The Maine Turnpike issued a winter advisory Wednesday morning reducing top speeds from 65 mph to 45 mph from Biddeford to Augusta.
At 6:44 a.m. the Auburn area had the most snow in the state, at 6 inches, with snow still falling, according to the National Weather Service’s office in Gray. Portland saw mostly rain overnight that turned to wet snow by Wednesday morning, but it was still snowing hard inland and a winter storm warning was in effect for much of the state.
Forecasters were expecting 5 to 9 inches of heavy, wet snow to fall in the southern half of the state. The storm is expected to taper off before hitting Aroostook County, according to Mark Bloomer at the National Weather Service.
Nearly 10,000 Central Maine Power Company customers were still without power close to noon Wednesday, down from a peak of 14,200.
Most of the outages were along the coast in southern and central Maine, a CMP spokeswoman said.
Bloomer also said much of Maine from Bangor south and coastal areas could see freezing rain.
Wednesday morning, many schools and universities were closed throughout the state.
While some forecasters are predicting shaky travel plans, Gregory Hughes, marketing director at the Portland Jetport, said Tuesday that the airport was ready for the storm.
“I don’t think it’s going to have that much of an impact here,” Hughes told the Bangor Daily News. “We’ll get the airplanes in tonight so they’ll be ready to rip first thing in the morning.”
Hughes said that plow crews will be on standby should runways need to be cleared, and that planes will be de-iced first thing in the morning.
Wednesday morning flights at both Bangor International Airport and the Portland Jetport were running on time.
– Bangor Daily News reporters William P. Davis and Ryan Mclaughlin and Dawn Gagnon contributed to this report.
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- “This is heart attack snow” says Wil Albert as he shovels in front of his home on Whitney Street in Auburn Wednesday morning.
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- From left, Good Samaritans Stephen Hairston, Wes Myers, Stephan Rivera and Martina DeCosta help push a pickup truck up Sabattus Street in Lewiston Monday morning. The truck’s driver, who was unidentified, was having a medical emergency and the vehicle’s back wheels were having trouble getting traction, people pushing explained.
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- Bernadette Colon shovels off the snow from her vehile on Whitney Street in Auburn Wednesday morning.
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- Norm Jalbert, left, and Jeff Bryant of Dana’s Garage tow a vehicle from Blake Street in Lewiston on Wednesday. Despite an on-street parking ban from midnight Tuesday until midnight on Wednesday, tow truck operators and police were kept busy removing vehicles from the roads so plows to clear the streets. “I lost count,” one Lewiston police officer said about the number of cars he has seen towed during Wednesday’s storm.
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- “This is heart attack snow” says Wil Albert as he shovels in front of his home on Whitney Street in Auburn Wednesday morning.
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- Bernadette Colon shovels off the snow from her vehile on Whitney Street in Auburn Wednesday morning.
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- James Wiggins walks up Birch Street on a quiet afternoon in Lewiston on Wednesday.
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- Emma Jones, 7, makes snow angels in front of her home on Chestnut Street in Auburn Wednesday morning.
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