CARIBOU, Maine — Freezing rain coated roadways, sidewalks and driveways with a thin layer of ice Friday morning and brought along with it below zero temperatures in the early morning hours.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Caribou said Friday that a cold front moving across the region Friday afternoon will bring in additional cold and powerful, gusty winds.
Rich Norton, meteorologist at the NWS in Caribou, said Friday afternoon that residents would begin seeing the winds pick up at approximately 9 pm.
“Starting right then, winds will be at 30 mph,” he said. “Then, around 2 a.m., you will see them pushing 35 mph, and by 10 am tomorrow, they will be gusting to around 40 mph.”
He said that Aroostook County and portions of Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties will be hardest hit by the gusts, with the potential for scattered power outages. The Bangor area should see wind gusts of five knots less.
On Saturday, it is going to be “quite cold.”
“Temperatures will drop as low as zero in some places overnight in Aroostook on Saturday,” he said. “They will be in the low to mid teens downeast. Tomorrow, the temperatures will be between 10 degrees and 15 degrees in northern Maine, with temperatures of 18 to 19 degrees in downeast Maine.”
The wind gusts will make temperatures feel much colder.
The freezing rain that occurred overnight Thursday and into Friday made for some slick roads.
According to Norton, 0.26 inches of freezing rain fell in Frenchville, while 0.16 inches fell in Millinocket. Caribou saw 0.10 inches of freezing rain, while Houlton picked up 0.09 inches.
Early next week will be cold and dry, according to the weather service.
