Residents digging out after County receives foot of snow

4 years ago

HOULTON, Maine — After a snowstorm pummeled much of the state yesterday with snow, sleet and freezing rain, parts of Aroostook County were left with as much as a foot of snow.

The most snowfall occurred in Oxbow, which saw 12 inches of snow from the storm, according to Greg Cornwell, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Caribou.

Mapleton received 11.5 inches, while in southern Aroostook, Hodgdon received 11 inches.

Van Buren and Amity both saw 10.5 inches from the storm, while 

Presque Isle picked up 9 inches.

Kathleen Nason of Presque Isle said that she was “amazed” how quickly the storm came on and rapidly made travel conditions hazardous.

“I got up in the morning and I thought that things wouldn’t be so bad because it wasn’t snowing at all,” she said. “I went to work and started hearing from friends in Houlton that the storm was starting to get bad down there, and it wasn’t even snowing up here. But by the time my workplace let everyone out early at 1 p.m., it was just fierce. I could barely see the road to get home.”

Snow accumulations lessened the farther north the storm traveled into The County, according to the weather service.

Sinclair and New Sweden picked up 8 inches of snow, while Lille saw 7.5 inches. Allagash and Fort Kent received 6 inches, and Escourt Station saw 3 inches.

In Houlton, Melissa Moore said that her three children spent “most of the day” playing outside.

“They were thrilled,” she said Wednesday. “It is definitely going to be a white Christmas.”