White-out conditions,
drifts cause problems in county
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Winds reaching gusts of 53 miles per hour whipped 9.5 inches of freshly fallen snow around Caribou earlier this week, with white-out conditions contributing to four accidents in Caribou on Monday.
SNOW DRIFTS proved a challenge for many a driver beginning over the weekend and continuing into Monday, Feb. 18, thanks to blizzard conditions that brought several inches of snow and high winds to the region for the better part of two days. Here, heavy equipment was used Monday morning near the top of Churchill Hill on the Washburn Road — between Crouseville and Presque Isle — to clear a drift that was about the height of an automobile. Plows and heavy machinery were in high demand throughout Aroostook County, with crews working overtime to keep roads open as winds whipped drifts in place within minutes of being cleared.
Around the same time on Monday morning, there was a five-car pileup on U.S. Route 1 near County Quick Stop in Caribou, with no major injuries reported. Three other accidents occurred in Caribou with no serious injuries either — one around 9:30 a.m. on Route 89, one at 1:21 p.m. on South Main Street and another accident six minutes later just down the road, near the West Presque Isle road.
“White-out conditions were contributing factors in all of the accidents,” said Officer Peterson of the Caribou Police Department.
An example of how the relentless winds ravaged the region, roughly 185 hours were put in by Region Five employees of the Maine Department of Transportation — encompassing Fort Kent to Medway to Topsfield and all of Aroostook in-between.
175 employees rotated 12-hours shifts to keep the plows running around the clock to clear the drifting snow.
According to Region Five Superintendent of Operations Mark Ireland, the road crews used about 400 tons of salt and 175 yards of sand over the 1,603 miles they maintain — and as of Tuesday afternoon, they were gearing up for another snowfall that was slated to continue into this morning.
“The good news is that we won’t have anywhere near the wind with (Wednesday’s snowfall) that we’ve had the past couple of weekends,” said Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Noelle Runyan.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the early-week weather event hadn’t been classified a blizzard.
Runyan explained that for blizzards, a weather event needs sustained winds greater than 30 mph or frequent winds over 30 mph accompanied with visibility a quarter mile or less for three hours or more.
Data compiled at the Caribou Airport did not produce blizzard-classifying data, though Runyan said that status could be changed as reports are still coming in.
Regardless of whether or not the storm was technically a blizzard, 53 mph winds yielded horrible driving conditions. Had it been just the nine inches of snow, Ireland explained, keeping the roads clear would have been pretty simple.
“With the winds coming from the north, any [roads] going east to west took a beating,” he explained. Snow may not have been covering all the roads of Region Five, but plows were constantly circling the streets to keep dangerous drifts at bay.
Resultantly, rough figures coming in are placing the price tag for the weather event over $170,000 for the past couple of days — including equipment, manpower and some hefty wear-and-tear on the vehicles that MDOT’s Region Five crews were busy repairing in anticipation of snowfall slated for Tuesday night.
“I’ve very proud of the work these guys do,” Ireland said of his regional employees, “This is the best workforce I think that can be — they’re very professional in what we do and they take a lot of pride in what they’re doing.”
Some local roads in central Aroostook were even closed as area crews battled back against the blowing snow. Ireland described how drifts were so high in some places that it was difficult even for the plow drivers to see the roads over the wind-swept snow — and when the weather’s bad enough for a loaded-up 75,000 ton plow to be feeling the force of the winds, Ireland advises that the public try to stay off the roads if they can.
Of course, Ireland also understands that people have to get to work and the like. When drivers have to be out while the plows are running, he suggests that drivers keep a safe distance between themselves and the plows.
“People don’t realize that you’re sitting in a big piece of equipment with a lot of blind spots,” Ireland explained, adding that the plows will be traveling slow as they clear the streets.
Resultantly, Ireland advised that drivers use extra caution when passing the large plows to make sure they have enough room and time to safely move by the machinery.
“Also, the [plows] are out there for a reason, so if you pass them, you’re going to find the road ahead is going to be bad,” he added.
While last night’s storm was slated to bring more than a few inches of new snow, Runyan said that there is another winter weather event likely for the region this weekend “but that’s still quite a ways out,” she said, explaining how the system could change over in the next few days.
Weather information, as well as interesting climatological trivia, can be found on the Facebook Page for the National Weather Service Caribou Office.
