Monday’s storm dumped more snow as Maine’s intense winter pattern continued.

In the Rumford area, it was a winter wonderland around 8 a.m. Monday, with a fluffy 17 inches or so of new snow making it easy for people to shovel or snow-blow.

However, only about an hour or so later, the winds began to gust and the serene landscape began to change as snow began blowing around and the 25 degrees on the thermometer really began to feel like the wind chill temperature of 6 degrees.

Congress Street was eerily empty of traffic for the beginning of a workweek, with gusts of wind-blown snow enveloping the landscape, making the upper part of the street difficult to view from a distance.

In the Bethel area, those who braved the snow-covered roads, even in their 4-wheel-drive trucks, had trouble getting up hills, with Route 26 in Bryant Pond being a particularly tricky area, said James Miclon, director of the Oxford County dispatch center in Paris. According to Miclon and his crew, eight off-the-road incidents occurred between 6 a.m and 3 p.m, but no injuries were reported.

Power outages occurred around 7:15 a.m, with most residents getting their power back before noon. 

John Lewis of the Norway Police Department is attending the Maine State Police Academy in Vassalboro, and enjoyed a snow day with his family.

His wife, Tonya, said John will graduate from the academy May 19, and until then will stay at the academy Monday through Friday, and come home on the weekends.

“I was extremely excited for the snow day, because getting one extra day is huge when John is gone for 18 weeks,” Tonya Lewis said. The mother of two young girls, Lily and Madeline, she is one of the few Mainers still enjoying winter and the snow.

“I’m always excited for the winter!” she exclaimed. “It’s beautiful the way snow sparkles when the sun hits it. Having children has only made it better! Now snowy days are spent playing in the snow, making snowmen and snow angels,” she said.

But Tonya shares the frustration of her fellow Mainers when it comes to shoveling, and getting out and about in general.

“We have no room left for snow,” she said. “I had to shovel out our windows so we could see!”

emarquis@sunmediagroup.net

A town of Rumford plow truck comes up behind a man snow-blowing on a narrow Knox Street on Monday following a snowstorm that dropped about 17 inches.

Congress Street in Rumford was eerily empty of traffic Monday morning, with gusts of wind-blown snow enveloping the landscape, making the upper part of the street difficult to see from a distance.

Lily Lewis, 5, the daughter of John and Tonya Lewis, enjoyed a day of playing in the snow at her home in Bethel, and some extra time with her father, who is attending the Maine State Police Academy in Vassalboro.

Madeline Lewis, 2, of Bethel made snow angels and enjoyed extra time with her mother Tonya Lewis, and her father, John Lewis of the Norway Police Department, who is currently attending the Maine State Police Academy. 

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