Good news and bad news from the National Weather Service (NWS) regarding the New Year’s Nor’easter: Snowfall totals should be lower than initially forecast; but when the brunt of the storm hits on Sat, night, road conditions will go from “difficult” to “treacherous”.
The present NWS forecast calls for increasing snowfall through Sat. afternoon, with the addition of high winds gusting to 40 mph after dark. “The combination will result in near blizzard conditions later (Sat.) evening and during the overnight hours,” according to the NWS bulletin issued Sat. morning.
The forecast on Sun. calls for snowfall to taper, but gusty winds through the day will cause blowing and drifting snow to adversely affect driving conditions, according to the NWS. Lincoln County peninsulas and coastal areas will experience the highest winds, according to the NWS.
Estimated snowfall totals for the entire duration of the storm (from Fri. to Sun.) have been lowered by the NWS. Inland areas of Lincoln County are now forecast to range from 8-16 inches while the peninsulas should see between 5-10 inches, according to the NWS. As of this posting, it appears that those totals are fairly realistic, with most midcoast areas reporting between 5 to 6 inches already on the ground, and an additional 1-2 inches forecast for the daylight hours of Sat. and 3-5 inches of snowfall overnight, according to the NWS. A snowfall estimate for Sun. was not yet available at the time of this posting.
Lincoln County is under a number of weather advisories issued by the NWS. A Winter Storm Warning continues until Sun. at 4 p.m. A Coastal Flood Watch is in effect from Sat. evening through Sun. afternoon at 2 pm. and is then replaced with a Coastal Flood Watch.
Parking bans are in effect in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor until Mon., but business closures are few due to the holiday weekend. No major incidents related to the storm in Lincoln County have been reported at the time of this posting, and no outages have been reported by Central Maine Power.
The Lincoln County News website will continue to follow the progress of this event and post any additional information here as it becomes available.