More than a foot of fresh snow was expected to blanket central Maine cities and towns Monday as winter’s first nor’easter tore into the region.

The solstice had barely arrived Sunday morning as parking bans were being ordered into effect. Scores of events were canceled during the day as the powerful storm brought snow, strong winds and bitter cold to the state.

The National Weather Service had a winter storm warning in place for much of central and western Maine while a blizzard warning was in effect for northern and eastern regions. Snowfall totals were projected Sunday evening to range from 8 to 24 inches by the time the storm winds down Monday.

Considerable blowing and drifting were making for hazardous travel conditions Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service and Maine State Police at the Gray barracks.

“Visibility is horrible,” said a dispatcher in Gray.

She said police were responding to dozens of calls of vehicles that had slid off roadways.

The speed limit on the Maine Turnpike was lowered to 45 mph.

Air travel was seriously disrupted as well, with the storm affecting most of the East Coast and Midwest. Weather was also slowing travel on the West Coast – the Portland, Ore., airport was open, but airlines were canceling many flights out of Washington state.

No flights were departing from the Portland, Maine, airport Sunday night.

Gov. John Baldacci announced that state government offices would open at noon Monday, with a decision on a possible full-day closure to be made by midmorning.

“This is a classic nor’easter,” said meteorologist John Cannon of the storm. “It’s got all the features.”

With four days to go, the storm virtually assured a white Christmas for much of the country. Snow and rain are forecast for Maine on Christmas Eve.

State and municipal public works crews were sanding, salting and plowing roadways for much of Sunday and into Sunday night. Still, local police said they were responding to “slip-and-slide type” crashes in various locations.

All of Maine was cold Sunday morning as the storm neared, but northern areas were dangerously frigid with temperature readings of 35 below zero in Allagash, 34 below in Van Buren and 29 below in Presque Isle. The lowest reading – 40 below zero – was recorded on the Big Black River in northwest Aroostook County.

Even before the storm arrived, municipalities enacted parking bans to make for easier plowing and closed down libraries and community centers. Civic organizations, churches, sports leagues and other groups canceled events.

Scores of public schools were expected to be closed on Monday, already a short week with the Christmas holiday break set to start.

Strong winds created whiteout conditions and dangerous cross winds on open highways, and forecasters warned that blowing snow would hamper snow removal efforts and create deep drifts on unplowed roads.

At its height, the storm was expected to drop snow at a rate of up to 2 inches per hour in northern Maine, according to the weather service.

An added twist to Sunday’s storm was the possibility of “thunder snow,” a relatively rare event where thunder and lightning occur during a snowstorm, meteorologist Cannon said. Lightning was expected to light up the sky in places during the storm Sunday evening.

The storm was expected to clear out from south to north beginning late Sunday night through the day Monday.

Sunday’s storm was the second in three days to hit the state. On Friday, a storm dropped 6 to 10 inches of snow in much of southern Maine but spared northern sections.

Copy the Story Link