Maine towns and cities are hunkering down ahead of a blizzard that is expected to gradually pick up strength throughout the day, batter the coast with hurricane-strength winds and drop over a foot of snow across the state.
Bangor City Hall will close early at noon Thursday, but the 73 Harlow St. building will stay open as a warming center until 4:30 p.m., one of several public buildings in the city to do so. Other local governments, such as Portland and Lewiston, have closed or are also closing early, and all state offices are closed.
Classes in Bangor and Portland were called off Wednesday night ahead of the storm, adding to the list of other school districts that have told students to stay home Thursday.
As of 8:30 a.m., the only Maine courthouses open were in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock Counties. The Legislature postponed committee hearings Wednesday in anticipation of the storm. Metro bus service in Portland, Maine’s largest city, said it would stop service at 11 a.m.
The blizzard, which started to sprinkle down before dawn in the southeast, will intensify throughout the day, pounding the state hardest in the afternoon, and letting up after midnight, according to the National Weather Service. By Friday morning, the storm will have left a nearly uniform blanket of around a foot of snow in its wake, forecasters said.
A full list of local closures is available here.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Maine hunkers down for Thursday blizzard that could drop over a foot of snow,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Callie Ferguson, please follow this link to the BDN online.
