RUMFORD – Above-normal temperatures in the past 24 hours melted an estimated 4 to 8 inches of snow Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, but no area was in danger of flooding.
Small rivers reacted to the thaw by rising an average of 18 inches, the service said.
By 2 p.m. Wednesday, the service issued a flood warning for the Kennebec River, but flooding was not imminent on Oxford County rivers.
The Androscoggin at Rumford was expected to remain 5 feet below its 15-foot flood stage by 7 a.m. today, and about 3 feet below its 13-foot flood stage in Auburn, according to a hydrological forecast.
Western Maine remained under a flood watch through Wednesday night due to a slow-moving storm that was expected to drop up to 2 inches of rain, a service bulletin stated.
The wet and warm weather prompted Sugarloaf/USA to temporarily close its cross-country ski park Wednesday in Carrabassett Valley.
The resort, along with Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, opened for the season nearly two weeks ago.
Sugarloaf had 11 downhill skiing trails open Wednesday, while Sunday River had 25 trails open on South Ridge, Barker and Locke mountains. With snow and colder temperatures forecast for the weekend, snow-making is to resume tonight at Sunday River on North and Spruce peaks, Sunday River spokesman Alex Kaufman said early Wednesday afternoon.
“We have 25 trails open, and expect not to lose any due to the weather. We are prepared for these Eastern weather hiccups” in temperatures, he said.
Because man-made snow is denser and more durable than natural snow, base depths were “holding up.”
Kaufman said the resort had “a fabulous” Thanksgiving weekend with a “perfectly timed” snowstorm on Thanksgiving Day.
“We were able to go from four to 27 trails in five days” that week, he added.
He expected two more trails to be opened this weekend.
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