New England Heat Records Fall Before Noon

9 PM Update: Here are the updated records:

Boston     83°   
Portland   82°
Providence 81° 

This is also the earliest 80° temperature on record at Portland.

Other records were set as follows (old record and date in parentheses):

Worcester MA 78 (76, 1938)
Hartford CT  83 (75, 1948) 
Concord NH   84 (74, 1946)  
Houlton ME   79 (71, 1939)
Bangor ME    84 (66, 1979)
Caribou ME   73 (63, 1979) 

This is also a new monthly record for March at Bangor (previous 79° in 1946).

The following temperatures of 80° or above were reported by the National Weather Service in northern Maine (not all official):

..WASHINGTON COUNTY  
  
3 SSW MILLBRIDGE (64 FT)(APRSWXNET)             143 PM MAR 22       85 F  
7 NNW DEBLOIS (285 FT)(MEDOT)                   400 PM MAR 22       84 F  
5 S CALAIS (209 FT)(RAWS)                       319 PM MAR 22       84 F  
1 W MARSHFIELD (190 FT)(APRSWXNET)              137 PM MAR 22       84 F  
COOPER (272 FT)(APRSWXNET)                      206 PM MAR 22       83 F  
2 ESE PRINCETON (262 FT)(APRSWXNET)             333 PM MAR 22       83 F  
1 SW EAST MACHIAS (59 FT)(APRSWXNET)            151 PM MAR 22       83 F  
PASSAMAQUODDY BAY TIDE GAGE (10 FT)(GOES)       354 PM MAR 22       82 F

..PISCATAQUIS COUNTY  
  
PISCATAQUIS RIVER GAGE (358 FT)(COOP)           130 PM MAR 22       82 F  

..PENOBSCOT COUNTY  
  
SUNKHAZE MEADOWS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE       231 PM MAR 22       85 F  
2 SW BREWER (49 FT)(APRSWXNET)                  419 PM MAR 22       85 F  
BANGOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (188 FT)(ASOS)     353 PM MAR 22       84 F  
MILLINOCKET MUNICIPAL AIRPORT (409 FT)(ASOS)    253 PM MAR 22       80 F 

..HANCOCK COUNTY  
  
BLUE HILL (18 FT)(APRSWXNET)                    209 PM MAR 22       85 F  
4 E BROOKSVILLE (419 FT)(APRSWXNET)             208 PM MAR 22       82 F  
3 W BAR HARBOR (423 FT)(RAWS)                  1258 PM MAR 22       82 F  
BAR HARBOR TIDE GAUGE (20 FT)(GOES)             312 PM MAR 22       80 F  
2 E SURRY (98 FT)(APRSWXNET)                    133 PM MAR 22       80 F 

Original post:
Image (click to enlarge): U.S. surface temperatures at 1 pm EDT, March 22, 2012, from Unisys

High temperature records have already been broken before noon today in New England.

Boston's temperature of 73° at 11:45 am broke the old record of 72° in 1948. Boston's climate history dates back 140 years to 1872.

At Portland, Maine, the 11 am temperature of 74° was 4° above the old record for March 22 of 70° in 1948. Yesterday's high of 79° crushed the previous record of 60° in 1946. Official temperature records at Portland began in 1941.

Providence, Rhode Island hit a record of 75° early this afternoon, beating the 74° also observed in 1948. Providence's climate history began in 1904.

Here are the latest temperatures (2 pm EDT):

Boston     79°
Portland   80°
Providence 77°