• General Use Forecasts
  • Gridpoint
  • Text-Only
  • Cartographic
  • Radar
• Specific Use Forecasts
  • Air Quality
  • Aurora Borealis
  • Aviation (links to our Aviation page)
  • Fire Weather (links to our Fire Weather page)
  • Marine (links to our Marine page)
  • Rivers & Lakes (links to our AHPS page)
• Audio Products

Last map update: Wed, Mar. 6, 2013 at 8:19:11 am EST		Read watches, warnings & advisories Zoom Out Storm Warning Gale Warning Hazardous Weather Outlook

This product is our most web-suited forecast. It conveys information in both pictures and text, and links to other sources of weather information. Unfortunately, if you have a very slow Internet connection, it may not be for you. If you have problems, try one of our text-only forecast products.

A gridpoint forecast is for a specific 2.5 square mile box in our forecast area. This is the most specific forecast we produce. And it's the most dynamic too; a gridpoint forecast is regenerated every time you click on the map in order to give you the latest info, which may change hourly. For complete information see our Gridpoint Forecasts Help page.

For the added capability of specifying the desired forecast gridpoint by latitude and longitude, go to our Gridpoint Forecasts page.

Our Weather Forecast Office (WFO) and the one in Gray, Maine produce many text-only forecast products. These are categorized below. Alternate links are provided in case the primary does not respond or has not been updated.

All these text products have the advantage of containing absolutely no graphics. They are all perfectly suited for the people with slow Internet connections.

• City / Town-Based Forecasts
  
  
  • Caribou Tabular State Forecast (SFT) [Alternate 1]

    Produced by WFO Caribou, Maine, the SFT presents weather elements in a 7-day forecast. It is organized geographically, by region within state. All cities / towns are included in one report, so you will have to scroll through to find the place you are interested in.

  • Gray Tabular State Forecast (SFT) [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]

    Produced by WFO Gray, Maine, the SFT presents weather elements in a 7-day forecast. It is organized geographically, by region within state, and includes New Hampshire. All cities / towns are included in one report, so you will have to scroll through to find the place you are interested in.

  • Point Forecast Matrices (PFM), Caribou WFO [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]
  • Point Forecast Matrices (PFM), Gray WFO [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]

    The codes used in the PFM may be found in this explanation .

    The PFM is a more detailed 7-day forecast, but for the numerically minded. It presents the forecasts in a tabular format. All cities / towns for one WFO are included in one report, so you will have to scroll through to find the place that interests you.

    The cities / towns in the Caribou PFM are: Bangor, Bar Harbor, Calais, Caribou, Clayton Lake, Eastport, Fort Kent, Frenchville, Greenville, Houlton, Millinocket, and Presque Isle. It also includes one maritime forecast point: the Jonesport Buoy.

    The Maine cities / towns in the Gray PFM are: Augusta, Brunswick, Fryeburg, Jackman, Lewiston, Portland, Rangeley, Rockland, Sanford, Waterville, and Wiscasset. It also includes places in New Hampshire.

• Zone-Based Forecasts (cover National Weather Service (NWS) zones )

  The NWS issues most products by zone or by county. Zones and counties normally equate: a zone matches a county and vice-versa. Only sometimes does the NWS subdivide a county into multiple zones.

  Why? Because large counties are sometimes too big for meaningful forecasts. When complex weather passes over a large area, describing it involves so much weather terminology that it renders the forecast unreadable. Subdividing into smaller zones reduces the complexity of each forecast, resulting in better readability.

  Here are WFO Caribou's Zones:

