Three Maine cities have warmest year

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070106warmest.html

It's official -- 2006 was the warmest year on record in Portland, Bangor and Caribou, according to the National Weather Service.

Portland's average temperature for the year was 48.5 degrees, surpassing the previous average high of 48.3 degrees set in 1998, the weather service said Friday.

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The average temperature in Caribou last year was 42.6 degrees, edging the previous record of 42.4 degrees set in 1999, the weather service reported earlier this week.

Bangor had an average temperature of 46.9 degrees, which broke 1983's record of 46.3 degrees.

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and in other Maine news...

Outdoors fans ready whenever winter is

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070106nosnow.html

They've tinkered with their snowmobiles and cleared miles of trails. They've repainted their ice-fishing shacks and sharpened their skates.
If readying for cold weather were enough to bring it about, the Maine outdoors would be an arctic snowscape right now.

But despite the ritualistic preparations of the many winter-sports enthusiasts, the temperature -- which hit 56 degrees Friday in Portland -- remains stubbornly temperate.

For those who thrive on hooking a trout beneath a frozen lake, gliding through the woods on cross-country skis or enjoying other traditional winter activities, this has been a season of frustration and, in some cases, adaptation.

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"It's like we're all just itching," said Dana Thurston, an avid snowshoer and L.L. Bean employee.

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edit: and more consequences...

Many aided rescue of ski team members (who fell though thin ice)

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3487253.html

READFIELD -- Three Maranacook Community High School students who fell through the ice earlier this week are alive because of the quick thinking of their teammates and their own sheer strength, cross-country ski coach Steve DeAngelis said Friday.

But that doesn't excuse the fact that the six students who ventured out onto thin ice made an incredibly poor decision, he said.

"They are incredibly lucky," DeAngelis said. "The other people around them responded really, really well.

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He said all six students will pay the consequences, which include writing letters of apology to rescue crews.

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