By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

RANGELEY – Approximately 6,750 customers were without power Wednesday after heavy snow and downed trees extensively damaged Central Maine Power transmission systems from Rangeley to Greenville, said spokeswoman Gail Rice late Wednesday afternoon in Augusta.

“It’s the worst damage we’ve seen up here in a long time,” Rice said.

“The damage was very severe. Many sections of line came down. More than a foot of heavy wet snow fell, so it’s very nasty out there,” she added.

Reported amounts ranged from a trace of snow to more than 24 inches in a 24-hour period from Mount Washington in New Hampshire to Rangeley, according to the National Weather Service in Gray.

Additionally, high avalanche danger warnings were posted Wednesday morning for Mount Washington’s popular Tuckerman and Huntington ravines.

Rice said that more than 100 CMP line workers, assessors, troubleshooters and supervisors were being sent to the western mountains from as far away as York County, Portland and Brunswick to try and restore power. That number doesn’t include tree cutters.

“We have many more people working on outage restoration. We’ve been having problems since yesterday,” Rice said.

Power outages in the Farmington to Eustis area began happening between 6 and 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The region’s isolation, weather conditions, heavy snow and unplowed roads were also contributing to the power company’s woes.

“We’re bringing in generators, lights, excavators and track vehicles, but the going is very slow,” she said.

By late Wednesday afternoon, 3,000 customers were without power within the Farmington service area, which ranges from Andover to Livermore to New Sharon and Coburn Gore.

“But most are between Rangeley and Stratton,” Rice said.

From Indian Pond to Jackman in Somerset County, 1,250 had no power, and another 2,500 customers had no electricity in the Greenville area, she said.

Damage to CMP’s Bigelow substation near Stratton was affecting Rangeley and Stratton customers, while northern Somerset County problems were caused by downed wires and power-line structures, and snow-laden trees coming in contact with transmission lines.

“We know we are going to work well into the evening, and we’d like to think we’re going to take a big bite out of the outages, but there will still be people still without service by tomorrow morning,” Rice said.

Mountain’s new record

Weather service meteorologist Steve Broumas in Gray said late Wednesday afternoon that Mount Washington’s weather observatory recorded 25.7 inches of snow from 7 a.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday.

On the observatory’s Web site, weather observer Jim Salge said the amount broke the record of 25.5 inches set on Oct. 17. The Oct. 17 snowfall had shattered the summit’s 24-hour snowfall record for October, which had stood for 36 years, Salge said.

“We’ve had 72 inches of snow now in the last 12 days, nearly 25 percent of a normal year’s total,” he said.

Even more amazingly, Salge said, the summit’s infamous record for total monthly precipitation set in February 1969 at 25.56 inches was also broken this month by the 27.85 inches of combined rain and melted snow recorded so far for October.

“October is usually a month of transition, of freezes and thaws, and only averages a mere foot of snow. Never has such a complete snowpack built so quickly or so early on Mount Washington,” Salge stated.

White Mountain National Forest snow ranger Christopher Joosen stated on the same Web site that winds during Tuesday’s storm were more than 100 mph.

Full winter conditions

“The high mountains are absolutely in full winter conditions, so don’t plan on being able to follow summer trails safely,” Joosen said.

Trails going through ravines and gulfs are buried with snow in many areas, and require winter clothes, ice axes, crampons, avalanche beacons, shovels and probes, he said.

In Maine, Broumas said Rangeley had the highest reported snowfall of 16 inches. He expected that to change, because it was still snowing when the weather observer reported it.

Higher elevations where temperatures were colder received more snow.

Broumas said other snowfall totals as of 7 a.m. Wednesday in the areas affected by power outages were: between 5 and 7 inches in a lower section of Rangeley, 7.4 inches at Flagstaff Lake in Eustis, 5.8 inches at Brassua Lake in Somerset County, 6.5 to 7 inches in Eustis and Stratton, and two-tenths of an inch in Kingfield.

Sunday River Ski Resort

Sunday River Ski Resort spokeswoman Susan DuPlessis said Wednesday in Newry that low temperatures forecast for Wednesday meant the ski area would be making snow that night, preparing for a Nov. 11 opening.

“There is a lot of snow on the peaks, but only 8 inches at the Jordan Bowl base and nothing on the ground at South Ridge base,” DuPlessis said.

The resort’s golf course was even covered with snow, which she hoped would melt by the weekend.

“We’ve got dense, snowman sort of snow, and snow-covered trees on all of the peaks,” she said.

Sugarloaf/USA

Meanwhile, it was another story at Sugarloaf/USA, where 40 inches of snow reportedly fell in two days at the summit, said spokesman Bill Swain in Kingfield late Wednesday afternoon.

“It was very light and fluffy snow,” Swain said. “It was 22 degrees up there yesterday, which keeps the snow pretty dry.”

He said resort officials taking skiers to the top found 12-foot-high snowdrifts, and measured the 40 inches in several locations to get an average.

Between 8 and 14 inches fell Monday and more than 24 inches Tuesday, Swain said.

However, the area won’t be making any snow for a while. Electricity, which went out at 7 p.m. Tuesday, remained off Wednesday. And the hydrants and snow guns were buried by the season’s first major snowstorm.

“We plan to make snow after Nov. 1,” Swain said, in preparation for a Nov. 18 opening.