Maine Could Welcome Summer With Blistering Heat Wave

It may seem like so long ago, but spring started very slowly this year in Maine. In fact, spring started with a massive nor'easter that dropped heavy, wet snow on the state. The entire month of April was a washout, and half of May wasn't much better.

That began to leave worry in the minds of many Mainers who existed through a tumultuous summer of 2023, filled with far too many days of cloudy skies and far too few days of sun and comfortable temperatures.

Summer of 2024 is only a couple of weeks away, and if you haven't been paying close attention to the weather outside of New England, you're missing something extraordinary. And that extraordinary seems poised to make its way to Maine just in time for the summer solstice.

Long-range forecasts are calling for some intense heat to move into New England sometime in the next 7-10 days. That heat could be blistering, far exceeding what Maine's normal average temperatures are in mid-June. Not only that, but it has the initial makings of being a heat wave, lasting several days to a week.

On the West Coast of the United States, California is currently trapped under a weather phenomena known as a "heat dome". In simpler terms, it's a high-pressure system that essentially sits over an area, traps the air, and heats that air for days or weeks. That system causing the 'heat dome' out west will eventually make its way east.

This powerful heat wave system is far enough away that the forecast could change in the next week or so. But for now, it looks like Maine (and all of New England) will welcome summer with 80-degree weather.