  From North to South
  Zone Part	County	Some Cities/Towns/Places with the Zone	Zone Code	County Code
  Northwest	Aroostook	Allagash, Clayton Lake, Deboullie Mountain, Dickey, Eagle Lake, Fort Kent, Frenchville, Madawaska, Nine-Mile Bridge, Saint Pamphile	MEZ001	MEC003
  Northeast	Aroostook	Ashland, Bridgewater, Caribou, Easton, Fort Fairfield, Limestone, Loring, Mapleton, Mars Hill, Masardis, Oxbow, Portage, Presque Isle, Russell Crossing, Van Buren, Washburn, Woodland	MEZ002	MEC003
  Northern	Somerset	Baker Lake, St. Aurelie Checkpoint	MEZ003	MEC025
  Northern	Piscataquis	Baxter State Park, Mount Katahdin, Ripogenus, Caucomgomoc Lake, Chamberlain Lake, Chesuncook, Churchill Dam, Tamway, Telos Lake	MEZ004	MEC021
  Northern	Penobscot	Millinocket, Patten, East Millinocket, Medway, Moosehorn Crossing, Shin Pond	MEZ005	MEC019
  Southeast	Aroostook	Houlton, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Island Falls, Sherman, Sherman Station, Smyrna Mills, Wytopitlock	MEZ006	MEC003
  Central	Piscataquis	Greenville, Blanchard, Kokadjo, Lobster Lake, Monson, Rockwood	MEZ010	MEC021
  Southern	Piscataquis	Brownville Junction, Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford, Milo	MEZ031	MEC021
  Central	Penobscot	Howland, Lincoln, Springfield	MEZ011	MEC019
  Northern	Washington	Danforth, Vanceboro, Topsfield	MEZ032	MEC029
  Southern	Penobscot	Bangor, Brewer, Dexter, East Corinth, Hampden, Hermon, Kenduskeag, Newport, Old Town, Orono, Veazie	MEZ015	MEC019
  Interior	Hancock	Myra, Amherst, Lucerne-in-Maine	MEZ016	MEC009
  Central	Washington	Calais, Deblois, Grand Lake Stream, Meddybemps, Pembroke, Perry, Princeton	MEZ017	MEC029
  Coastal	Hancock	Bar Harbor, Blue Hill, Ellsworth, Deer Isle	MEZ029	MEC009
  Coastal	Washington	Centerville, Cherryfield, Columbia, Columbia Falls, Eastport, Harrington, Jonesboro, Jonesport, Machias, Millbridge, Steuben	MEZ030	MEC029

  
  
  • Zone Forecast Product (ZFP) [Alternate]
    
    
    • Aroostook, Northeast—MEZ002
    • Aroostook, Northwest—MEZ001
    • Aroostook, Southeast—MEZ006
    • Hancock, Coastal—MEZ029
    • Hancock, Interior—MEZ016
    • Penobscot, Central—MEZ011
    • Penobscot, Northern—MEZ005
    • Penobscot, Southern—MEZ015
    • Piscataquis, Central—MEZ010
    • Piscataquis, Northern—MEZ004
    • Piscataquis, Southern—MEZ031
    • Somerset, Northern—MEZ003
    • Washington, Central—MEZ017
    • Washington, Coastal—MEZ030
    • Washington, Northern—MEZ032
      
      

      In the ZFP, zones with like weather are grouped together and a 7-day text forecast is issued for the group. The ZFP therefore varies in size. Some days with complex weather there are many different zone groupings and many different 7-day forecasts. The zone you live in may receive a forecast of its own. Other days the weather pattern may be simpler and many zones will be grouped together resulting in fewer 7-day forecasts. The zone you live in may be grouped with others in a combined forecast.

      You can view the ZFP in its entirety to see all the forecasts for the whole WFO Caribou forecast area. Every zone is included. You must scroll through the product to find your zone of interest.

      To make things easier, we have also provided links to each individual forecast, listed by zone. Your zone of interest will probably not appear alone with its own forecast, but at least you will only be looking at one forecast.

  • Area Forecast Matrix (AFM) [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]
    

    The codes used in the AFM may be found in this explanation.

    The AFM is like the ZFP, only for the numerically minded. It presents a 7-day forecast in a tabular, numerical format. In this product, each of the 15 zones in our forecast area is always given its own forecast.

    You can only view the AFM in its entirety. You must scroll through the product to find your zone of interest. They appear in numerical order.

  • Short Term Forecast or NowCast (NOW) [Alternate]
    

    The NOW is an event driven product, issued only occasionally, as a supplement to a previously released forecast. It is issued only for the specific zones it will affect. Typically, NOWcasts are related to storms or other localized weather events (such as fog) where the additional information it provides would only be of interest to the zones mentioned.

