Violent winds up to 60 mph and bands of rain drenched Maine on Friday, with the gusty conditions knocking down trees and power lines and causing outages for tens of thousands.
The high winds prompted several school districts to send students home early and cancel after-school activities, with forecasters warning that the conditions could make driving school buses and other high-profile vehicles dangerous.
A high wind warning was in effect until 7 p.m. for parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties, including much of Greater Portland. The National Weather Service said wind would hover between 25 and 35 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph. The rest of the state was under a less-severe wind advisory, with winds between 15 and 25 mph and gusts up to 50 mph expected.
The gusty winds knocked down trees, power lines, trash cans and anything else that wasn’t tied down. As of Friday evening, more than 60,000 Central Maine Power and Versant Power customers were affected by power outages caused by the storm.
Forecasters were also calling for roughly an inch of rain, with higher totals possible in the mountains. Temperatures hovered in the low 50s throughout the day — unseasonably warm for mid-December, though the wind and rain pushed feels-like temperatures down into the 30s.
We’re winding down our live updates for the evening. Updates from throughout the day follow below.
5:30 p.m.: Dozens of trees down in Portland
Friday’s storm felled more than 30 trees across Portland, city spokesperson Jessica Grondin said. Crews were working overtime to clear roads, she said.
Power was knocked out at the city’s warming shelter at 166 Riverside Industrial Parkway, Grondin said, but the city’s emergency management coordinator is working with Central Maine Power to get it restored.
5 p.m.: Where outages are most prevalent
Over 45,000 Central Maine Power customers were without electricity late Friday afternoon, including 11,500 in Cumberland County, with significant clusters in Harpswell, Falmouth, Westbrook and Brunswick.
Sagadahoc County had nearly 7,600 customers without power, including high numbers in Topsham, Phippsburg and Bowdoinham.
Lincoln County had nearly 5,500 outages, with Jefferson and Damariscotta topping that list.
Kennebec County had more than 5,300 outages, with the largest clusters in West Gardiner, Pittston, Gardiner and Vienna.
Meanwhile, 21,000 Versant Power customers were in the dark, led by residents of Bangor, Hampden, Lincoln, Eastport and Lamoine.
4:30 p.m.: ‘Significant’ turnpike crash sends 1 to hospital, closes 2 lanes of highway
A “significant” crash involving a car and a tractor-trailer on the Maine Turnpike on Friday afternoon sent one person to the hospital, authorities said.
The crash near the Biddeford exit closed the center and right-hand northbound lanes, according to the Kennebunk Fire Rescue Department.
The department said in a social media post that one person involved in the crash was taken to a hospital in Portland. It wasn’t immediately clear how severe their injuries were.
Drivers should slow down, increase the distance between them and vehicles in front of them, make sure their headlights are on, and use two hands on the steering wheel in slick conditions, the department said.
Maine State Police were on the scene working to reconstruct the crash, the fire department added.
4 p.m.: Power outages surpass 55,000 as darkness begins to fall
As darkness began to fall across Maine on one of the longest nights of the winter, more than 55,000 Central Maine Power and Versant Power customers were without electricity.
Nearly 12,000 CMP customers in Cumberland County have lost power, as well as nearly 7,000 in Sagadahoc County.
Outages were also affecting about 4,000 CMP customers in Lincoln County, 2,600 in Kennebec County, nearly 2,500 in York County and 2,100 in Androscoggin County.
About 1,700 customers in each of Penobscot, Somerset and Waldo counties also lost power, as did 1,300 in Oxford County.
Meanwhile, over 15,000 Versant Power customers in northern and eastern Maine were in the dark. The bulk of those affected were in Penobscot and Hancock counties, plus several hundred in Washington and Piscataquis counties, according to the utility.
3:30 p.m.: Gusting crosswinds, wet runways disrupt small aircraft travel at Portland Jetport
Friday’s wet, windy weather was causing flight delays and cancellations at Portland International Jetport, but the disruption would have been worse in years past, when the aircraft flying through southern Maine would have been smaller, according to Airport Director Paul Bradbury.
“A crosswind is not favorable for smaller aircraft, but over time, the fleet mix is growing larger,” Bradbury said Friday. “A wet runway does not brake as well as a dry runway, but it’s really the crosswinds on a day like today that make it dangerous for small aircraft.”
