Winter storm will bring up to a foot of fresh snow across Maine
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
A winter storm will bring as much as a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 45 mph across Maine late Monday into Tuesday.
The National Weather Service has placed the entire state under a winter storm warning from 11 p.m. Monday until 11 p.m. Tuesday.
That storm is barreling down on Maine after walloping the Midwest with the most snow that some places there had seen in decades, according to the Associated Press. It grounded hundreds of flights out of Chicago, and snow fell as far away as Washington, D.C.
Greater Bangor is currently forecast to get about 10 inches of fresh snow, while Bar Harbor is expected to get 8 inches, Machias 8 inches and Eastport 7 inches, according to the weather service’s Caribou office.
Eastern Maine also can expect a wintry mix to accompany the snow, which could leave roads slick and icy. Winds could become gusty at times, reaching up to 35 mph in Greater Bangor and 45 mph near the coast, according to the weather service.
A wide swath of territory further inland from Houlton to Madawaska is forecast to get up to 9 inches of snow, with higher amounts in Fort Kent and Estcourt Station.
That snow, wind and wintry mix could create hazardous driving conditions for those Mainers who still have to commute to work, the weather service warned. The storm could damage trees and power lines, causing outages.
The storm has prompted cities across the Northeast, particularly in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, to halt COVID-19 vaccination drives on Monday. But so far, some Maine vaccination clinics are going ahead with appointments for Tuesday. Northern Light Health plans to open its vaccine clinic at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to inoculate those with appointments on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Maine, snowfall will become heavier in parts of southern Maine and the western mountains. Sanford is forecast to get up to 12 inches of snow, and Portland is expecting up to 11 inches, according to the weather service’s Gray office.
That accumulation will lessen along parts of the midcoast, where 6 inches are forecast in Rockland and 8 inches in Belfast.