Friday, January 20, 2006, 7:15 pm: It certainly has been some very unusual weather the last few days. Two days ago our high wind speed was 44 mph and 48 degrees Fahrenheit, and yesterday it was 32 mph but died down quickly by late morning.

Yesterday my wife and I drove to Presque Isle for some groceries. We left around 8:30 am under partially cloudy skies. Expecting an unremarkable drive we set out listening to our audio book in our car. While passing through Connor we drove straight into a white-out. It was so severe that when we pulled off to the side of the road, we couldn’t see the edge of the pavement. Also there were cars all over the road some had crashed into each other. We were parked behind a car that had its front smashed in.

After about ten minutes, we took a calculated risk and set off at a heart pounding 2 mph. We knew it was bad when the logging trucks were pulled off the road, and it takes a lot to get those guys to stop. Eventually we drove clear of the white-out and took a detour to the NWS in Caribou. I reported the severe weather to Hendricus Lulofs meteorologist-in-charge. He showed me the radar image of the event and a similar one farther south in Maine. Once we drove into Caribou all the bad weather was behind us and the drive to Presque Isle was a piece of cake.

Besides near misses with moose and other wildlife, yesterday was the single most dangerous day of driving since we moved to Maine in 1998. Phew! What a day.

Current values from our Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 30 degree (F.)

Humidity: 88%

Barometer: 29.89 and steady

Wind: Calm

Skies: Overcast

High temp. today: 31.3 degrees (F.) at 6:20 pm

Low temp. today: 12.3 degrees (F.) at 1:05 am

High wind today: 8 mph at 7:11 pm