Heavy snow tonight results in dangerous travel in the morning

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) – Good evening everyone and happy Wednesday. Tonight’s weather forecast shows an area of ​​low pressure to the south and west of the region this evening. That will run north and east tonight, causing heavy snow to continue into tomorrow morning. Snow is expected to stop falling from the sky by midday, with blowing snow causing problems for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Winds will finally ease into Friday, leading to a better but colder day heading into the weekend.

The National Weather Service has placed the entire county under a winter storm warning starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow night. At this point, blowing snow doesn’t appear to be a concern going into the overnight hours tomorrow, but it will still be there and could still pose a travel issue into Friday morning.

Going into the afternoon for the remainder of the night tonight will indicate that the leading edge of the heavy snow will begin working its way into the region this evening. It looks like the snow will start out on the lighter side at first, but as we continue through the night and into early Thursday, the snow will pick up in intensity. We may be seeing snow amounts with this system of nearly 2 inches per hour. This greatly reduces visibility, and makes travel very difficult during the overnight hours and early morning. Heavy snow will continue during the morning commute as warm air begins to work its way into the region. While I don’t think temperatures will be warm enough to support a full transition to rain, a mix of rain and freezing rain is possible over the southern parts of the county, mixing as far north as central Aroostook. This works to limit the total amount of snow in the southern areas, but it is too late to make a significant difference in the overall snow. Snow showers are expected tomorrow night. That combined with clearing skies sets us up for a better day overall on Friday before more snow shower activity returns for the weekend.

With snow falling in this system, I’m still thinking that most areas in the northern and western parts of the county have a chance of seeing more than a foot of snow. Areas in light purple could see totals of more than a foot, with some areas approaching 15 inches of snow after this system moves out of the region. Ad volumes over southern Aroostook are decreasing thanks to expected mixing in the morning hours. Another thing to note, thanks to the snow potential expected tomorrow, it will be difficult to measure any snow in this system. Blowing snow will still be a concern tomorrow night, but as winds lighten heading into Friday, the chance of blowing snow will decrease.

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

More details about the forecast can be found on the Weather Tonight web video forecast. Good luck there!

Copyright 2023 WAGM. all rights reserved.