Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Brewer, ME

NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/
The vertically stacked low pressure system is drifting east this morning over the Gulf of St. Lawrence north of Prince Edward Island heading for Newfoundland today. Shortwave energy is pivoting south through Maine today with rain/snow showers early but turning to rain showers as temperatures warm. Expect a mostly cloudy morning with increasing sunshine and an end to rain showers by afternoon. Drier air will work into the area from the NW on the backside of the shortwave. It will be breezy through mid afternoon with NW winds 10-15mph and gusts up to 25-30mph possible at times especially at elevations or open areas. Highs today top out in the low to mid 40s across the North including Moosehead to Baxter to Houlton and points north.
Central Highlands including Dover-Foxcroft to Danforth to Bangor and Wesley expect highs in the mid to upper 40s. The Downeast coast from Bar Harbor to Eastport including Machias will be in the upper 40s to around 50F. Tonight, surface pressure ridge works east into Maine and relaxes the pressure gradient with winds becoming calm. Skies will clear by sunset as dry air works in and might be a great evening to catch the Comet Tsuchinshan- Atlas in the Western sky after sunset (about 45min past sunset).
Anyways, expect temperatures to drop tonight with strong radiational cooling expected. Modeled soundings show steep inversions in the AM with calm winds, clear skies and dry boundary layer. This will result in widespread frost across the CWA with temperatures dropping into the 20s across the north, upper 20s to low 30s for the Central Highlands and then low 30s for the Downeast coast. Given, the frost/freeze program continues for Downeast and temperatures potentially 30-32F opted to hoist a Freeze Watch for Hancock County and much of Washington County.

SHORT TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/
A weak 700 mb trough may linger over the northern part of the state Thursday morning prior to washing out. At this time, there could be some low to mid level moisture that combined with this area of instability could be a source for scattered low level cloud cover across the northwest, on the windward side of the Longfellows. Otherwise, skies should clear into the day on Thursday, with a dry pattern settling in under building high pressure.

Frost is likely to develop both Thursday and Friday nights under clear skies, dropping temperatures, and light winds. Of the two nights, Thursday night will be colder with lows potentially dropping below 30 across the north and to around freezing Downeast. For Friday night, lows may only dip into the low to mid 30s. Patchy river valley fog may also develop each night.

Temperatures will warm each afternoon, with highs lifting into the mid to upper 50s by Friday.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/
High pressure will continue to hold on across the area through the weekend and into early next week, with the axis of the ridge beginning to shift eastward by Tuesday. Under this stable pattern, diurnal high temperatures will gradually rise, potentially lifting into the mid to upper 60s into early next week. A weak front may approach from the north Sunday into Sunday night, but current guidance trends keep the ridge of high pressure strong enough that little more than possibly an increase in cloud cover is expected from this feature.

AVIATION /07Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/
NEAR TERM: VFR/MVFR with isolated IFR conditions becoming MVFR then VFR by late afternoon. NW winds 10-15kt with gusts up to 30kt possible. Tonight, VFR. BCFG/BR possible but confidence is low. Winds light and variable tonight.

SHORT TERM:

Thurs - Sun: VFR across all terminals. Brief periods of IFR fog and BCFG could develop early each morning, particularly at terminals in river valleys. W winds 5 to 10 kts Thurs, becoming light and variable Thurs night through Fri night. SW winds 5 to 10 kts Sat through Sun.

MARINE
NEAR TERM: Small Craft Advisory has been cancelled for the Intra-Coastal Waters. NW gusts 20-23kt possible today here but with seas subsiding expecting only brief gusts up to 25kt and confidence is high that winds remain below SCA conditions much of the day. Over the outer waters NW winds will gust potentially up to 30kt through mid afternoon and opted to extend the SCA through 5pm with seas 3-6ft slowly subsiding by evening.
Tonight, seas rapidly subside to 1-3ft and N-NW winds less than 15kt expected.

SHORT TERM: Wind gusts could approach 25 kts Thursday night as high pressure continues to build in over the waters, depending on how deep of a cold layer moves over the waters at that time, and there could be the need for a brief SCA if this pattern trends more unstable. Otherwise, conditions should remain below small craft advisory criteria through the end of the week and into the weekend under persistent high pressure conditions.

CAR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
ME...Freeze Watch from this evening through Thursday morning for MEZ016-017-029-030.
MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until 5 PM EDT this afternoon for ANZ050- 051.