UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER has resulted in Aroostook County residents using shovels one day, only to trade for buckets later.
A storm two weeks ago that dumped about 21 inches of snow in Fort Fairfield quickly began to melt days later when temperatures rose to the mid- and upper 30s. The thaw resulted in thinning ice on area waterways, with the Maine Warden Service advising the use of extreme caution when venturing anywhere near lakes, rivers or streams. Here, a section of the Washburn Road/U.S. Route 164 near Churchill Hill was marked recently due to an eroding soft shoulder, with up to foot-deep sections of soil washed away when thawing snow created stream-like conditions. Water zig-zags down the slope, at points coming close enough to erode dirt from beneath the roadway. Barrels were removed earlier this week so plow crews could push snow from this week’s storm back from the road. According to noaa.gov, heavy snowfall was expected to continue through 2 p.m. Wednesday, with nine to 13 inches predicted. Wind gusts of up to 25 mph were predicted — not what most people were hoping for on the first day of spring!
