A fast-moving storm clipped Central Maine on Saturday afternoon, dumping up to 3 inches in Lewiston, Auburn and other parts of the area.

The forecast for New Year’s Eve calls for plenty of sun during the day if not much warmth. Temperatures are expected to hover just below freezing for most of the day and sink after sunset.

Forecasters are watching a second storm, scheduled to slide into Maine just after the turn of the new year, bringing more wet, heavy snow and freezing rain.

“You don’t want to be out driving past 1 a.m.,” said National Weather Service forecaster John Cannon. “Most of it should be later than that, but you don’t want to take chances.”

Cannon called Saturday’s storm a fast-moving clipper. Flurries began just after 10 a.m. and fell heavily for about four hours.

It was the first significant snowfall in the area this winter. Marcel Roy, team leader for the city of Lewiston’s highway department, said it was the first storm this year that saw all the city’s plows out clearing roads.

Crews had most of the main roads open and passable by 4 p.m. Roy said highway crews prefer to plow storms that fall overnight.

“Especially when you’re dealing with snow, it’s nice to do it when there are no cars on the road,” Roy said. “When you get about 3 inches, the cars just pack it down, and that makes it harder to plow.”

Police spent the afternoon cleaning up dozens of small accidents. In Auburn, a red 2001 SUV driven by Leo Beliveau, 38, of 63 Cherry Vale Circle, spun out of control while driving north on Washington Ave. Beliveau’s SUV slid off of the road, over the embankment before coming to rest on a boulder. He was not injured.

The dispatcher in Oxford County said, by early evening, they had answered 25 accident calls, though none with serious injuries. Franklin County officers were also called to several accidents, but none with serious injuries.

The Maine Turnpike Authority wasn’t taking any chances, dropping the speed limit on Interstate 95 to 45 miles per hour between Kittery and Augusta at 2:30 p.m. Conditions had improved enough by 5:10 p.m. to lift the restriction, however.

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