The average number of seats in the aircraft going in and out of Portland is now over 120 seats, Bradbury said. Only a few of the smaller, 76-seat commercial aircraft still use the jetport, he said; those planes are less capable of handling crosswinds.
On Friday afternoon, winds coming out of the south were averaging about 22 mph, Bradbury said, with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. But Bradbury noted that Friday’s windstorm was affecting much of the East Coast, which means that some of the delays and cancellations reported in Portland on Friday were caused by bad weather at the other end of the flight.
3:15 p.m.: Wet, windy conditions send driver onto Lewiston lawn
A Lewiston woman lost control of her SUV in the middle of the windstorm around 1 p.m. Friday, causing the vehicle to flip and skid into cement stairs leading up to a residential lawn at the corner of Farwell and Webster streets, police said.
The woman and three children in the car were taken to a hospital to be treated for minor injuries but were released later Friday afternoon, according to Derrick St. Laurent, a spokesperson for the Lewiston Police Department.
3 p.m.: Power outages surpass 50,000
Power outages are continuing to soar as the brunt of the windstorm batters Maine.
Central Maine Power reported almost 40,000 customers without power in southern and central Maine, while Versant Power reported nearly 12,000 customers affected in northern and eastern Maine.
CMP reported nearly 12,000 customers without power in Cumberland County, almost 7,000 in Sagadahoc County, just shy of 5,000 in Androscoggin County and more than 4,000 in York County.
Another 2,500 customers in Kennebec County, 2,500 in Lincoln County, 1,600 in Waldo County and 1,500 in Oxford County were without power, according to CMP’s tracker.
2:30 p.m.: Buoys record 50-knot winds off Maine coast
The National Data Buoy System recorded wind gusts of 52 knots at the station on Matinicus Rock at 2:10 p.m. and 50 knots on the buoy floating about 12 nautical miles off Portland Head Light at 1:10 p.m.
The National Weather Service had issued a storm warning for mariners through Friday night, predicting steady southerly winds between 30 to 40 knots and stronger gusts and seas of 12 to 16 feet. Patchy afternoon fog and rain will make things even more dangerous.
2 p.m.: Over 20,000 CMP customers now without power
Power outages continued to rise Friday afternoon, with Central Maine Power reporting more than 20,000 customers without power as of 1:55 p.m.
Nearly 6,500 Cumberland County customers lost power, the utility said, followed by 3,300 in York County, 2,400 in Sagadahoc County and just over 2,000 in Androscoggin County.
More than 1,000 customers in Kennebec, Knox and Oxford counties were also without power.
Nearly 500 Versant Power customers in northern and eastern Maine were also facing outages.
1:30 p.m.: Ski resorts closed by weather
Some of Maine’s top ski resorts closed their slopes Friday amid the high winds and wet, rainy weather bearing down on the state.
Both Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton and Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley were closed, though the latter said on its website that The Pub restaurant and its retail shops were still open.
Lost Valley in Auburn was also closed to skiers and snowboarders in an effort to preserve its snow surface.
1:15 p.m.: Power outages quickly double
As the wind picked up early Friday afternoon, power outages suddenly jumped by almost double, with more than 13,000 reported statewide.
Central Maine Power was reporting about 12,500 customers without power, including 3,000 in Cumberland County, 2,500 in Androscoggin County and 2,400 in York County.
About 1,200 Knox County customers and 1,000 in Oxford County were also without power.
A few hundred customers in Franklin, Kennebec, Somerset and Waldo counties also lost power.
About 890 Versant Power customers also lost power, according to that utility company.
1 p.m.: Power outages climbing again
Power outages jumped again early Friday afternoon to over 7,000.
Just shy of 7,000 Central Maine Power customers — including 2,500 in Franklin County, nearly 2,400 in Androscoggin County and almost 1,000 in York County — were without power as of 1 p.m.
The utility also reported a few hundred outages in Cumberland, Kennebec, Oxford and Somerset counties.
Meanwhile, nine outages affecting about 700 Versant Power customers in northern and eastern Maine were reported as of just before 1 p.m.
12:45 pm: Friday’s ‘soaker’ will help, but not end, statewide drought
Low groundwater levels in southern Maine should be improved by Friday’s storm, but not enough to pull the region out of severe or extreme drought, according to members of a statewide drought task force that met Friday morning.
