The northern half of Maine hunkered down against another blast of wintry weather that belied Thursday’s official status as the first day of spring.

With blizzard conditions centered on northern Aroostook County and snow, sleet and freezing rain slicking the roads throughout much of the rest of the region, police and ambulance crews were kept busy responding to a flurry of motor vehicle accidents.

In the Bangor area, a light rainfall began early Thursday afternoon. By 4 p.m., as temperatures fell and the rain turned to sleet, driving conditions became treacherous and police and ambulance crews were called to a number of motor vehicle accidents on I-95 and side roads.

A dispatcher at the Maine State Police barracks in Orono said Thursday evening that troopers responded to about 12 accidents on the interstate between 2 and 7 p.m., but there were few injuries and those were minor.

Alanna Wyman, 23 of Newport lost control of her 1995 Plymouth Caravan at about 3:30 p.m. on I-95 near Plymouth. The vehicle left the northbound lane and rolled over twice, according to Trooper Forrest Simpson, who was called to the accident. Emergency crews had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate the woman, who was chilled and complaining of pain, Simpson said. Wyman was transported by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where a nursing supervisor said she was being evaluated at 9 p.m. No passengers were riding with Wyman.

Simpson said the Caravan was badly damaged and probably a total loss. The trooper said several other weather-related accidents occurred on I-95 about the same time, but no vehicular damage or personal injuries were reported.

Accidents were reported on secondary roads in towns throughout the region during the afternoon and early evening, including Edinburgh, Garland, Levant, Hermon, Hampden and Dexter.

Afternoon car accidents in Dexter and Corinth resulted in personal injuries, but details were unavailable Thursday evening.

At the Caribou office of the National Weather Service, meteorologist Rich Norton said Thursday afternoon that the storm had dropped about 6 inches of snow in northern Aroostook County since shortly before midnight, bringing the annual total up to 178.3 inches.

The record annual snowfall in Caribou of 181.1 inches was set during the winter of 1954-1955.

Though the intensity of the storm had eased by 4 p.m., Norton said an additional 6 to 12 inches is expected in the area before the weather clears.

“We’re looking for it to go for another 24 hours,” he said.

Further south, in the Greenville-Houlton-Millinocket area, reported snowfall on Thursday ranged from 3 to 5 inches on top of a slippery crust of sleet and freezing rain. An additional 3 to 9 inches of snow is expected in the region today.

Norton said the Bangor region may see more rain and gusty winds today but snowfall is unlikely.