By Greg Latimer and Dominik Lobkowicz
Updated Dec. 31 at 2:00 p.m.
Ice brought this large limb down in North Whitefield. (Paula Roberts photo)
Snowfall totals fell below the 6 to 10 inches predicted from the late Sunday afternoon storm that stretched into the early morning hours of Monday, Dec. 30. However, another round of power outages caused by the storm continued to keep Central Maine Power crews busy and customers without power frustrated.
Precipitation began in Lincoln County as rainfall along the coast and an icy mix inland as the latest storm arrived in the area during the afternoon hours of Sunday.
Some areas of Lincoln County saw the precipitation change over to heavy, wet snowfall in the nighttime hours, while other areas ended up with mixed precipitation, according to reports.
The storm wrapped up early enough for state and local road crews to have most major roadways around the county plowed and sanded before the morning commute.
Total accumulations from the storm were highest in northern and western sections of the county at about 4 to 5 inches, tapering down from there in the south and east.
Periods of above-freezing temperatures during the weekend were not enough for trees to shed their icy coat from a previous ice storm, and the wintry mix many towns received created a snowy crust on top of the remaining ice.
Many trees and limbs around the county were still encroaching on roadways, creating potential hazards for travelers.
Central Maine Power made good headway in restoring power to its customers following the recent ice storm, but after the Sunday storm outages in Lincoln County were up to 2093 as of 6:05 a.m. Dec. 30 and had jumped to 2855 by 8:37 a.m., according to the CMP website. That number was down to just over 1000 at 12:19 p.m. as CMP crews made progress on the outages.
Kennebec County was a distant second with 775 outages as of 8:49 a.m., barely eclipsing the 734 outages in Dresden alone at that time.
As of 6:37 a.m. Dec. 31, power had been restored to all but 357 customers in Lincoln County, 314 of which were in Jefferson, according to CMP.
The outages after Sunday’s storm have not come close to the over 7000 outages experienced in Lincoln County during and following the pre-Christmas ice storm.
Buildup of ice and snow in the county is not heading anywhere fast, as temperatures plunged into the negatives early Dec. 30 and are predicted to stay well-below freezing for the rest of the week, according to National Weather Service forecasts.
Southern sections of the county may hit the low 20s on New Year’s Day, but teens and single digits for highs and lows dipping into the negatives will be the norm across the county for the remainder of the week, according to the forecasts.
