More than 4 inches of snow fell in the Eustis area.

Eleven state plow trucks headed to northern Franklin and Oxford counties to plow the wet snow that fell early Tuesday. More than 4 inches of snow fell in Eustis, and Rangeley and the Grafton Notch area received about 2 inches.

All but one of the state trucks cleared snow from the roads in northern Franklin County.

Rivers in the Franklin County region rose “quite high,” according to Franklin County Assistant Emergency Director Olive Toothaker.

Her counterparts in Oxford and Androscoggin counties said they hadn’t heard of the rivers rising in those areas.

Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency Director Joanne Potvin said she was surprised to learn of the heavy rain fall and snow in Franklin County.

Potvin said it was just sprinkling in Lewiston and the sun looked like it was going to break through.

While snow fell in northern Franklin County, Farmington received about 2.35 inches of rain by early afternoon.

Though there were no major problems in Franklin County, Toothaker said, all the rivers were up.

“If this keeps up through the night,” Toothaker said, “I would imagine there will probably be some flooding that could create problems. Hopefully this will subside.”

Barricades had been put up on Porter Hill Road in Farmington where water had come up over the road in a spot.

State Department of Transportation Supervisor Norm Haggan said that plow trucks went out at 4 a.m. and plowed from Avon north to Rangeley and to Stratton, and from Kingfield north to Coburn Gore.

“It was real wet snow, fortunately it wasn’t deep,” Haggan said.

Another plow truck headed to the Grafton Notch area to plow Route 26 in Oxford County, Haggan said. The snow that had fallen there was nearly gone by the time the truck arrived.

National Weather Service observer Betty Wing in Eustis said a little more than 4 inches of snow had fallen from about 2 to 7 a.m. when it turned to rain.

The temperature was hovering about 31 to 32 degrees Tuesday afternoon and the snow on the ground was getting heavier, Wing said. It was slushy.

National Weather Service observer Tom Haggan reported that Rangeley had about 2.5 inches of snow fall by 6 a.m.

Some of the snow had melted, he said, but early Tuesday afternoon the rain was on the verge of snow with the temperature at 32.4 degrees.

Both Wing and Haggan said it was the first measurable snow for Eustis and Rangeley.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.