FORT KENT – Northern Mainers endured an early slug of winter weather on Tuesday night and Wednesday, forcing Fort Kent residents to dig out of 12 to 16 inches of heavy, wet snow.

Other areas of Aroostook County received 2 to 8 inches, depending on the locale. The Route 11 corridor from Interstate 95 to Fort Kent had 6 to 10 inches of snow.

More than a foot of snow blanketed Violette settlements, a residential area west of the business district in Fort Kent, and some hilltops had up to 16 inches, according to unofficial observers for the National Weather Service.

Maine ski area officials were dancing in the aisles Wednesday, according to Greg Sweetser, executive director of the Ski Maine Association. The first nor’easter of the season pumped plenty of cold air and moisture into the state.

Temperatures fell in direct proportion to elevation, resulting in a 40-inch snowfall at Sugarloaf/USA’s 4,237-foot summit. Saddleback Ski Area in Rangeley got 24 inches, while Sunday River in Bethel got 8 inches. A band of snowfall accumulating 3 to 4 inches stretched from Shawnee Peak in Bridgton all the way north to Big Rock in Mars Hill and Lonesome Pine in Fort Kent.

Power outages in Piscataquis, Somerset counties

Central Maine Power Co. said Wednesday that about 5,600 customers remained without service in its coverage area with the Dover-Foxcroft, Farmington and Skowhegan districts hit the hardest. With about 10 inches of heavy snow, the Greenville area also was hit hard by outages, spokeswoman Gail Rice said.

The snow posed an extra challenge to CMP repair crews fixing a transmission line that runs through remote forest from Jackman to Stratton and Rangeley in western Maine’s highlands, Rice said.

Greenville received a total accumulation of about 10 inches of snow, which caused the cancellation of schools in the town, according to Richard Gould, the town’s code enforcement officer.

Power was disrupted throughout the day, most likely caused by the heavy snow that layered the trees that drooped over utility wires. Power was still off in some locations Wednesday afternoon, Gould said.

Northern Penobscot

In Millinocket, about a third of the town lost electricity for almost five hours as windblown trees hit power lines on Knox Street and on Warsaw Street near the former Ames retail store. The winds stretched power lines at Central Street and Medway Road, causing more outages, Millinocket Fire Chief Wayne Campbell said.

“There were definitely a couple of light shows,” Campbell said in reference to sparking electrical wires.

Power was out from about 5:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. No serious motor vehicle accidents were reported.

The outages and rain caused other problems. The Katahdin Inn suffered minor basement flooding because the power outage shut down its sump pump. The flooding eased when the electricity came back on, Campbell said.

In Lincoln, a car slid off the road on Lee Road near Curtis Farm Road at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

Coastal areas

The storm spared coastal Hancock County. Area police departments reported minor flooding and a few fallen trees. Slick roads caused a four-car crash Tuesday evening on Route 102 in Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island. Police said the collision involved minor property damage but no injuries.

Heavy rains filled the culverts and streams around the county and on the island, but few roads were damaged. Water poured across Seawall Road near Acadia National Park’s Wonderland trail in Bass Harbor, but the street was still passable. A ditch washed out on Pinkham’s Flat in Lamoine.

The storm ran out of energy by the time it reached Down East. In Calais, there were no reports of wind damage.

Eastport was the same.

“Fortunately, the storm with all its winds and rain was just one of the things that we have when we call Down East, Maine, home,” Eastport City Manager George “Bud” Finch said. “Aside from some minor water damage in some basements, a few tree limbs down and minor power issues for some homes, basically nothing happened.”

Rain totals farther south were a little over 2 inches, less than the 4 inches predicted before the storm. Among the heavier rainfall totals was 2.6 inches in Poland and Cornish.

Minimal flooding

Weather service hydrologist Tom Hawley said a flood warning was posted along the Presumpscot River in Westbrook and along the Kennebec in Skowhegan in Sidney and Augusta.

“The small rivers and streams seemed to have behaved themselves,” said Hawley, adding that flooding may have been kept to a minimum because snow instead of rain fell in higher elevations where the rivers have their headwaters.

The precipitation was expected to end Wednesday, setting the stage for a period of generally clear weather through the end of the week.

Aroostook County

Scores of cars drove off roads throughout Aroostook County, but police said there were no injuries. Police considered themselves fortunate that there were no serious accidents. The Maine State Police had more than two dozen calls within a couple of hours Wednesday morning.

Maine Public Service Co., which furnishes electrical power to most of Aroostook County, started having problems around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. By midnight, it had every available person out working. The company was averaging 3,000 customers without power at any one time.

At one point, 11,000 customers were without power when a transmission line was lost. At 2 p.m. Wednesday, 1,900 customers still were without power.

“We like to be on top of the list,” Don Guimond, Fort Kent’s town manager, said at noon Wednesday. “There is no doubt that it’s over a foot [of snow] in Violette settlements, easily over a foot.

“It’s heavy, wet snow,” he said. “Power has been on and off since last night.”

Guimond said the town office was operating under generator power as he spoke. He said the heavy snow was breaking limbs and trees, and they were coming down onto power lines.

“We are pushing it aside, but it’s not easy,” he said. “It’s not real cold, and people are doing OK despite not having electricity.”

“Our system started falling apart about 9:30 p.m. and continued through the night,” Dave Weeks, manager of operations for Maine Public Service Co., said Wednesday afternoon. “Our crews are still out working.

“The system keeps falling apart,” he said. “Snow and ice up to 4 inches thick keeps breaking conductors [lines] and poles.”

Some workers had been out 16 hours, and a rest rotation was started Wednesday afternoon. Weeks said it may be Thursday afternoon before things were back to normal.

Derrick Weitlich, a meteorologist intern at the National Weather Service at Caribou, said snowfall ranged from 4 inches at Caribou to 16 inches at Fort Kent. He noted there was a foot of snow in Baxter State Park and at Clayton Lake, but Fort Kent seemed to have the heaviest snowfall.

By Wednesday morning in southern Aroostook County, it was raining.

Galen Costigan, division engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation in Aroostook County, said visibility was the worst problem overnight. He said it took him two hours to drive from Fort Kent to Presque Isle on Tuesday night.

“The roads are not too bad,” he said “Our crews were out most of the night.

“We have very tired people,” he said. “There were no major problems.”

He said he was concerned that wet roads could lead to icing Wednesday night when temperatures drop.

“[Visibility] was down to near nothing,” Costigan added. “It was slushy, real bad driving in some areas.”

Crews were out from 6 p.m. Tuesday in some parts of the county, according to Costigan. Others went out in the early morning hours.

At Allagash, the biggest problem was electricity, according to First Selectman Roy Gardner.

“We had 4 inches of snow, but that settled down,” he said. “It was wet and heavy because we also had 1.43 inches of rain.

“There are a lot of trees down,” he said. “Electricity went off about 11 p.m. last night [Tuesday], came on again, and it was off again Wednesday morning.”

Power was still out at noon Wednesday.

The Associated Press and Bangor Daily News reporters Diana Bowley, Nick Sambides Jr., Wendy M. Fontaine and Diana Graettinger contributed to this story.