PORTLAND (AP) – The first major winter storm to sweep across Maine this season was farther out to sea than expected, reducing snowfall totals, but there was still plenty to clean up on Tuesday, officials said.
Portland tied the record for the date set in 1890 with 8.5 inches of snow on Monday, according to Bob Marine of the National Weather Service.
Elsewhere, Marshfield in Washington County had 18 inches of snow, Lakeville in Penobscot County 17 inches, Island Falls in Aroostook County 16, Brassau Lake near Moosehead 15.7, Farmington 14.7 inches and Andover 13, the weather service said.
The storm was blamed for a crash that claimed a life in Saco, and it was bad enough for Gov. John Baldacci to send state workers home.
On Tuesday, a school bus slammed into a tractor-trailer on an icy highway in Belfast, but the 33 students on board escaped injury.
Police said a no-sand, road-clearing policy may have contributed because the highway was covered with a thin layer of ice.
The storm may have produced even more snow if it hadn’t tracked farther out to sea that originally forecast, Marine said.
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