Springtime delayed by stubborn winter

GRAY – Like an obnoxious houseguest who won’t go home, the stubborn winter refuses to find the door out of Maine.

Saturday’s spring snowstorm covered Portland and Bangor with 4 inches, while farther north, Lincoln got 9 inches, Eustis 71/2 and Sebec Lake received 51/2 inches.

The weather won’t even let baseball season start. Sunday marked the fourth consecutive day the Portland Sea Dogs’ home opener was postponed because of the weather, a dubious new record for the team.

For those who might have hoped winter was finally over, the National Weather Service in Gray warned that the cold weather will stick around for a while longer. Light snow persisted Sunday in some areas from central Maine to Caribou.

The weather service warned that snow showers and northwest winds of 20-25 mph were causing drifting and reducing visibility on northern Maine highways.

Temperatures were expected to dip into the single numbers in northern Maine and valleys in the western mountains Sunday night, and chances of snow or flurries will persist over much of the state Monday and into Tuesday.

The weather is blamed for a fatal collision and several dozen fender benders.

In Windham, a driver lost control of his sport utility vehicle on the slippery River Road, and the SUV spun into a path of a pickup truck and was broadsided. Seamus Nee, 19, of South Portland, a backseat passenger in the SUV, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A temperature of 2 degrees at the Houlton airport tied the record low for Saturday’s date, set in 1995, the weather service said.