Most of us here on the Boothbay peninsula feel that we dodged a bullet earlier this month when northern and western Maine got hit hard by back-to-back storms leaving behind more than two feet of snow. All we got was a dusting, followed by rain which left us with bare ground. Even a few miles to our south, along the Route One corridor, snow covered the ground and hung around for a while. We were relieved that our walkways and roads remained relatively clear. We’re realists, however, and while we can boast that as of mid-January, we have little snowfall compared to our northern Maine neighbors, we can still appreciate the fact that the calendar tells us that winter is far from over.

No matter what lies ahead of us, the odds are in our favor when it comes to seeing more mild winters in our future, even though we know we won’t escape all of the storms which come our way. Scientists claim that the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s ocean. That’s a sobering statistic.

Our peninsula, surrounded on three sides by these warming waters, should probably prepare itself for some new winter weather patterns. We’re very close to the Gulf Stream, which has an impact on our overall weather and, combined with rising sea temperatures in the entire Gulf itself, we’re already experiencing changes to the ocean in our own back yard, some good and bad. Lobsters don’t like warm water, and while lobster catches continue to remain relatively stable, we’re being reminded that if the water temperature creeps up a few more degrees, it may mean disaster for the industry in midcoast Maine. Lobsters continue to move north toward cooler water. We’ve already seen the impact on neighboring states to our south, with sharp declines in landings.

Shrimp don’t like warm water, either, nor do herring or scallops. Warm water has brought newer species to the Gulf of Maine, ones rarely seen in our neck of the woods in years past.  Most of us aren’t too thrilled with some of the newcomers like the Great Whites, now a common sight as far north as Cape Cod, and continuing to push northward as the water warms.

Escalating temperatures mean rising water levels, too, which we’re already being warned will have a negative impact on our coastline. When we were younger, folks used to quip that in a hundred years or so, we’d be enjoying Miami weather. It’s not so funny anymore.

The Gulf of Maine deserves much of the credit (or blame) for our milder weather and it looks like we’ve got a mixed bag of changes coming our way thanks to Mother Nature, some of them welcome ones, and others not so much. We’re not disappointed that winters may be milder in the years to come, but we shudder at what warmer temperatures will do to Gulf of Maine waters. We’re definitely not looking forward to seeing some of the predictions come true.