In recent weeks, Southern Maine has seen a string of blizzards, with storms on Thursday, Feb. 6, and Presidents Day weekend each seeing the region hit with almost a full foot of snow – and it’s not done yet. This winter is a reversal of previous trends, which have seen Maine’s once infamously harsh winters become shorter and more mild over the years.

Amid the storms, public works departments throughout the Lakes Region have been coping with the weather in various ways. Standish Public Works Director John Cross said that his department has been working at times for 24 to 30 hours across 12 plow routes to clear up the roads and push back snowbanks for emergency vehicles, and that it was very important to keep all the trucks going to keep up with the storms. He said that, while this is not a particularly brutal winter by Maine standards, it still came as a shock following a recent dearth of snow.

“It’s not out of the normal,” Cross said of the snowfall, “but we’re not used to having this snow for the last five years.”

His Gray counterpart, Timothy Estes, also noted how storms have been occurring more frequently this year than in previous years, but he expressed optimism at forecasts showing calmer weather over the upcoming week. He said that Gray has been dealing with the storms like it would any other normal winter, with the plowing crews, who have 13 pieces of equipment, devoting “a lot of hours” to cleanup efforts.

“The traveling public is our first priority, to make the roads as safe as possible,” said Estes.

Bridgton Public Works Director David Madsen said that Bridgton has had four consecutive weekends where maintenance workers have had to work, not giving them much time off. He described the most recent storm as a “doozy,” noting that at this point last winter, Bridgton had received just 10 inches of snow total, less than the amount of snowfall during this Presidents Day weekend alone. Nevertheless, he said the plowing crews had pulled through and helped maintain the roads, using all of their assets, 11 pieces of plowing equipment in total, to clean up after the storm.

Regarding the use of sand and salt to clear snow, Madsen said that Bridgton uses a mixture of the two materials depending on what kind of road being treated. He said that the choice of whether to use straight salt or sand, or to mix the materials together, is largely dependent on weather conditions.

“It really is weather dependent on what materials we’re putting down and what roads we’re putting it down on,” said Madsen.