This afternoon we find an area of rain and snow across much of southern and central Maine. Temperatures have warmed above freezing along much of the coast, but a frozen mess remains inland.

Eventually, temperatures will warm enough in the foothills and back to the mountains to change the freezing rain and sleet to rain.
The highest elevations will likely stay mostly snow or a mix during this storm.

The heaviest part of the storm will occur into the evening hours with showers and cloud lingering for a couple of days. The radar loop below shows the projected pattern of rainfall into the middle of the evening. By 10PM the back edge of the rain will be rapidly moving through southern Maine. This means this storm isn’t going to go all night long.

This is a strong nor’easter, but not a blockbuster storm. Think of it as a typical New England storm with strong wind, heavy rain and mountain snow. There will be some minor coastal flooding, some scattered power issues and also some flooding, but nothing major.

Frozen Precipitation
The cold air from continues to linger. Across inland areas the freezing rain will continue past sunset. This will make travel on untreated surfaces quite difficult into the evening. The map below shows what types of precipitation will be falling for much of the rest of the storm. Later this evening temperatures will rise above freezing where there is sleet and freezing rain.

Heavy Rain
Rainfall will average 2 to 3 inches, but some places will likely fall under and perhaps even over those amounts. This amount of rain is enough to cause small stream flooding, street flooding and basement issues, but not enough for moderate or certainly major flooding. The heavy rain just won’t last long enough for that type of situation.

Wind
Winds will begin to pick up this morning and continue to become stronger this afternoon. The winds will peak during the evening commute and make travel more difficult along with the rain. Winds could gust to 50 miles per hour along the coast and these speeds can take down large enough branches and perhaps even some trees to cause power outages. I don’t expect widespread power issues, but I would have your phone charged and dinner prepared if you lived along the coast. Remember, it gets dark very early so a loss of power is a long time in the dark.

Coastal Flooding
This storm won’t bring any significant coastal flooding to the area. The strongest winds will occur during low tide, so coastal concerns are minimal.

Lingering Storm
The low pressure area bringing us this storm is going to linger around, but in a much weakened state, for a few days. This means clouds and the chance of showers continues into Thursday with the highest change tomorrow. I don’t expect you will see much sunshine until Saturday although some sunny breaks are likely on Friday. Temperatures will be seasonably chilly, but not extreme and I don’t see any snow events in the future.

Sunset
Today is December 9th and our earliest sunset of the year. In Portland the sun officially goes down at 4:04 PM, but it’s going to look dark by 3:30 with the thick clouds and rain. Starting tomorrow we gain a tiny amount of daylight time in the afternoon, but lose more in the morning so the overall daylight continues to decrease until the 21st.

Copy the Story Link