Cliff Brown of Lewiston clears the sidewalk Thursday in front of the Trinity Jubilee Center in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
It could be worse. We could be Binghamton, New York.
While that area got walloped by nearly four feet of snow during Thursday morning’s storm, most of Maine escaped with much less.
Although, how big or small the storm was depended on where you happened to be.
Lewiston received about 6 inches, Turner saw nearly 8 and a full 16 inches were reported in Lisbon. Most of Oxford County, including Otisfield and Denmark, recorded about 6 inches.
The further you looked south, the bigger the numbers got.
South Windham reported 22 inches by the time the storm wound down, while Gray saw about 16 inches and nearly 15 inches were reported in New Gloucester.
Nearly 40 inches of snow fell on parts of New Hampshire.
Meanwhile in Rangeley, to the north, a mere inch-and-a-half of snow was recorded.
The snow was light and fluffy, easy to shovel and great for the skiers.
“It’s a beautiful sight to see Mother Nature and snowmakers working side by side turning the mountain into a winter wonderland,” Sunday River ski resort raved on their website. “The snow has started piling up and the flakes are still flying.”
“This is not my cup of tea,” Kim Brown said while clearing her car of snow Thursday in Lewiston. Brown recently moved to Maine from Florida to be closer to family. “My Flip-flops are still in the front seat of the car,” said Brown. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Just about everywhere, there was enough snow and enough blowing to make the roads messy for both morning and evening commutes.
A few crashes were reported on the Maine Turnpike. In the Lewiston-Auburn area, there were wrecks, but police said it was mostly about the volume — dozens of minor crashes were reported, but none of them very serious.
Janice Marchant Fitzgerald, driving in Maine snow for the first time after moving to Lewiston from another state, turned to Facebook for advice on whether she should try to drive to work in Bridgton.
Most people who commented on the post advised her to go for it but to take it slow. It was the wrong storm for that kind of experiment.
“I attempted to go to work didn’t even get to Route 11 before I slid twice and ended in a ditch,” she wrote later. “I really want to thank the man who was driving a green pick up with a plow who helped me get out of the ditch… I just turned around and went home. Roads were really yucky.”
For firefighters, significant snow always brings about a particular set of problems, including buried hydrants and vent pipes.
In Lewiston, Fire Inspector Paul Ouellette issued a set of suggestions for dealing with the latest round of snow:
• Always remember to shovel out both exit doors and pathways from your home.
• Clear out any snow build up from around your gas exhaust / vent pipes.
• Clear out any snow build up from around your clothes dryer vents and make sure they are clear from lint build up.
• If you have a fire hydrant near your property, help out and clear the snow from around it, at least 3′ (feet) clearance all the way around.
What does winter have in mind for us next? As of Thursday night, nothing much.
“Outside of a chance of light snow Sunday,” wrote Mike Haggett, of Pine Tree Weather, “nothing else is in the pipeline until Christmas.”
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