A storm expected to drop up to a foot of snow in parts of central Maine Monday led area schools to call a fourth snow day in the last five weekdays and is causing headaches for public works crews who haven’t been able to clear snow that fell last week.

“I’ve been superintendent for 14 years, and I don’t recall anything like this in the past,” said Regional School Unit 11 Superintendent Patricia Hopkins. Three snowstorms have whacked the area since last Tuesday, dropping several feet of snow.

Snow began falling early Monday morning, and the storm was expected to leave 8 to 12 inches of snow by the time it tapers off Monday night. That’s on top of the nearly three feet that fell in some parts of the area in storms Tuesday and Friday.

No major accidents were reported, and the biggest issue the cities of Augusta and Waterville are dealing with is where to put all the snow.

Temperatures between below zero and the teens mean none of it has melted.

And there’s potentially another significant snowstorm coming to the area Friday, said John Cannon, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gray. Cannon said it’s too early to tell what the Friday storm could bring, but a smaller storm is expected to drop around an inch of snow Wednesday.

‘FULL PLOW MODE’

“We’re just in full plow mode right now,” Lesley Jones, director of public works in Augusta, said Monday.

The city has one crew to plow the roads and clear the snow after, so there’s been only one night in the last week when snow could be removed, she said. The workers have also been struggling to clear sidewalks enough for people to walk on them, Jones said.

“The guys are working hard and doing the best they can. It’s challenging for them too,” she said.

Waterville also has just one plow crew — made up of 13 people — responsible for clearing the streets and snow removal, according to Director of Public Works Mark Turner.

With the frequency of storms, there’s been no time to remove snow, he said.

“There are hundreds of places around the city where snow hasn’t been removed yet, but we can only do what we can do and we’re doing the best we can,” he said.

The city does not hire extra plow crews, even when faced with back-to-back storms, because of union regulations and lack of city funding, Turner said.

“We could if we were overwhelmed, but there’s no real plans to do that. There’s no money available for it,” Turner said.

On Monday, crews were planning to work a roughly 16-hour workday before going home late Monday and coming back around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, Turner said.

A winter parking ban is in effect through 6 a.m. in Waterville, and Turner warned residents to be careful of high snowbanks at intersections and on streets where encroaching snowbanks have narrowed the roadway.

While there were no major accidents reported, the snow and below-zero temperatures combined for slick roads, and Jerry Dostie, street superintendent for Augusta, said Monday’s storm was making driving difficult.

There weren’t any serious accidents reported in the Augusta area by around 4:30 p.m., but there were around a dozen disabled motor vehicles or property damage accidents in the city.

Dispatchers in Waterville as well as Franklin and Somerset counties also said there were no reports of storm-related damage or major accidents on Monday.

On Interstate 95 in Etna, a tractor-trailer struck a state Department of Transportation plow truck, sending the plow truck spinning out of control and causing it to roll over, landing the tractor-trailer in an embankment.

Neither the driver of the plow, Alfred Washburn, of Hartland, or the tractor-trailer’s driver, Ronald Rioux of New Canada, were injured in the accident, according to a press release from the Department of Public Safety.

Augusta plow drivers were scheduled to be out on the roads through Monday night, and a larger crew was scheduled to go out early Tuesday morning to clear out the majority of the snow before the morning commute, Dostie said.

He said the department has had to cancel three nights of snow cleanup in the last week because of the additional snow. The snowfall total in Augusta for the last week will approach four feet by the time the storm finishes Monday, he said.

“People are frustrated with the amount of snow that’s out there, and we’re doing our best,” Dostie said. “Streets are certainly getting narrowed up as a result of it, and we ask that everyone has patience, and we’ll remove the snow as soon as possible.”

SNOW DAYS

Gov. Paul LePage closed state offices, except those in Aroostook County, at 2 p.m. Monday.

School districts in central Maine will keep students in their classrooms later into June because of all the recent snow days.

Augusta’s school district, Hallowell-based Regional School Unit 2 and Gardiner-based RSU 11 all canceled school Monday because of the storm. Last week, the districts canceled school Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

The last day for Augusta’s schools has been moved to June 16 as a result of the snow days, and the Hallowell and Gardiner districts are scheduled to hold their last days June 17.

The superintendents of the three districts said graduation won’t be moved back as the result of snow days, but the districts may need to schedule make-up days for graduating seniors if the winter keeps up this pace.

“Hopefully we won’t have any more,” said Augusta Superintendent James Anastasio. “We’re all tired of it.”

However, if meteorologists are as right about the potential storm Friday as they’ve been about the previous storms this winter, the schools may be in store for another snow day, Anastasio said.

In Alternative Organizational Structure 92, which includes Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow, students were released early Monday. The district has used all three snow days it scheduled this school year. If there are any more snow days, they will simply add days on to the end of the year, said Superintendent Eric Haley. Last week, the district canceled school Tuesday and Wednesday. On Friday, students at the Vassalboro Community School had an early release while students in the rest of the district were already out of school for a scheduled in-service day.

“Different schools allow for different numbers,” Haley said. “As of the last few years, I think we’ve gone over and have had to extend the school year by one or two days. It really doesn’t make any difference if you build them in or not, because you still have to have school the same number of days.”

Virgel Hammonds, superintendent of RSU 2, which includes schools in Hallowell, Farmingdale, Richmond, Dresden and Monmouth, said five snow days are built into the schedule, and the district won’t start running into problems with graduating seniors potentially not attending enough days until after the district uses those five days.

In his four years in the position, Hammond said he’s never seen anything like this recent stretch of storms.

“I think everyone is taking a cautious approach and making sure kids and families are safe, rather than putting them out on the roads in precarious weather situations,” he said. “We’re erring on the side of caution.”

The weather service doesn’t have comparisons of snowfall totals for other week-long periods, but Cannon said some parts of the state have seen “truly remarkable” snowfall totals in the last week, such as 57 inches in Eastport.

Storms are usually more active near the end of January and early February, and “this year it surely did the same,” Cannon said.

Staff writer Rachel Ohm contributed to this story.

Paul Koenig — 621-5663

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Twitter: @paul_koenig