Mainers take in stride season’s first snowstorm

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BANGOR – With plenty of warning as the season’s first big snowstorm blustered its way up the coast, Mainers were well-prepared for the onslaught and took the blizzard conditions in stride this weekend.

Some western parts of the state were blanketed by nearly 3 feet of snow, while accumulations in other inland sections were well over a foot and creeping toward the 2-foot level.

The intense storm that maintained a stubborn presence over the state well into Sunday delighted those who play in the snow while it distressed those inconvenienced by traffic delays, slippery roads and big mounds left by plow trucks at the end of their driveways.

The snow was welcomed by some.

Maine’s two largest ski resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, were boasting more than 30 inches of new snow by Sunday morning and another foot was expected to fall over the mountains throughout the day.

“I’ve been here for 23 years, and this is the most snow I’ve seen in one storm this early in the season,” said Richard “Crusher” Wilkinson, vice president of Mountain Operations at Sugarloaf USA. “We’ve got 40 inches so far and it’s still cranking. … We went from having 15 percent of the mountain open on Friday to having 100 percent open today.”

“There are a lot of happy people here today,” said Jim Costello, vice president of Brand Management for Sunday River.

At the Bangor Mall, customer traffic was “considerably off” Sunday afternoon, according to Mall General Manager James Gerety, likely offsetting any gains made the day before when some stores reported sales that exceeded last year’s numbers. On a positive note, Gerety said that as the day wore on, it seemed that more and more customers were venturing out to the mall.

On Saturday at local supermarkets, business was brisk as winter storm procrastinators stocking up on food mixed with people making their regular weekly or biweekly stops at the supermarket.

“Everything” and “crazy” is how Bell’s Orono IGA Assistant Manager Dave Boxwell described what people were buying and how sales were going Saturday afternoon.

He estimated that traffic at the Stillwater store was up 150 percent from what it normally would have been on a Saturday afternoon. Basic items such as milk and water were selling fast, with Boxwell estimating that 700 to 800 gallons of bottled water had been sold by midafternoon.

Some grocery shoppers weren’t all that worried about the storm.

“I’m from The County. I’m used to this,” said Judy Kelly, who now lives in Hampden with husband Brian. They were at the Hannaford supermarket in Brewer Saturday, replenishing supplies. She grew up on a farm in Caribou where winter came early and stayed late and where the family was sometimes snowed-in for days. She even remembers it snowing in July.

“This is what it does in Maine: snows,” said another Hannaford shopper.

Mary Ann Lock of Ellsworth was picking up a few groceries and taking the storm in stride. “It’s nice to see the first snow of the season, ” she said.

Accumulations in Rangeley measured 34 inches before noon, while Dexter had 28 inches, Fryeburg notched 19 and Augusta 16. Portland’s total by 11 a.m. Sunday was 8 inches, the National Weather Service said. Bangor checked in at 13 inches.

Portland and Bangor airports both reported flights canceled because of the storm. However, a Bangor International Airport official said Sunday that some flights, including Northwest Airlines from Detroit and a Comair flight from Cincinnati, were scheduled to land in Bangor Sunday.

Central Maine Power reported scattered outages because of snow and gusty winds. Farther north, Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. reported 700 outages, most of them in the Sebec area.

In far northern Maine, winds were expected to gust to 35 mph. Winds in Down East coastal areas exceeded 50 mph, but snow accumulations at 6 or 8 inches were expected to be the lightest in the state. Trees were knocked down by 42-mph winds in Southwest Harbor.

Residents in Washington County were digging out Sunday. There were spotty power outages in some areas, but for the most part the lights were on Down East. Although there were problems with some vehicles off the road, there were no reports of any serious weather-related accidents.

That the state’s first snowstorm hit on a weekend was a blessing to police who credited the timing with keeping at least some people off the roads.

“We didn’t have commuter traffic so that was a help,” said Maine State Police Dispatcher Dan Lawrence. “Most people had enough warning and enough sense to stay off the roads. Those who didn’t, well, most of them have gone off the road.”

In the 24 hours from about 3 p.m. Saturday to Sunday, 18 accidents were reported to the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, which dispatches for nearly all of Penobscot County.

That’s not a lot considering conditions, said PRCC Senior Supervisor William “Chip” Briggs, who said few people ventured out Saturday night.

In one of the injury accidents, a motorist on Route 1A in Hampden lost control of the pickup truck he was driving Sunday afternoon and struck a man plowing his driveway on a tractor, reported Hampden police Sgt. Dan Stewart. The pickup truck then struck a telephone pole, breaking it.

Tractor driver Cameron Torrey may have suffered broken bones, according to Stewart. Torrey was still being evaluated late Sunday afternoon, according to a nursing supervisor at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. No other injuries were reported.

State police said most motorists who ventured onto the highways while the storm raged Saturday and Sunday drove carefully and slowly. They said one woman reported she was blown off the highway by a powerful gust.

No serious injuries were reported.

In Aroostook County, where less than a foot was on the ground by midafternoon Sunday and a blizzard warning had been downgraded to a winter storm warning, most people stayed home, leaving the highways virtually free of accidents.

“We’re lucky, actually,” said state police Dispatcher Joan Carlson at the Houlton Barracks. “We haven’t had a thing.”

Across the state, Mainers faced a Sunday of blowing snow, shoveling and plowing. Many faced other inconveniences: Parking bans were extended in Portland, Lewiston, Auburn and Augusta.

Dana Wardwell of the Bangor Public Works Department said crews that began working at 11 p.m. Saturday were sent home at 2 p.m. Sunday to be rested up for their return at 11 p.m. Sunday.

The storm itself didn’t pose any unusual problems, according to Wardwell, although any first storm is harder because there are no snowbanks to guide the plows.

In Argyle, plowing on secondary roads was late, according to Penobscot County Commissioner Dick Blanchard.

Nancy Burns of Argyle said the plowing had not started until late in the morning, and some people were left stranded because of the snow.

“Nobody could get out,” she said Sunday. “You couldn’t even get an ambulance here.”