A sloppy snowstorm led to slick roads and closed schools in southern and central Maine on Thursday.

The Legislature also closed for the day, and many communities imposed parking bans ahead of the storm that swept across southern Maine dropping wet, heavy snow that mixed with rain along the coast to make a slippery and slushy mess of the roads.

Snowfall totals varied, with Standish getting 14.2 inches, Cumberland getting 12 and Raymond receiving 11 inches, according to the National Weather Service website. New Gloucester got 9.1, got Auburn 8, Otisfield in Oxford County 8, and the Portland International Jetport 6.

The snow stopped around 7 p.m. in most areas. Temperatures climbed to 35 degrees at the jetport on Thursday, the weather service reported, and were expected to drop to about 10 degrees overnight, with 35-mph wind gusts dropping the wind chill value to minus 7 degrees. Friday is expected to be blustery with a high of 19, according to the weather service.

The cold temperatures will continue into the weekend and another storm is expected to drop more snow on the region Saturday night into Sunday.

The slick roads on Thursday led to many accidents and slide offs, though no serious injuries were reported.

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The Maine Turnpike lowered the speed limit to 45 mph and reported multiple crashes through the day, including one early Thursday afternoon that closed part of the northbound lanes in Wells and another that disrupted traffic in Kennebunk. Later Thursday afternoon, a crash closed one of the southbound lanes in New Gloucester.

A truck and trailer carrying a load of SUVs slid off an Interstate 295 entry ramp near the Maine Mall in South Portland in the afternoon.

In Biddeford, a pickup truck slid off the road and slammed head-on into the barrel of an old iron cannon mounted near the intersection of Green and South streets, damaging the vehicle and breaking a granite planter that sits near the cannon, police said. AAA responded to the scene, police said.

A pickup slid off the road and head-first into the barrel of an old iron cannon at the intersection of Green and South streets in Biddeford. Photo courtesy of Chris Mason

Central Maine Power Co. reported more than 2,000 customers were without power as of 2 p.m. Thursday, but that number had dropped to 190 by 10 p.m. with most of those affected living Scarborough.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Sam Shepherd contributed to this story.

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