Weather shift ushers in dense Maine fog

Weather forecasters expected dense fog this morning in northern and central Maine, where autumn has masqueraded as winter and snowfall has left much of the area shaded in whites and grays.

Monday’s weather pattern was brought on by a high pressure system from the southwest that caused warm, moist air to move north across the state.

That overnight transition from the weekend’s cold pattern caused freezing rain and sleet to form in parts of the state, said meteorologist Sonia Mark of the National Weather Service in Caribou.

She added that the same weather pattern was expected to produce “a lot” of dense fog overnight and into this morning. The weather service issued a “dense fog” warning for 9 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday for much of the northern zone.

With temperatures projected to be in the high 30s on Tuesday, fog will be prevalent along the coast as well, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.

In northern Maine, temperatures hovered around the freezing mark Monday, and what precipitation there was fell as rain.

Roads were slushy late in the afternoon, and area police reported about a half-dozen vehicles had left the road with no injuries reported.

One utility pole, on Route 11 near Knowles Corner north of Patten, was damaged and crews had to be called in to repair downed lines.

Slick black ice caused several Piscataquis County drivers to lose control of their vehicles Monday and caused cancellation of some schools in the region.

A Guilford woman who complained of chest pain after she lost control of her vehicle Monday on ice-covered Blaine Avenue was taken by ambulance to Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

Gayle Raye, 52, said she had to crawl out of the ditch and over the slick road to get to a nearby home to summon help. She was treated for her injuries and later released from the hospital.

Piscataquis County Investigator Jamie Kane said Raye’s 2003 Ford Windstar van went off the road and struck trees, demolishing it. The air bags in the vehicle deployed, he said.

Several other accidents, all minor, were reported in the region, according to a dispatcher.

SAD 4 (Guilford area), SAD 68 (Dover-Foxcroft area) and SAD 46 (Dexter area) all canceled classes for the day.

Worried that the roads would be icy on Monday night, the Piscataquis County commissioners postponed the public hearing scheduled on the proposed county and unorganized territory budgets until 7 tonight.

BDN reporters Beurmond Banville and Diana Bowley contributed to this report.