February began with a cold shock, but for the past week, mild air has made it feel quite pleasant outside. In fact, Maine has been one of the hot spots across the country, compared to average, this winter. Interesting to note, the blockbuster storms that buried the Mid-Atlantic has contributed to the milder weather here.

Though the zone of accumulating snow has missed us, the zone of milder air has not. Typically, when the classic storms forms, there are a couple of different air masses that are either in advance of the storm center, or follow it. Colder, drier air follows a mature storm in most cases, but what’s ahead of the storm is what we have been experiencing. Warm, moist air (in sometimes what we call the “warm sector”) that can set up the rain/snow line, decided to pay us a visit.

A storm (cyclone) has air that flows counter-clockwise around it, and if the storm live long enough and is mature enough, the warm, moist air can wrap around the entire storm. As these monstrous storms exit the Mid-Atlantic, they have been taking a track to Atlantic Canada, and slow down, eventually to remain stationary. Therefore, enough time has passed, the storm continues to survive and its maturity level is high enough that the relatively warm air wraps fully around the storm that we experience an elevated temperature compared to the Great Lakes or the Mid-West. This can also answer the question to why a northwest wind has not ushered in bitterly cold air.

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