PORTLAND (AP) – The temperature dipped to zero or colder from Kittery to Fort Kent early Friday. In Portland, it was the coldest weather in nearly two years.

The mercury dipped to minus 3 in Portland, according to Michael Cempa of the National Weather Service office in Gray. The last time the temperature dipped below zero in Maine’s largest city was on Jan. 29, 2005, when it was 5 below in Portland.

But it was much colder in northern Maine, where it dipped to minus 15 in Caribou, Houlton and Presque Isle, officials said.

With gusting winds, the wind chill was expected to be nearly 40 below Friday afternoon in northern Maine.

The good news is the cold will be short lived, Cempa said. Today it’ll be in the 20s in southern Maine, he said.


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