PORTLAND

Heavy snow pummeled much of Maine as another round of winter weather immobilized parts of the state for another day. Here’s what residents need to know about the storm:

Snow on top of snow

Residents are still recovering from last week’s storms, which dropped close to 3 feet of snow in parts of the state, and Monday’s storm threatened to drop more than 14 more inches on Downeast Maine.

Portland had about 5 inches by 4 p.m. and was likely to get 10 inches by the time snow stopped after midnight, meteorologists said. Far northern Maine was more likely to get 3 to 5 inches by the end of the storm. A winter storm warning was in effect for most of Maine as the cold, chilly storm bore down on the state. Portland had a wind chill of minus 14 degrees Monday morning and some areas saw 30 mph wind gusts. Coastal areas accumulated snow quicker and high winds made visibility very poor.

Still digging out — more on the way

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Maine residents have had little relief from snow in recent days, as last week’s storms combined with Monday’s left even people who work in the snow fatigued.

Ryan Girard, who shovels sidewalks outside of businesses and homes in Hallowell, said keeping up with the snow so far this winter has been tough. He said he’s having a hard time finding places to put newly fallen snow because there’s already so much piled up.

“Mother Nature is showing who’s the boss,” said the 41-year-old, who was shoveling outside of a bakery in downtown Hallowell on Monday. “I could use a little break, but it is what it is. It’s Maine; this is what you’ve got to deal with.”

National Weather Service meteorologists say today will be cold, with high temperatures in the upper teens in Portland, but skies will be sunny and winds will die down. It could be short lived, though — more snow is in the forecast for Thursday and into Friday.

Many closings

Most state offices closed early, but offices in Aroostook County remained open for normal business hours. Gov. Paul LePage urged all residents to drive slowly, keep a safe distance behind other vehicles and make sure they’re giving snow plows enough room to operate.

The state Legislature also canceled all committee hearings and activities for the day. Dozens of schools and municipal offices around the state were closed.

Few outages

The storm left Maine’s power grid mostly intact, with Central Maine Power and Emera Maine monitoring for outages but reporting that power was available to all customers late Monday afternoon.



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