I hate to keep posting someone else's writing here instead of my own, but I love the Morning Sentinel! They write about everything so well! I promise I'll get to my news in my words, but meanwhile, this was a heckuva lot of snow for this Texas girl. MRM and RBF think it was at least 2 feet of snow in our yard. Meanwhile, here's the news story from the early morning edition of The Morning Sentinel:
Storm pounds region
By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Thursday, February 15, 2007
People started calling it the St. Valentine's Day Blizzard by noontime Wednesday, just an hour or so after the governor's office declared a state of emergency.
Heavy snow and driving winds reduced visibility to near zero on central Maine roads as the first major storm of the winter plowed into the state, dumping nearly 10 inches of snow by 2 p.m. with a lot more to come.
Officials warned residents to stay off the roads and let highway crews do their jobs, and by and large they did.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning, effective until 5 a.m. today.
The storm eased for a period in the Waterville area at about 3 p.m., giving commuters hope that the storm was ending early, but it was just getting its second wind.
"That's just a dry slot moving through, the heavy stuff will be coming through shortly," Jim Brown at the National Weather Service said of the lull. "For inland locations like where you are, there will be one to two feet."
An hour later it was snowing again, driving out of the northeast with a ferocity.
The jackpot for snowfall is expected across the western mountains and foothills -- Maine's ski areas -- before the storm ends Thursday morning.
"Before today, the total was very little -- 10 to 20 inches, if that," said meteorologist John Cannon. "This one is basically going to double totals for some communities for the season."
Traffic slowed to a crawl and schools never opened for the day. Cars and tractor trailers slid off the roads, but no serious injuries were reported.
"We have had a few vehicles sliding off the road, but nothing serious," a state police dispatcher said. "It's very bad visibility."
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, Skowhegan Police Chief Butch Asselin said he had seen few problems with the all-day snow event.
"We're having a flurry of snowmobile-related complaints, you know, people operating on the roadway. These people have been waiting all year for this," Asselin said with a laugh.
State workers were ordered to go home at 12:30 p.m. Airlines canceled all flights at the Bangor International Airport, and most flights at Portland International Jetport were canceled as well.
Waterville City Hall was closed and city trucks worked to keep streets clear, but it was largely a losing battle.
Quentin Hardy, a delivery driver for the Waterville House of Pizza, said he had nearly 30 deliveries by 2 p.m. The restaurant itself was empty.
"The main roads aren't too bad, but the side roads are treacherous -- they can't get a chance to plow them," he said. "Even Main Street. They're just trying to get the main ones open and they can't keep up with it. There's just too much snow."
Over at The Center building on Main Street, a sad song by Carole King rose from The Forum, where Diana Cochran had prepared an open house for the homeless. There were chocolates and bears and hearts and candles and pizza, but no people.
"I have heart for the homeless," she said. "I can't believe nobody's come. It was advertised on the radio and I told the taxi people to bring people in."
In Franklin County, motorists were generally staying off the roads unless they were heading to the ski areas up north or had snow plowing businesses.
Local weather watcher Dennis Pike, who is also the Franklin County Sheriff, said he saw the first snowflake at his home on Fairbanks Road in Farmington at 4:17 a.m. and, as of 3:30 p.m., 9.8 inches had accumulated.
The Public Works Department in Farmington had plows out by 5 a.m. Wednesday, and they will stay out as long as they are needed, said mechanic Greg Soule, the only one left at the maintenance garage.
"We have nine pieces of equipment out and they are all doing what they are supposed to be doing. We live in Maine -- we're supposed to be able to handle this," he said.
Brian Caverly, dispatcher at Richard A. Carrier Trucking Inc. in Skowhegan, said the snow was slowing down business.
"It makes it real hard on business," Caverly said. "Seventy-five percent of our trucks are off the road today. It's too dangerous, hard going, and more accidents, more off the road."
Caverly said the less-experienced drivers are not sent out and the ones with more experience do the most necessary trucking to the sawmills.
"Everything we do is with sawmills, so we try to move what we can to keep them going," Caverly said.
Charles Robbins Jr. at Charlie & Son Auto Sales in Skowhegan said his towing and plowing service had been busy all day.
"It's all light snow, but there's lots of it," Robbins said. "My father is plowing on the road and I've been towing. There have been quite a few accidents -- eight, nine or 10."
Asselin said some of the Skowhegan Police cruisers were having trouble moving in the deepening snow, especially on Main Street hill. He had told officers to stay off the road until they were called into service.
As early as noontime, bigger trucks were having difficulty in the gathering snow. In Madison a tractor trailer could not make Thurston Hill. Police everywhere were scrambling to help mired cars.
Among the accidents police responded to were a rollover on U.S. Route 201 in Solon shortly after 1 p.m. that caused no serious injuries, a car that slid off the U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock about 10 minutes later, and the breakdown of a truck on U.S. Route 2 in Mercer at about 12:30 p.m.
Maine State Trooper Hugh Landry, who patrols in Somerset County, said the truck was driving east when it apparently broke down after failing to make a hill near the Norridgewock border. Both the truck and the trailer were towed.
In Pittsfield, Crystal Bradbury, shoveling snow from the sidewalk in front of her Middle Street home, took it all in stride.
"It's Maine. It's winter," she said. "You live in Maine, you kind of expect snow."
Bradbury was sent home early from work, but more than six inches of snow had already fallen by the time she grabbed her shovel.
"It's packed down a bit because the kids were out here earlier," she said. Her children had since run off to go sliding. "And who gets stuck shoveling? Me."
Steven Emery, Pittsfield Police Chief, said as of 12:45 p.m. the only accident in town was a minor fender-bender in a parking lot.
"Visibility is terrible," he said. "The plows can't keep up with it. Roads will not be sanded until they have been plowed. They're out and about, but they can't keep up with it."
Tammy Higgins, co-owner of Hocus Pocus Cafe on Main Street, downtown, said she drove to Newport on the back roads and had no problems.
"It's just been so mild for so many years that people freak out," she said. "I love (the snow)."
Doug Harlow -- 861-9244
dharlow@centralmaine.com
Staff Writers Darla L. Pickett, Alan Crowell, Betty Jespersen and Craig Crosby contributed this report.
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