As this week brings us to the middle of January and beyond, the weather this past week was record-breaking here in the great Sebago Lakes Region and throughout Maine and much of the northeastern US. A three day winter thaw brought temperatures to and in many places above 50° with heavy rainfall amounts in the 3”-4” ranges. There was significant snowpack prior to this 1/2 week weather event, with the predictions of widespread ice storms to end the event which luckily did not happen on a widespread basis and were very localized, mostly to much higher elevation areas and mostly in the mountains only. There has been unusual January heavy flooding with the Kennebec River in the Augusta Hallowell area at roughly 14’ above flood stage catching many property and car owners off guard when an ice dam upstream let go overnight this weekend causing a huge torrent and massive amounts of water to raise the river more that 14’ very suddenly in the pre-dawn hours, submerging many parked cars and filling businesses with ice-cold water in minutes rather than the hours it usually takes for a large river to rise to such a flood stage. Here in our Sebago Lakes Region we lost significant snowpack and the consensus is that only 25-30% of the snow we had is remaining, going into this next week that begins with Martin Luther King day being observed on Monday. Banks, Schools, Post Offices, and all State of Maine offices and facilities are closed in observance of the Holiday, and many businesss are also closed to start this week beginning on the 15th of January, 2018. Everyone here at Maine Real Estate Choice hopes that you have fared well through the recent frigid temperatures since the Holidays and that you have also had no major problems through this record-breaking winter thaw with heavy rains event, which is quickly going back to very cold overnight temperatures. But looking ahead towards the timeframe of out next Lakefront Advisor, there are predictions of again warmer temperatures bringing milder than normal conditions to the region. Due to the extreme temperatures recently the ice fishing has been excellent and is still safe due to the thick icepack that has formed, and regional officials are warning only those spots that have current flow due to the recent swift warm up and rain, may not be safe for ice events. Many lakes are now excellent spots for ice skating due to the thaw and swift refreezing, and we all expect that an old Maine saying, will continue to prove itself true: If you don’t happen to like the weather here in Maine.. Just wait a minute!

Make it a great week!!