• Areal Forecasts—Cover WFO Caribou's Whole Area of Responsibility
  
  
  • Area Forecast Discussion [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]]

    The AFD is issued multi-daily. It summarizes the forecaster's thinking in meteorological terms, although the paragraph at the beginning, titled "Synopsis," is normally expressed in plain English.

  • Hazardous Weather Outlook (HWO) [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]

    A hazard is an all-encompassing term we use to describe a weather / environmental event that has a potential for danger to the public. We issue a product with a severity category of Warning, Advisory, or Watch to alert the public to these dangers.

    The Hazardous Weather Outlook, also multi-daily, is not itself a warning, watch or advisory, but rather a forecast product predicting upcoming hazards. It also summarizes existing hazards, which can be viewed in detail on our Local Hazards page.

• Regional / Statewide Forecasts—Produced by WFO Gray, Maine


• Tabular State Forecast (SFT) [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]

  Although mentioned above under Cities / Towns, the SFT is included again because it is really a regional forecast. It's organized by areas within a state and shows forecast numerics for cities / towns. It includes both Maine and New Hampshire. See its entry above for detailed info.

• Recreational Report (REC) [Alternate 1] [Alternate 2]

  The REC is also regional and self-explanatory.

Our cartographic, or map-based, forecasts plot individual weather elements, such as temperature or chance of precipitation, on a map of our area of responsibility.

These forecasts are definitely not for those with slow Internet connections (especially avoid the Loops tab). They are graphically intensive and tend to work best with Broadband connectivity or better, though they can be used with a dial-up connection and a lot of patience.

It is recommended that once you have the initial cartographic forecasts page displayed on your screen, immediately turn off the mouse over effect by choosing Table MouseOver Effect Off in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the display in the left-hand table cell. You must then actively click to cause a new weather element to display and can wait patiently for it to appear. The other behavior, with mouse over effect on, means that the elements try to change instantly as you roll your mouse over them. On a slow line this results in less-than-intuitive behavior since "instantly" isn't.

These maps include some of our "specialty" weather element forecasts. The Marine tab includes forecasts for weather, combined seas, visibility and wind direction and speed plotted over our coastal marine zone (which extends out 25 nautical miles). The Fire Weather tab (appearing seasonally) includes weather elements specific to fire weather forecasting during the spring and fall dry seasons.

Our radar coverage could be just what you need when you are looking for that gap in the storm to make your dash home from work!

Caribou's local radar viewed with the:

• Enhanced version for higher bandwidth connections.
• Standard version for lower bandwidth connections.

Our WSR-88D (Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler) is located near Houlton and is named KCBW (or sometimes just CBW). The one downstate is near Gray and is known as KGYX (or GYX).

Gray's radar viewed with the:

• Enhanced version for higher bandwidth connections.
• Standard version for lower bandwidth connections.

When viewing one of those radar plots, you are looking at raw data, exactly as our forecasters do. You have to play forecaster, but you won't need a degree in meteorology. You can read this handy WSR-88D Radar FAQ instead. The FAQ will answer all your questions on what those radar pages are displaying.

If the radar page is not updating, we may be experiencing operational difficulties with our radar. You can check this at the NWS Level II Radar Receive Status page. Look for KCBW03 and KGYX03.

See the State of Maine Air Quality Forecasts.

Or view the overall picture for the northeast at the National Weather Service's Air Quality Forecast Guidance.

See the National Weather Service Space Environment Center's 3-Day Solar and Geophysical Activity Report. Look at the bottom in section VI for the Geomagnetic Activity Probabilities. In the tabular report you will be looking at, the rows are described. The columns are the three days of the report: first column is day 1, second is day 2, third is day 3. The numbers represent the probability of geomagnetic activity. High numbers of probability for a major-severe storm at mid-latitutes would indicate the best chance of Maine-viewable auroral activity. Lower numbers, higher latitides, or lower severities would indicated lesser chances of viewable auroras.

For more detailed info see the Space Environment Center's Tips on Viewing the Aurora

Home—NWS Forecast Office—Caribou, Maine