A rapidly developing coastal nor’easter will bring a period of heavy snow to coastal York and Cumberland Counties with lighter snow inland.  Further east toward the Mid-Coast and through Down-East Maine near blizzard conditions will prevail overnight with snowfall exceeding a foot east of Penobscot bay.  The heaviest snow will remain east of Rockland and very little snow will fall over interior areas of Maine.

 

Explosive cyclogeneis or  bombogenesis are meteorological terms used to describe the rapid intensification of a low pressure system or storm.  What is happening atmospherically is the air is rushing off the planet so fast it creates a hole with less air in the middle of the storm.  Then air rushes in to replace the rapidly rising air and results in a lot of wind.  It’s sort of like digging a hole at the beach and watching the water fill it up quickly.   This is the weather situation we have developing later during the night.

Picture yourself trying whack someone with your hand, I’ll let you choose who it is.  If at the same time you extend your arm to impact them, you started moving away you might miss them.  If you move quickly, you give them a glancing blow and if you slow down they feel the full impact of your hand.  The big ocean storm is on the move and thefore  is going to just brush areas just west of Gray while hitting areas east of Rockland full force. 

I recommend you not travel this evening, especially along the Down-East coastline where the snow and wind will be the worst. 

Blizzard warnings are in effect as close as the North Shore of Massachusetts, but are not up for any areas of Maine

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The snow will be heaviest through midnight in Portland, but even then not very heavy. After this time the snow will begin to end over western Maine and this back edge will push eastward to the coast before sunrise Sunday.  Sunshine returns for Sunday and it will be blustery and cold.

This is a quick hitting storm and the wind will be a factor along the water overnight.  There is the chance for widely scattered power outages if the winds exceed 40 miles per hour.

A bright and sunny day is on the way for Monday with highs only in the 20s.  Another storm brings more light snow to the area on Tuesday or Wednesday.  This is the final cold storm for a while as milder air finally pushes temperatures into the 40s for the second half of next week.  There could be some rain during this time as well.

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