Portland was hit by a mix of snow, rain – even thunder and lightning – on Tuesday by a storm that was expected to drop as much as a foot of snow on northern Maine by Wednesday night.
Chris Kimble, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, said the storm was forecast to move into the northern parts of Maine late Tuesday night, and some areas north of Bangor could have between 6 and 12 inches of snow by late Wednesday.
Portland, Lewiston and Brunswick imposed parking bans Tuesday night.
The threat of more snow had crews scrambling Tuesday to restore electrical service to those Emera Maine customers who were still without power from Sunday’s wind-driven rainstorm. The utility serves northern and eastern Maine.
According to Emera Maine’s website, 884 customers, nearly all of them in Hancock County, were without service as of 11:25 p.m. Tuesday.
At the height of Sunday’s storm, 30,000 Emera Maine customers were without electrical power. Spokesman Bob Potts said wind gusts reaching 60 mph toppled large trees and limbs, which pulled down power lines and snapped utility poles.
“With the assistance of additional Canadian line crews, Emera Maine line workers made impressive progress today, restoring power to thousands of customers who had been in the dark since Sunday night’s wind storm,” Potts said Tuesday.
The Caribou office of the National Weather Service forecast that the snowstorm will end early Thursday.
Temperatures in northern Maine are expected to be extremely low for the next several days, with wind chills reaching as low as 12 degrees below zero.
Central Maine Power Co. reported 49 outages late Tuesday night in Cumberland and Hancock counties. During the height of Sunday’s storm, CMP reported about 25,000 outages.
Southern Maine was hit hard by Sunday’s rainstorm, with dozens of downed trees and flooded roads reported.
West Pownal Road in North Yarmouth reopened just before noon Tuesday after Chandler Brook flooded the road.
Kimble said another snowstorm will affect Portland and southern Maine this weekend. He said it should begin snowing on Saturday morning and will snow into Saturday evening.
“It’s a little early to say how much snow, but it will be plowable,” Kimble predicted.
Wednesday’s forecast for the Portland area calls for sunny skies with high temperatures in the upper 20s.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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