Business was brisk at many grocery stores in southern Maine on Saturday. Shovels and gas tanks were big sellers at hardware stores. Municipalities announced parking bans on city streets to allow for crews to clear snow overnight. And in some places, the demand for plowing and snow tires was higher than the available supply.

With the winter’s first plowable snow finally forecast to arrive in southern Maine, many residents spent their Saturdays getting ready for the overnight storm that should turn the landscape – finally – from brown to white.

Cumberland County was expected to receive 8 to 12 inches of snow by the time the storm ends late Sunday afternoon or evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Cornwell said Saturday night. Southern and coastal parts of York County should brace for up to 14 inches, while forecasts showed interior and northern portions of York County were likely to get about 8 inches, Cornwell said.

The snow was expected to be light and fluffy, with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour causing drifting snow and low visibility for drivers, Cornwell said from the weather service office in Gray. The snow could be a little wetter at the coast.

Flurries were expected to start in York and Cumberland counties Saturday night, but accumulating snow would probably not begin until around midnight, Cornwell said. The storm was expected to enter the state from the south and travel north into Cumberland County but then turn east, Cornwell said, meaning areas of central and northern Maine should get less snow.

Bangor was expected to get around 2 to 6 inches, he said. Androscoggin County and western Maine were predicted to get about 6 to 8 inches, Cornwell said.

Cumberland and York residents could wake up Sunday morning to 4 to 6 inches of snow, Cornwell said, with the storm continuing all day. The heaviest snowfall was expected late Saturday into early Sunday, but there’ll be bands of heavy snow, especially at the coast, during the day Sunday.

CLOSURES AND CANCELLATIONS

On Saturday, the city of Portland announced it was not yet declaring an official parking ban for Saturday night but did ask motorists to voluntarily park off the streets to allow plow crews to clear the streets overnight. However, the city does expect a citywide parking ban to be in force Sunday night, with more details to be announced as the storm unfolds, city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said in a statement.

By late Saturday afternoon, parking bans had been announced for several other southern Maine towns and cities, including: Cape Elizabeth, from 5 a.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday; Freeport, from 11 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Monday; Scarborough, from 11:45 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Monday; Saco, from 1 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday; Brunswick, from 12:01 a.m. Sunday until 7 a.m. Monday; Biddeford, from 10 p.m. Saturday until 6 p.m. Sunday; and South Portland, from 12:01 a.m. Sunday through 6 a.m. Monday.

Many Sunday morning church services were also preemptively cancelled. A list of church and other closings can be found at pressherald.com/closings.

Because of the storm and cold, a warming shelter will open at Portland’s downtown First Parish Church from 3 p.m. Saturday through Sunday, Grondin said.

At the Portland International Jetport, five flights that were scheduled to arrive Saturday night and depart Sunday morning had already been canceled by midafternoon Saturday because of high winds and heavy rains south of New England, said Zach Sundquist, assistant jetport director. The five flights were coming from New Jersey, Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore and represented about 10% of the airport’s daily flight schedule, Sundquist said. More cancellations are expected Sunday, he said.

The jetport was not affected by the Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement Saturday that all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes operated by U.S. airlines will be temporarily grounded following an incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight in which a chunk of the plane’s wall appeared to detach midflight. Sundquist said only two airlines that fly into the Portland jetport use those planes – United and Southwest – and those carriers have not scheduled any of those planes to fly into Portland.

Because the snow was forecast to be light, without “hazardous” winds, Central Maine Power officials were not expecting widespread outages and did not call in outside crews, said Jon Breed, a spokesman for the company. Breed said that the company will “double up” on the number of crews ready to address outages, including those caused by vehicles crashing into utility poles or other accidents.

On Saturday night, Maine Department of Transportation crews were prepared to start plowing state roads as soon as snow begins accumulating, said Paul Merrill, a department spokesperson. He said likely “hundreds” of people will be involved in road clearing operations, which will continue for the duration of the storm. The department is responsible for snow and ice maintenance on more than 8,000 miles of state roads.

BUSINESS IS BOOMING

Frank Bell of E & D Plowing of Old Orchard Beach said he was getting plenty of calls Saturday asking for snow removal. He said he’s unable to take on more customers.

“I’m booked,” Bell said. “I’ve had my list prepared since the end of September. I have 77 driveways.” With the heavy amount of snow predicted, Bell said he’ll start plowing at 3 a.m. Sunday. “I’ll be out for 40 hours.”

He plows with “Miss Ellie,” a nickname he’s given to the front-end loader he uses instead of a truck with a plow. Miss Ellie works well, he said: “It can pick up 5 yards of snow.”

Bell said he’ll be glad to see the snow arrive – and wants more. “I would like to have 30 more storms. We have not had enough.”

He said he remembers when the first big snows of the winter arrived this late back in the early 2000s, “and we ended up with more than ever,” Bell said. “We’ve got January, February and March to go.”

At Sullivan Tire in Portland, business was brisk Saturday, with customers calling asking for snow tires mounted on their vehicles. But manager Jason Harrington said he had no more available appointments. Other tire stores were busy getting snow tires on for customers.

Under an increasingly cloudy sky Saturday afternoon, grocery shopper Russell Wilbur, of Portland, was doing what many were: loading up with bags of food before the snow hit.

He’s not a fan of snow. “I don’t want it. (Sunday), I’ll stay in the house and not do a thing,” Wilbur said with a grin.

At the Pineland Farms Outdoor Center in New Gloucester, workers are welcoming a white horizon. “We’re super excited about the snow,” said the center’s director, Matt Sabasteanski. The skating rink there is closed and not quite frozen yet.

“We’re trying to keep people off the rink. We haven’t had the cold weather long enough,” Sabasteanski said.

Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sledding trails were all closed Saturday. “Now we have bare ground. There’s no opportunity to slide,” he said.

But Sunday should be a different ballgame. “We should be opening most of our trails, which means skiing, fat biking and snowshoeing,” Sabasteanski said. Snowshoeing conditions should be great, while snow on ski trails will likely be soft. “We will be grooming the trails tonight through the storm tonight.”

Getting a late start for outdoor winter fun is becoming familiar, Sabasteanski said. “We didn’t start skiing last year until Jan. 20. This is the fourth year we’ve had late starts and lots of rain in December.” Last year, the center added a new facility with a gymnasium and bowling alley that bolstered winter income.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?

This weekend storm is set to end the snow drought for the Portland area, which has received less than 1 inch so far this winter. But in just a few days, a midweek rain storm will threaten the snow on the ground.

The current cold temperatures will remain for a few days through Monday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Derek Schroeter, but rain may melt the new snow on Wednesday.

A strong, warm storm is expected late Tuesday and into Wednesday. That system could bring snow that changes to rain Wednesday, along with heavy wind gusts of up to 50 mph and high temperatures all the way up in the 50s, Schroeter said.

That system is not expected to be as severe as the Dec. 18 wind and rain storm, which left nearly half of Maine without electricity. But Wednesday’s system “will be an impactful storm. It’s just a matter of ironing out the details of how much rain vs. the snow, and how warm we get,” Schroeter said, noting that warmer temperatures create stronger winds.

“We’re looking at 2 inches of rain on Wednesday,” said Sabasteanski, the Pineland Farms director. Rain alone won’t kill the snow, he said, but if temperatures do rise to 50 degrees with wind and rain, then winter sports enthusiasts will find themselves right back at square one.

Staff writer Ray Routhier contributed to this story.

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