Heavy Snow Overnight Tonight Results in Dangerous Travel Through the Morning Commute

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Good evening everyone and happy Wednesday. This evening’s weather setup shows the area of low pressure back off to the south and west of the region this evening. That will be working its way north and east overnight tonight, resulting in heavy snowfall continuing through tomorrow morning. Snow is expected to stop falling from the sky by midday, with blowing snow still causing issues through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening hours. Winds will eventually taper off going into Friday, leading to a better but cooler day expected going into the weekend.

The National Weather Service has placed the entire county under a Winter Storm Warning beginning later this evening and continuing through tomorrow evening. At this point, blowing snow doesn’t appear to be as big of a concern going into the overnight hours tomorrow, however it will still be present and could still cause issue for travel going into Friday morning.

Going hour by hour through the rest of the overnight hours tonight shows the leading edge of the heavier snow beginning to work into the region late this evening. Snow looks to begin on the lighter side at first, but as we continue through the overnight hours and into the early morning hours of Thursday, snow picks up in intensity. We could be looking at snowfall rates during this system of close to 2 inches of snow per hour. This will drastically reduce visibility, and make travel very difficult through the overnight hours and into tomorrow morning. Heavy snow continues during the morning commute as warmer air begins to work into the region. While I don’t think temperatures will be warm enough to support a complete transition over to rain, a mix of sleet and freezing rain is possible over southern parts of the county, with mixing making it as far north as central Aroostook. This will work to limit snowfall totals over southern areas, but overall is too late working in to provide a significant difference in snowfall. Snow showers are expected to taper off tomorrow night. That combined with clearing skies will set us up for a better day overall Friday, before more snow shower activity returns for the weekend.

Snowfall with this system, I’m still thinking most spots over northern and western parts of the county have a good chance of seeing over a foot of snow. Places in the lighter purple color could see totals over a foot, with some spots getting closer to 15 inches of snow once this system has exited the region. Notice amounts over southern Aroostook taper off thanks to mixed precip expected during the morning hours tomorrow. The other thing to note, it will be difficult to measure any snowfall with this system thanks to the blowing snow potential expected through the day tomorrow. Blowing snow will still be a concern tomorrow night, but as winds lighten up going into Friday, the risk of blowing snow diminishes.

Winds will continue to be gusty out of the east overnight tonight, and into the day tomorrow wind gusts could still be close to, if not over 30 mph. This will result in blowing snow through much of the day tomorrow. Winds are expected to shift from the east into the west by the afternoon and continue to be gusty. This will result in blowing snow continuing to be a concern through the rest of tomorrow, and possibly into Friday.

More details on the forecast can be found in this evening’s Weather on the Web Video Forecast. Stay safe out there!

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