You can’t say they didn’t warn us.
Winter’s latest storm has been a messy one, with a unmanageable mix of rain, sleet and snow, resulting in slick roads and overloaded driveways.
By the early part of the day, the Lewiston-Auburn area had already received more than 3 inches of snow on top of the 2 inches of rain and sleet that had fallen earlier.
The result was a snow removal imbroglio: It was easy enough to clear away the fluffy new fallen snow, but what to do with that unyielding crust beneath it?
On top of that, temperatures never climbed out of the teens, so whatever fell on the ground began to freeze at once. Weather forecasters advised people to clear their driveways before nightfall Friday, because whatever was left is apt to freeze solid.
The roads were a mess from the start. Maine State Police reported 10 accidents by 6 a.m., most of them due to motorists driving too fast for the conditions.
No high winds were in the forecast to wreak havoc with power lines, but Central Maine Power said their crews are prepared. The company’s 200 line workers will be assisted by 114 contractor crews from Maine and outside the state, along with 97 tree workers.
By 7 p.m., only a small number of homes and businesses — fewer than three dozen — were without power.
In area schools, classes were canceled in advance of the storm. Government offices, too, both state and local opted to keep their workers home and some businesses followed suit.
Lewiston police said it was more or less a typical storm: a few minor car wrecks and several cars towed, but there were no big problems.
“It really helped having things closed down,” Lewiston Police spokesman Lt. Derrick St. Laurent said.
The storm began with rain late Thursday night. By early Friday, it was mixing with sleet and snow in most areas and the storm just continued to grind on during the day.
Weather forecaster Mike Haggett of Pine Tree Weather called it “A mess of a Friday.”
“In the 10 years I have been doing this,” Haggett wrote, “there is nothing more frustrating than these types of long wave slow movers that have a mind of their own.”
The National Weather Service said the precipitation will end around 6 a.m. in most areas.
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