There is not much to like about the winter storm that began to push its way into Maine on Tuesday night.
Forecasters characterized the storm as dynamic and unpredictable, bringing widely varying weather conditions in different parts of the state.
“It’s going to be an event with multiple hazards,” said Chris Legro, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.
Among those hazards: widespread power outages, flooding and wind gusts up to 60 mph overnight and throughout the day Wednesday. All the snow that fell in southern Maine on Sunday – more than 18 inches in some places – will likely melt, creating the potential for flooding in streams and urban areas with poor drainage systems or storm drains clogged with snow.
The National Weather Service also issued a high wind warning that went into effect at 10 p.m. Tuesday and remains in effect through 1 p.m. Wednesday. Portland was expected to experience peak wind gusts of 60 mph starting around 6 a.m., Legro said.
Port Clyde and Down East locations are likely to be hit with near-hurricane force winds of 70 mph Wednesday.
The Caribou office of the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Tuesday calling for 5 to 10 inches of snow and sleet accumulation in most of Aroostook County, the Penobscot Valley and Down East.
A man uses a tractor to remove snow from his property on Bryant Street in South Portland on Monday morning. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
The mountains of western Maine and higher elevations are expected to get 8 to 12 inches of snow overnight into Wednesday. That snow will be capped off by a brief period of rain.
The storm was forecast to start out as snow in most areas, but Legro said that will quickly change over to rain in places like Portland and along the coast after midnight, with rainfall heavy at times. Portland was expected to get 2 inches of rain before the storm ends.
State offices won’t open until noon Wednesday to allow Maine Department of Transportation crews time to clear roads. State officials urged Mainers to use caution during the storm.
“Maine is forecast to receive a significant storm Tuesday night into Wednesday that is expected to bring heavy rain, high winds, and wet heavy snow that could lead to flooding, power outages and slick driving conditions,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement. “I urge Maine people to take precautions and to prepare for the storm and its aftermath.”
“We urge citizens to prepare for heavy, wet snow, heavy rain, high winds and slippery driving conditions,” Maine Emergency Management Director Peter Rogers said. “Power outages are a concern. If you use alternate power sources, make sure you do do safely. With the possibility of coastal and urban flooding, motorists need to be alert and never drive through flooded roadways.”
Mainers spent Tuesday bracing for the storm. Communities in central Maine were expected to see several inches of wet snow before temperatures warm and the precipitation changes to rain.
“The timing of the changeover to rain, with wet snow on trees and power lines with wind, is a bad thing,” said Sean Goodwin, who heads the Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency.
Anywhere from 4-7 inches of fresh snow was expected for most of Kennebec County when the flakes start flying Tuesday night. That wet, heavy snow could fall an inch an hour during the night before changing over to a wintry mix and then rain by around 3 to 4 a.m.
While meteorologists didn’t expect this storm to be as damaging as the Dec. 18 storm that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands statewide and brought historic flooding to the Kennebec River valley, there are some similarities.
Forecasters expect wind gusts of 50-55 mph in Greater Augusta, which are just as powerful as winds that accompanied the December storm.
“The wind gusts could be pretty bad. Probably we’re most worried about winds in Kennebec County,” said Jon Palmer, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “It’s generally a good expectation for anyone in the county to see a 50 mph wind gust. With a combination of high winds and heavy, wet snow clinging onto branches, we could see a lot of trees and wires down.”
But temperatures during this storm are expected to remain much colder in the mountains, which will prevent rapid snow melt in higher elevations from flooding rivers.
“That will actually spare us a lot from any sort of catastrophic flooding we saw from the previous storm,” Palmer said. “The mountains are generally going to stay colder and the snowpack isn’t going to give way. So, the winds are generally going to be comparable to what we saw on the 18th but the flooding shouldn’t be nearly as bad as what we saw in December.”
Scott Monroe, Jessica Lowell and Keith Edwards from the Kennebec Journal, and Morning Sentinel reporter Jake Freudberg contributed to this story.
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