Weekend wintry mix plagues state Drivers maneuver in slush, ice-coated wires cut power

If you don’t like the weather in Maine, take your pick.

Mainers got a helping of just about everything winter can dole out this weekend, including snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain and a thunderstorm here and there – all topped off by high winds that were expected to arrive Sunday night.

“It’s been a multifaceted, multitalented storm,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Hayes said Sunday afternoon. “A potpourri for meteorologists.”

Rain falling through warmer air aloft froze on contact in many parts of the state, especially central and southern areas, making a slushy, slick mess of roads and causing power outages as a quarter-inch or more of ice coated wires.

On Sunday morning, as many as 9,000 Central Maine Power Co. and 1,000 Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. customers were without service. CMP repair crews trimmed the number to 6,300 by early evening, company spokesman John Carroll said.

Most of the customers who remained without power were in the Alfred and Portland areas, while some accounts in the Augusta, Bridgton and Brunswick areas also were affected.

On the highways, state police reported several accidents Sunday, but said none involved serious injuries. Speed limits on the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95 were dropped to 45 mph.

In northern Maine, where the weather service posted a winter storm warning, snow was the main ingredient. That was to be followed by winds gusting to 25 mph. Snow accumulations were expected to reach 7 to 14 inches by the time it was all over.

Hayes said Mainers had received or would get just about everything Mother Nature can throw at them in the winter.

Thunder could be heard in Bangor on Sunday evening, and thunderstorms drenched southern coastal areas of the state, while winds that were expected to kick up later in the day posed a problem for utilities and homeowners.

With power lines already weighted down by ice, winds threatened to compound the possibility of more downed wires.

The weather patterns across the state varied. Sleet and freezing rain gave way Sunday to snow in some parts of western Maine, leaving the possibility of a few inches of fresh snow in the mountains.

In central areas, snow Saturday night turned into freezing drizzle and rain the next morning. Winds were expected to gust to 35 mph or even higher in some areas Sunday night, Hayes said.