As advertised, Mainers woke up a sheet of snow on Sunday morning. In areas of the state, as much as 9 inches had fallen, with more coming through Sunday night.
By 7 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Augusta had already accumulated 7 inches of snow since Saturday night. Areas of Franklin County were as high at 14 inches Sunday afternoon, while Somerset County were as high as 10 inches.
By 10:13 a.m. Sunday morning, Waterville already had 6 inches of snow. Winslow had 10.8 inches by 4:52 p.m.
Most local areas were expected to see at least a foot or more. The first significant snowfall of the 2019 winter season came amid frigid temperatures, with wind chills plunging well below zero.
Wind chill values were as low as -7 degrees in Augusta and -6 in Waterville. Those low wind chills are expected to continue through Monday night and break with a high of 20 degrees on Tuesday.
Gusts of wind as high as 25 to 30 miles per hour would be blowing snow through the region Monday, causing problems with visibility for plows and drivers.
Many were snowed in across Central Maine, a few braved the conditions for a hot meal or to pick a new motorcycle.
Ken Jones, of Burlington, Connecticut, braved the storm to pick up a rare 1975 Honda CB500T motorcycle in Fairfield. Jones stopped for coffee at the West Gardiner Service Plaza and to make sure the straps tying down the bike were secure.
“They only made it for two years,” Jones, a motorcycle collector, said of the bike.
Jones said the drive home was about five hours, but he didn’t know how long it would take in the snowy conditions.
“The roads are not great,” he said. “Down there, it’s more freezing rain now, it’ll get interesting as I get closer (to Burlington).”
Despite the roads being slick on Sunday, no major motor vehicle crashes were reported in the Waterville area by mid-afternoon.
Just before 10 a.m., police received a report of a box truck traveling northbound on Interstate 95 having slid off and rolled over an embankment near exit 130 in Waterville. State police and Waterville Fire and Rescue responded but could not locate the truck.
“We found a pickup truck in a ditch off the road in the same area,” said State Trooper Dan Murray. “The call came in as a box truck on it’s side. It was boxy looking, and that’s what somebody must have described (to the dispatcher). This (pickup truck) was just in a ditch at an angle, so I could see where it would look like it’s on its side.”
Murray said that the male driver, whose name and age he did not provide, was unharmed in the incident and that the vehicle — which he described as “a four-door Ford pickup” — was undamaged.
“It just went off the shoulder into the snow,” said Murray. “The driver was traveling too fast.”
A two-vehicle crash was reported on Rowe Road in Skowhegan. Timothy Williams, a Skowhegan patrol officer, told a Somerset County dispatcher that the crash was minor. Williams noted that there were no injuries and that the drivers pulled into a nearby driveway around 10:30 a.m. and were “on their way” soon after.
Paula Tourtelotte, co-owner of Dave’s Diner on Brunswick Avenue in Gardiner, said her business was one of the few places open this morning.
“We had a pretty good amount of business for about an hour,” she said. “We are the only place open, even downtown.”
The diner planned on closing at 11 a.m. after precipitation changed to sleet and halted their stream of customers.
Back at the service plaza, Big Apple assistant manager Todd McCollor was spreading salt on the walkway to the store as dozens of tractor trailers were dormant in the parking lot. Abbie Melvin and her boyfriend, Colton Larrabee, of Scarborough, were on their way home from Dexter where they were participating in an ice fishing derby.
“I had work first thing in the morning (on Monday),” Melvin said. “We were thinking about waiting for the snow to stop, but we figured we should just go.”
Melvin said the roads were in OK condition, but visibility from blown snow was the worst part about the commute.
Central Maine Power reported only one outage — in Temple with three customers — in their coverage area early in the afternoon, but was no longer listed by 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
On Friday, CMP spokeswoman Catharine Hartnett said that about 100 line crews would be spread along the Interstate 95 corridor. 100 tree crews also will be dispatched around the state.
Sean Goodwin, director of the Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency, was not immediately available for comment.
Morning Sentinel reporter Meg Robbins contributed to this report.
Sam Shepherd — 621-5666
Twitter: @SamShepME
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