Central Maine escaped the brunt of a nor’easter that blew through New England on Thursday and went out to sea south of Nantucket.

Augusta’s deputy fire Chief David Groder, who is serving as acting chief, said Thursday afternoon that the fire department had received a minimum of weather-related calls.

“I don’t think we’ve been to any accidents today — that’s not to say the PD hasn’t been having fender-benders,” Groder said.

Augusta police Sgt. Jesse Brann said in an email just before 3 p.m. that there had not been a lot of weather-related issues.

“For the most part traffic has been lighter than usual,” Brann said. “We have covered around six crashes today, nothing serious to my knowledge. Roads are slick with approximately four inches of snow here at the PD.”

In Waterville, only a few inches of snow had fallen by later afternoon. Police Sgt. Joshua Woods said there had been only one vehicle accident Thursday — a fender-bender in a parking lot. There had not been any other weather-related issues, according to Woods.

“I think we got lucky,” he said.

Matt Skehan, director of public works and parks and recreation for Waterville, said in an email that the storm dropped between 3-4 inches on the city. Road crews were out between 9 and 10 in the morning sanding intersections, then moved on before lunch to clear major arteries such as Kennedy Memorial Drive, Silver Street, College Avenue and Main Street.

Skehan said it was a “pretty basic storm: nice light fluffy snow.”

Norann Garcia clears her driveway Thursday on High Street in Fairfield. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

After lunch the Waterville crews hit their designated routes. Skehan hoped his crews would have made their last passes between 7 and 8 Thursday evening.

The downtown parking ban was scheduled to be in effect from midnight to 6 a.m. Friday.

Police Chief David Bucknam reported in an email that one accident occurred in Skowhegan on Thursday with no injuries, and that residents were driving slow enough to allow ample time to stop. “Compared to the first storm we had,” the chief said, “it looks like Skowhegan residents have shaken off the cobwebs when it comes to driving in winter weather.”

Bucknam complimented the job the Skowhegan Highway Department was doing keeping the roads cleared and sanded.

Skowhegan Road Commissioner Gregory Dore reported no storm-related problems by mid-afternoon, saying the town had received only about an inch of snow.

Derek Schroeter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, said just after 3 p.m. that the most updated snowfall total he had for the Augusta area was 4 inches in Gardiner, though that was from 11:30 a.m. He did not have totals for the Waterville and Skowhegan areas.

“I haven’t really seen anything just yet because the bulk of the snowfall was to the south of there this morning,” Schroeter said. “We’ve had several reports of over 40 inches in New Hampshire.”

The highest total reported in Maine was 2 feet, in western York County, according to Schroeter.

“The reports have been coming in fast and furious all afternoon,” he said.

For the Augusta and Waterville areas, light snow was expected to fall for the next couple of hours, dropping an inch or two more, according to Schroeter, who said heavy snow would probably stay to the south of Augusta.

“Things will taper off probably four or five hours from now,” he said. “Tomorrow we are looking at sun and mostly temperatures in the mid 20s for highs, and then we are looking for temperatures to warm up this weekend.”

Schroeter said temperatures Saturday were expected to be near 30 and on Sunday in the low to mid 30s.

Shovels await shovelers Thursday outside of Harvey’s Hardware in Gardiner during the first major snow storm of the winter season. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Meanwhile, things appeared quiet in Somerset County, where Somerset County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Michael Mitchell said that by 3:10 p.m. Thursday, the department had not covered any storm-related accidents.

“Roads are very slippery in places and caution should be used when traveling through Somerset County roads throughout the rest of the day and evening,” Mitchell said in an email. “I checked with Somerset Communications (our dispatch center), and they advised me that they have not had any reports of trees down or power outages in the area.”

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