Exactly Why the Incoming Storm Could Bring Trouble for Mainers

Maine Winter Storm

After an overwhelmingly quiet beginning to the winter months to wrap up 2023, Mother Nature has decided to come out of the gates to kickoff 2024 with a fiery (well, more like icy) vengeance.

On Sunday, close to or over a foot of snow fell in many parts of Maine, whether along the coast, a bit of midcoast areas, southern Maine -- ironically, mostly everywhere that wasn't the mountain region.

But, because of its light and fluffy consistency, the only thing this past Sunday's storm brought was really only annoyance from those who had to plow all day and night (THANK YOU, PLOW DRIVERS) or clear it from their driveways and walkways (probably multiple times.)

Updated Maine Forecast

As of this writing, meteorologists throughout Maine are reporting that we'll get another later tonight and running through late tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, which looks to start off as snow and turn to rain. On top of that, strong wind gusts of up to 65 mph will be felt throughout the state, obviously raising concerns for multiple reasons.

According to the latest weather maps created and shared by CBS 13 meteorologists like Emily Santom, while the coastal area is only looking at a coating to 2" of snow, and the more inland and toward the mountains you get the more that snow total increases, this storm is being forecast as wet and heavy snow.

And it'll only get heavier when the snow turns to rain throughout the night tonight and day tomorrow.

With many trees and power lines still snow-covered from Sunday's storm, regardless of it being light and fluffy, adding wet and heavy snow to what's already collected from the last storm, then a good amount of rain on top of that, and you're looking at a recipe for tree limbs and power lines to buckle under the pressure of carrying all that weight and falling.

Add to that the insane amount of wind we're supposed to get -- similar to, or even stronger than the rainstorm a couple of weeks before Christmas that left many Maine homes without power for up to a few days -- and that's just a not fun and possibly slightly dangerous combination.

Maine Power Outages

In advance of the storm, electric companies like Central Maine Power have already sent alerts out to customers instructing them to not be shocked over power loss, to the point that CMP has already secured additional line tree crews and will pre-stage them later tonight in areas where they anticipate the storm will cause the most damage.

With a high likelihood of power loss possible, making sure any and all mobile and smart devices are fully charged is a great step to starting preparation. Also, gathering flashlights, batteries, and candles in one easily accessible spot will also save you from scrambling around in the dark to find what you need, and ultimately be safer.

This is nothing we haven't dealt with in Maine before, many times, but with so many variables adding to the trouble and possible danger of this storm, keep yourself and your family extra safe and prepared for what's to come later tonight.