Oliver DuBois and his sister Peyton DuBois make snow angels Saturday at their grandparents’ house in Pittston. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

An early spring storm brought several inches of snow to central Maine during the day Saturday, with forecasters expecting up to 2 feet in some areas of central Maine and a switch to a messy wintry mix in others as the storm continues into the early hours of Sunday morning.

A winter storm warning will remain in effect across most of the state, including Kennebec and Somerset counties, until Sunday morning.

Forecasters expect snowfall to total 8 to 12 inches in Kennebec County and 12 to 18 in southern Somerset County, said Stephen Baron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray. Central and northern Somerset County could see up to 2 feet, Baron said.

Those totals will likely be the highest from a single storm in what has been a mild winter for Maine, Baron said.

As of 11:30 a.m., 3 inches of snow had fallen in Augusta, according to Baron. The weather service did not have totals from Somerset County more recent than early Saturday morning, though it appeared that several inches had fallen just outside Skowhegan by around 3 p.m.

A rain-snow line hugging the coast will move north Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service forecast. It will likely reach Augusta, and potentially as far north as Skowhegan, Baron said, bringing a slushy and icy mess of precipitation to the area.

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A late season storm Saturday brings out the heavy equipment in Waterville as a worker clears fresh snow from the Elm Plaza parking lot. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“It should stay snow for the rest of the daylight hours, and then as we go into the evening is when we should start to see some mix that far north,” Baron said, noting that the worst of the storm’s impacts were expected Saturday evening.

Central Maine Power Co. was reporting almost no power outages across the state throughout the day Saturday. CMP spokesperson Jon Breed said that the utility will continue to monitor the storm closely. Crews were pre-staging Friday, the company said.

On roadways, the storm was causing slippery travel conditions throughout the day Saturday.

The speed limit was reduced to 45 mph on the Maine Turnpike, which runs from the New Hampshire line to mile 109 in Augusta, according to a social media post from the Maine Turnpike Authority on Saturday morning.

Between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m., Maine State Police responded to nearly 50 crashes and slide-offs on Maine’s interstate highways, according to Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Most of the crashes were in southern Maine, Moss said. Only four reported during that time resulted in minor injuries.

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In Somerset County, though, drivers appeared to be faring better. Emergency crews across the county had responded to only three motor vehicle accidents as of about 1:30 p.m., according to the county’s emergency dispatch log.

A city employee, seen reflected in the window of Johnson Hall Opera House, operates a tractor with a bucket and clears sidewalks Saturday on Water Street in downtown Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

With the storm expected to continue for several more hours, officials warned drivers to take extra caution into Saturday night.

“People need to drive slow, leave plenty of room between you and the vehicle in front of you, stay off the phone and stay home if at all possible,” Moss wrote in an email Saturday afternoon.

Road conditions, however, did not stop several scheduled events across the region.

Annual town meetings in several central Maine communities, including Canaan and Sidney, went on as planned.

And with Maine Maple Sunday Weekend kicking off Saturday, several participating sugarhouses posted to their social media pages that they were still welcoming guests and shoppers despite the weather.

“Mainers are a pretty hardy bunch, and a little bit of snow won’t bother them too much,” Lyle Merrifield, the president of the Maine Maple Producers Association, told the Portland Press Herald.

Sunday’s forecast is more promising for maple lovers in central Maine. Clouds in the morning are expected to later give way to sunny skies, with high temperatures reaching the upper 30s, the weather service said.

Oliver DuBois and his sister Peyton DuBois play in the snow outside their grandparents’ house in Pittston during Saturday’s snowstorm. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

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