PORTLAND, Maine — Old Man Winter rolls back into town for the last winter storm of the year Thursday night through Saturday. Rain will change to freezing rain and snow for the central highlands and portions of Down east, causing slippery travel. Let’s discuss the details and timeline:
This storm will bring snow and freezing rain to parts of Maine, away from the coast especially.
The precipitation begins to transition from rain to freezing rain early in the morning on Friday.
By the middle of the morning, the freezing rain is changing to snow in the central highlands and Down East.
It’s mostly an all snow event by Friday afternoon, with light accumulations away from the coast.
Speaking of snow, here’s the latest accumulation map. Nothing Maine can’t handle.
But the issue is the freezing rain that falls before the snow, which will make things slippery.
Ice amounts will be less than 2/10 of an inch.
This will make driving a bit slippery, but widespread power outages are not expected.
We need to see at least ¼ inch for more significant impacts to take place.
This won’t be a sleet storm. Sleet bounces off objects, whereas freezing rain attaches to them due to the warm layer of air above the ground before the precipitation freezes upon contact with 32-degree ground level temps.
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