This spring in Maine promises another early mud season as the changing climate brings more days above normal temperatures throughout Maine, new data released Wednesday showed.
Spring is getting warmer across the country due to heat-trapping pollution from burning coal, oil and methane gas, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit science and journalism organization. About half of Maine households use fossil fuels for heat, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
While more days above normal temperature can lengthen the growing season, they also can boost disease-carrying pests like mosquitoes and prolong allergy season, said Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley. And warmer temperatures can make it trickier for farmers to predict when to plant crops and for home gardeners to decide when to put in their tomatoes, he said.
Bangor had nine days above its normal high from March to May last year; Portland, 14 days; and Presque Isle, seven days. The trend is expected to continue this year, according to Climate Central data.
The local average temperature has been up 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit in Bangor, 2.2 degrees in Portland and 1.5 degrees in Presque Isle since 1970. There is about a 50 percent chance that Mainers will see above-average temperatures this spring, Winkley said. The Northeast as a whole was 2.2 degrees warmer in 2024 than in 1970.
“If you think of it as your body temperature rising almost 2 degrees you wouldn’t feel well,” Winkley said. “So spring in Maine doesn’t feel well because we’re seeing this warming trend gradually take place as the planet warms as well. Mud season starts earlier, rainfall could be heavier and allergies start earlier and last longer.”
Climate Central analyzed temperature data from 241 U.S. locations to discover how the spring season of March, April and May has warmed from 1970 to 2024. Average spring temperatures and warmer days occurred in almost all of the cities researched, with Reno, Nevada, seeing the highest spring increase of 6.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the 50-plus years.
Even though Maine’s rise in temperatures and warmer days are lower compared with many other U.S. locations, they still bring unwanted pests including ticks and mosquitoes that carry disease, and for longer into the fall.
“They have the ability to come around earlier, and they have the ability to stick around later,” Winkley said.
Lori Valigra is an environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus investigative team. Reach her at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation, a fund at the Maine Community Foundation, and donations by BDN readers.
