HOULTON, Maine — Robert Hogan of Houlton was hoping that he could finally put his shovel away and start thinking about getting all of his lawn and gardening equipment prepared for spring now that April has arrived.
He knew that he was wrong once he got up and looked out the window on Wednesday.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I knew that it was supposed to snow, but the snow kept coming down all day. I had to clear my driveway a couple of times.”
Southern Aroostook was the hardest hit by the April 3 storm, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou.
North Amity received 10 inches of snow, while Orient picked up 9. Houlton recorded 7.5 inches. Cary 6, and Bridgewater 4.5 inches.
Further south and north respectively, Oakfield only saw 2 inches, while Limestone picked up an inch.
Thus far, since Jan 1, Houlton has picked up 8.30 inches of snow, which is 0.48 above the normal amount of 7.82 inches. The community has received 2.18 inches of snow since March 1, which is 0.78 inches below the normal of 2.96 inches. Last year, Houlton had received 1.99 inches of snow by March 1, and 7.67 inches of snow by Jan 1.
In Caribou, 7 inches of snow was observed last month, which was 11.3 inches below average. Through April, however, about 156 inches of snow has fallen in Caribou, ranking this winter about 4th overall since 1935 when record keeping began.
