Dear Sun Spots: The Stanton Bird Club sponsors a junior naturalist program for students in grades four, five and six at Montello School. We meet once a week and alternate classroom theory with visits to Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary for hands-on experiences. We are interested in weather data for Lewiston because we are very aware of the affect of weather and weather patterns on the plant and animal life at Thorncrag and we think this exceptionally snowy winter will impact our study. We also want to reinforce the value of the newspaper as a source of relevant weather data that is available every day. For us, the newspaper is the best resource for learning about the weather because we can take our time understanding the data, and we can learn about so many more things than just what is going on outside our windows. Since it’s not in the newspaper, where can we find historical data on Lewiston weather? – Gloria, Lewiston.

Answer: Sun Spots spoke with Charlie Lopresti, chief meteorologist at WGME News 13. According to Lopresti, this is a very common question! The National Weather Service provides climate data for Portland, Gray and Concord, N.H. It may be easily accessed at the National Weather Forecast Gray/Portland Office’s Web site http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=gyx. By clicking on “Local,” under the “Climate” section on the left side of the page, you may browse through categories such as the daily climate reports, the monthly weather summary and regional summary for these areas. The specific information for Lewiston is not available on the Web site.

Steve Capriola at the NWS was also very helpful. He mentioned that you may check out the NOWData part of the previously mentioned Web site for more information. Access this by clicking on the NOWData tab at the top right side of the Web page. This page contains a wealth of information on many things such as the monthly average of snowfall, daily almanacs, and record extremes for many areas in Maine and New Hampshire.

In order to find climate data specifically for Lewiston, Lopresti recommended looking at the National Climate Data Center’s Web site www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climateresearch.html. Climatological data publications for Maine are available dating back to November 1884! There is a $4 fee to access these reports.

Another Web site that may help you find weather information is www.weather.msn.com, which will give you average temperatures and precipitation for the month. Just enter the zip code for the town you are looking for and you will find weather records for temperatures and precipitation for that town. You may also view graphs of climate change data for Lewiston at www.neisa.unh.edu. From this page, click on “Climate, Air Quality and Health” and then select “Indicators of Climate Change in New England.” By scrolling over the red dots, which represent station locations, find Lewiston, and you will be able to view graphs that show the trends for annual temperature, annual precipitation, annual snowfall and length of the growing season.

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