowing over coastal Maine come from a northeasterly direction. In summer
these storms bring quantities of rain; in winter they produce some of our deepest snows.
What holds true for daily weather also is true for yearly climatic patterns. It is very unlikely
that any winter season will be like the winter before. Spring is a guessing game. Even veteran
gardeners are sometimes fooled by seasons that don’t behave as they should. “Normal” seasons or
years are rare and the exception rather than the rule. |
