BANGOR, Maine — Heavy snowfall and a messy mix of precipitation Saturday dashed Maine’s hopes of an early spring, with road conditions deteriorating across the state throughout the day.
Snow fell in the greater Bangor area without much pause from the early-morning hours until after 4 p.m., when precipitation changed over to freezing rain.
For those out-and-about downtown Saturday, the storm dealt a discouraging blow.
“I was hoping this would be over for the season, but actually every place is closed today,” Charlie Wakeling, who was getting coffee with his sister, said Saturday.
Others were equally upset but otherwise undaunted by the messy weather.
Lauren Evans, who was out dropping her kids off at a birthday party, said she was initially a bit reserved about traveling conditions Saturday.
“I was a little hesitant to go out, but the road crews have done a good job plowing, and the interstate wasn’t too bad getting here,” Evans said.
But the fact that she had to navigate her minivan through the snow-slicked roads in late March was a let-down after weeks of fair temperatures.
“False spring had us really rooting and hoping for spring,” Evans added.
For snowplow drivers around Bangor however, the storm offered an opportunity to make up for lost work. Though in contractor Gavin Carr’s truck, the dynamics of the storm proved frustrating.
“[It’s a] little bit of a pain in the butt because of how windy it is,” Carr said during a job on State Street Saturday. “Just blows right off the plow. So…we just gotta keep it on the plow,” Carr said.
As of 7 p.m. on Saturday, freezing rain was falling in Bangor.