Staff report

A record-breaking 26.9 inches of snow fell on New York City Sunday, but Betty Wing didn’t see a single flake.

“We let New York have it all,” Wing said Sunday evening from her home in Eustis, a small town north of Carrabassett Valley.

With a mere 8 inches of hard-packed snow on the ground, people in Eustis were hoping for more, said Wing, an observer for the National Weather Service. She could see “the least little bit” of snow falling on Bigelow Mountain, but nothing reached the snowmobile trails.

Other parts of Maine did see snow. The National Weather Service predicted snowfall totals of between 5 and 10 inches for the Portland area.

Towns and cities between Portland and Eustis got somewhere between 5 inches and nothing.

A winter storm warning, with winds gusting between 15 and 25 mph, was in effect into the evening for coastal areas. In Lewiston, the wind was gusting at 10 mph at 7 p.m. and was expected to continue blowing and drifting through the night.

Even so, the storm here was not nearly as severe as it was in lower parts of New England. In fact, for local police, it lacked drama from the beginning.

There were few cars on the roads during the day and those people who were out in it were driving with caution. In some areas, there were fewer crashes during the storm than normal for even an average day.

“Fortunately, the storm occurred on a weekend,” said Lewiston police Lt. Tom Avery. “People were staying home and school was not in session. That helped.”

Avery said there were a handful of cars that slipped off slick roads, but no serious accidents. It was the same in Auburn and across the tri-county area.

“People had early warning,” said Auburn police Lt. Tim Cougle. “They had the common sense to stay home and they took it easy if they had to be out on the roads. We were fortunate.”

Police in Auburn were called to a pair of vehicles off the road in the afternoon. Otherwise, it was quiet, Cougle said.

The bigger problem was expected to come during cleanup. Police in both cities announced a parking ban from Sunday afternoon into this morning.

“They basically need to make room for the city crews to get out there and clear the roads so they’re passable once the storm ends,” Avery said.

According to Avery, reaction to a typical winter storm is usually bigger during the early part of the season. By this time of year, most people are accustomed to driving and surviving in a storm.

“That’s Maine,” Avery said. “That’s winter in February.”

Copy the Story Link