PLEASE CLICK FOR THE LATEST UPDATE ► Freezing Rain To Impact Maine Sunday

A Roller Coaster Ride Through Sunday

Snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain are all expected around the state this weekend. While Saturday is mainly a snow event, the forecast gets complicated from Saturday evening until Sunday night. If you are traveling this weekend, take extra caution, and allow for plenty of time to reach your destination.

After the Arctic blast Friday, temperatures appear to slowly but surely climb until Sunday afternoon. All but the Crown of the state can expect flakes flying soon after sunrise Saturday. One thing absent from the forecast is wind. Coastal islands may feel a bit of an onshore breeze in the afternoon, but the inland areas are likely to be light and variable.

Snow in varying intensities continues until early evening south, mid-evening for the north.

A slight revision to the map posted Thursday evening. Coastal & coastal interior areas are likely to see the most from this. I do expect the islands and immediate shorelines to end up in the 2-5″ range as a coastal front will set up and bring freezing rain & rain to those areas by mid-afternoon. This will knock accumulations down an inch or two. However, a mile or two inland appears to be the difference between all snow and rain.

As the Saturday snow maker moves towards the Canadian Maritimes, the system that brings freezing rain & rain moves through the Great Lakes and eventually tracks just south of the St. Lawrence River. The storm intensifies and drags in warm air with it. As the warmer air moves in at lower atmospheric levels with cold air at the surface, the threat for freezing drizzle and freezing fog sets up overnight. While freezing rain is bad, freezing drizzle & freezing fog are worse. Roads, parking lots, sidewalks and steps can glaze over ever so quietly, and look so innocent, but it can be dangerous.

In the wee hours of Sunday is when pockets of freezing rain are expected to develop over the western foothills & southwest coast and move northeastward. This is anticipated to continue through most of the morning for the foothills, mountains & the north. Warmer air appears on track to move into the shorelines, but without a strong steady wind, cold air damming over the interior could win out. This sets up an icing period for those areas that do not rise above freezing. This has been a main concern of mine for days, and it appears that the models are figuring that out. Folks away from the immediate shorelines can expect trace amounts to 0.10″ of an inch, with isolated higher amounts the further away from the coast and for interior eastern areas.

NOTE: I am planning on updating the ice potential Saturday afternoon, so please check back.

By mid-afternoon, the storm is continuing to intensify as it heads for Newfoundland. While temperatures may top out in the 40s along coastal areas, the warm spell appears brief. A cold front drops through the region in the wake of the storm Sunday afternoon, which will bring snow squalls to the mountains, and temperatures rapidly falling everywhere, thanks to the northwest wind.

Rapid Freeze To End The Weekend

With the increase of wind along with rapidly falling temperatures, flash freezing is a real possibility in any areas of melting. For those areas that do not thaw, be aware of the chance for power outages from any ice build up on trees & utility lines. By Monday morning, most areas will feel like they did this past Thursday morning, with most areas below zero due to the wind chill.

SATURDAY MORNING FACEBOOK UPDATE ► ICE UPDATE

~ Mike Haggett

For official forecast information: please check in with National Weather Service Gray for Western & Southern Maine and National Weather Service Caribou for Eastern & Northern Maine.

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Special thanks to Tropical Tidbits and Pivotal Weather for their written permission to use their graphics in this post. Use of WeatherTAP images used within their written permitted terms of media use policy. Additional forecast information supplied by the National Weather Service, WeatherBELL Analytics and AccuWeather Professional.

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