“I was really, really hoping we would have at least one late season recharge event before the ground completely froze,” said Sarah Jamison, a senior service hydrologist in the Gray office of the National Weather Service. “And that is exactly what’s happening right now.”
The “soaker” will not have the same impact in northern Maine, Jamison said, where drought conditions aren’t as bad anymore but the frozen ground will prevent Friday’s precipitation from reaching the groundwater.
The predicted rainfall will eliminate the snowpack in southern Maine, where accumulations topped out at 4 inches, and leave spotty snow conditions in areas of central Maine that had built up 4 to 6 inches of snow, Jamison said.
11:35 a.m.: Temperatures reach 50s for first time since November
Temperatures in Greater Portland broke the 50-degree mark late Friday morning as rain pelted down. Friday marks the first time it’s been that warm — relatively speaking — since Nov. 10, according to the National Weather Service.
As the system currently bringing rain, wind and fog moves out, forecasters expect more seasonable chilly temperatures to return — albeit not the frigid, record-breaking cold that gripped the state in early December.
But the National Weather Service’s Gray office warned that as temperatures fall back toward normal, damp surfaces could turn icy, making travel Friday night into Saturday morning potentially risky.
Saturday’s weather service forecast for Greater Portland calls for high temperatures in the upper 30s, with clouds and breezy winds. Sunday will bring sun and highs in the low 40s.
As next week begins, temperatures will dip back into the 20s and high teens Monday. A fresh batch of snow — just in time for Christmas — is in the forecast Tuesday.
The forecast over the next few days is similar in the Augusta and Lewiston-Auburn areas, though temperatures could be a couple of degrees colder.
11:15 a.m.: Power outages fall
Reported power outages for Central Maine Power customers have dipped from an earlier peak over 5,000.
As of 11:15 a.m., roughly 1,500 of CMP’s 680,000-plus customers were without power.
The bulk of the outages are still in Cumberland County, which reported about 1,250. A few dozen outages were also affecting CMP customers in Franklin, Kennebec and York counties.
The state’s largest utility company said in a statement Thursday night that would be staffing extra crews at its service stations to respond as quickly as possible to outages.
CMP crews are prohibited from raising bucket truck arms when wind speeds exceed 30 mph, the utility added.
11 a.m.: Flight cancelations and delays reported
Several flights into and out of the Portland International Jetport were canceled or delayed Friday.
According to the jetport’s website, five arrivals and five departures had been canceled as of 11 a.m., with one departure delayed.
A Friday morning flight from Washington, D.C., to the jetport was briefly diverted to Boston’s Logan International Airport before arriving in Portland about an hour and a half behind schedule.
10:45 a.m.: Schools plan early dismissals
Several school districts across Maine announced plans to send students home early Friday. The National Weather Service warned that the high winds, expected to pick up in the afternoon, could make driving high-profile vehicles — like school buses — dangerous.
In central Maine, all in the Readfield-based Maranacook Area Schools and in the Oakland-based Regional School Unit 18 will release students at 11 a.m. All after-school activities in both districts are canceled.
All Sheepscot Valley schools will release students at 11:30 a.m., with officials in the Somerville-based district citing the high winds.
Meanwhile, in the Midcoast — where the highest winds were forecast — several districts announced their plans Thursday to dismiss students early Friday.
Those schools included: Regional School Unit 13, which will release middle and high school students at 11 a.m. and elementary school students at noon; Five Town Community School District, which serves Camden and Rockport, dismissing middle and high schoolers at 12:15 p.m. and elementary school students at 11:30 a.m.; and Lincolnville Central School, dismissing at 11:30 a.m.
10:35 a.m.: A few thousand power outages reported
A few thousand power outages have been reported across Maine on Friday morning.
As of 10:35 a.m., about 5,200 Central Maine Power customers were without power, almost all of them in Cumberland County.
Versant Power, serving northern and eastern Maine, reported only a handful of outages that affected about 125 customers.
10 a.m.: National Weather Service warns of fog
In a special weather statement, the National Weather Service cautioned that pockets of dense fog are expected to continue throughout Friday morning.
Visibility is expected to continue to improve by lunchtime, the weather service said, but travel conditions are changing quickly.
Drivers should be prepared and make sure to leave adequate space between themselves and the vehicles ahead of them.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct Airport Director Paul Bradbury’s name.
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