Another snowstorm is going to hit Portland, but unlike Friday’s unexpected wintry blast, it shouldn’t catch anyone by surprise.

James Brown, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, said Monday’s storm, which will start at midmorning and linger through the late evening hours, will drop up to 6 inches of snow on Greater Portland.

He said Portland and the rest of the Maine coast are “on the fringe” of a monster ocean storm that would have produced huge amounts of snow if it had passed over land. The result will be light, fluffy snow falling steadily in Portland until midnight Monday.

“There is going to be enough snow to put down 6 inches in Portland,” Brown said Sunday night. “And it’s going to hang around for 12 hours or so.”

Unlike Friday’s snowstorm, which dumped significantly higher amounts of snow than the 3 to 6 inches that were forecast, this one should be more predictable, Brown said. Portland got 9 inches of snow and Scarborough 9.5 inches on Friday.

The only twist in the upcoming weather pattern is what Brown called an upper-level trough, which has the potential to produce 1 to 2 inches of snow on Tuesday.

Monday’s snowstorm should end around midnight, with the second storm starting during the early morning hours of Tuesday.

By the time the storm ends Tuesday afternoon, coastal areas may see up to 8 inches of snow on the ground.

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