Biting winds and frigid, fine snow pelted Mainers on the drive home Friday and drove wind chills to minus 15 degrees during the night, but forecasters already were turning their attention to a bigger storm that's due Sunday.
Friday's storm, which finished passing over the state after midnight, left more than 6 inches of snow on parts of York County and more than 5 inches in Cumberland County.
Motorists seemed to treat the weather with respect, and though many cars were sliding on turns and going up hills, area police reported no bad accidents or injuries.
"We had quite a few slide off or accidents on the southern end of the Maine Turnpike or Interstate 295. We did not have anything serious," said Kathryn Beem, a supervisor with the Department of Public Safety regional communications center in Gray.
"They're plodding along," she said of motorists.
The cold temperatures, which dropped to the single digits overnight, meant that Mainers saw a lot of snow but not ice.
Brushing off the car was easy, except for the driving wind. Southern Maine saw wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph, and gusts of 50 mph were reported on New Hampshire's Isles of Shoals.
The National Weather Service in Gray has issued a winter storm watch for the entire state Sunday, meaning at least 6 inches of snow is expected as part of a nor'easter.
"We get slammed again Sunday pretty bad," said Andy Pohl, a meteorologist with the weather service. "It's looking quite a bit more robust than this storm."
Today should be cloudy, with temperatures in the 20s and winds of about 10 mph out of the north.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com
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