Heavy rain, strong winds to affect Maine Monday

This storm will push to our north and west Monday night, with rain heavy at times.

High winds and flooding are concerns. Wind is expected to blow 15-30 MPH statewide with gusts to 50 MPH possible inland and up to 60 MPH along the coast.

A wind advisory is in effect across much of the state.

A high wind warning is in effect for the Downeast coast through the Midcoast where the strongest wind gusts are expected.

Numerous to widespread are power outages possible, especially closer to the coast.

Full forecast: (Updated: Monday April 13, 2020 at 9:34 p.m.)

From the TV 5 Forecast Center:

The strong storm system that has been producing the rain and increasingly gusty wind across Maine today will continue to lift northeast from southern Ontario this evening to near James Bay by tomorrow morning. The storm will continue to bring rain heavy at times to Maine this evening, with the rain tapering off later tonight as the storms trailing cold front slides off to our east. The combination of the heavy rain along with melting snow across northern parts of Maine will likely cause some rivers and streams to overflow their banks later tonight through Wednesday, with the greatest risk for flooding occurring across the far north and mountains.

The strong and gusty southeast to south wind will continue through later this evening, with the wind slowly diminishing after midnight once the cold front slips offshore. The combination of the wind gusting to near 50 mph inland and possibly near 60 mph along the coast along with the wet ground will likely cause more trees and branches to fall through tonight causing scattered to widespread power outages to occur.

Tuesday looks like a much more pleasant day across Maine as the cold front continues to slide off to our east and high pressure approaches New England from the southwest. Under a partly to mostly sunny sky the temps across Maine will climb into the mid to upper 40s north and low to mid 50s from the Bangor Region on south.

A storm will likely move northeast off the Mid-Atlantic Coastline later Wednesday, but at this time it appears the storm will remain to far offshore to have a significant impact on the weather in our region. Later this week a series of upper level disturbances will rotate across the Northeast. The disturbances will keep the sky across Maine variably cloudy Wednesday through Friday, with nothing more than maybe a few scattered rain or snow showers, mainly throughout the north and mountains. High temps in our region Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will range from the 40s to very low 50s, which is several degrees below normal.

Tonight: Rain ending then clearing after midnight, with a strong and gusty southerly wind between 15 and 30 mph, with higher gusts, becoming southwesterly and diminishing to 10 to 20 mph by dawn, with low temps in the mid-30s to mid-40s.

Tuesday: Mostly to partly sunny, with a southwest breeze between 12 and 25 mph and high temps in the mid-40s to mid-50s from north to south.

Wednesday: Variably cloudy, with high temps in the low 40s to very low 50s from north to south.

Thursday: Clouds and some sun, with high temps in the 40s to very low 50s.

Friday: Variably cloudy, with high temps in the mid-40s to low 50s.

Saturday: Partly sunny, with high temps in the mid-40s to low 50s.

Chris Ewing

WABI-TV5 & CW Meteorologist