The weather reports have changed over the past several days, but none of the prognosticators of precipitation has given travelers hope for a pleasant Thanksgiving.
While parts of Western Maine remained under a winter weather advisory by the National Weather Service, much of the interior, including Androscoggin County, has been put under a flood watch until 5 p.m. Wed.
Since last weekend, speculation around Thanksgiving travel conditions wavered from sleet and freezing rain to an all-rain event. By Tuesday afternoon, much of the winter weather predictions were replaced by rising temperatures and the threat of up to 4 inches of rain.
Either scenario creates a less-than-pleasant promise of a road trip to grandma’s, causing changes of plans for some.
Early reports of mixed precipitation, high winds and torrential downpours dampened Thanksgiving plans for Denise Ricker of Norwich, Conn.
Having grown up in Brunswick, Ricker had planned on a holiday in Maine with her friends, her mother and her brother, James, who is recovering from surgery at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Ricker’s plans were first threatened when she sustained a serious knee injury on Veterans Day.
Unable to work and barely able to get around, she still had planned to make the trip until Mother Nature intervened, making the idea of her mother pushing her wheelchair through slush just not worth the cranberries and peanut butter balls.
Instead, her mother had to make the trek on her own, delivering assorted baked goods to her son in his hospital room. Ricker said even her young daughter, Maddie, would not be around to keep her company; she will be visiting her father.
Ricker was optimistic, though. “It’s what you make of it, right?” she said, opting for a Sunday or Monday formal celebration when her mother returns.
For Janelle Harris of Gray, weather would be a welcome obstacle. Her husband, Josh, is deployed to Bahrain with the Air Guard Fire Department for six months.
A member of the Auburn Fire Department, Josh was given an iPad by the fire union, allowing him and Janelle to use FaceTime and Facebook messaging to stay close — a feat still not easy considering the eight-hour difference in time zones.
Harris said her husband and their toddler, Ainsley, get to spend some valuable father/daughter time with the technology.
Harris said she plans to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, father-in-law and other relatives in Dixmont.
Although this will be their first holiday season apart, Harris said, “We understand that he needs to do this and we are glad it’s only six months and not longer, like some families have to deal with.”
Part of a tight community, Harris said friends, family and firefighters from Auburn and Gray have been checking in on her, “and are willing to help with anything — Josh included — and we appreciate that.”
A busy soccer coach for St. Joseph’s College, she said a group of Auburn firefighters and their wives even came over and cleaned up the leaves in her yard.
dmcintire@sunjournal.com
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