FORT KENT, Maine — The National Weather Service canceled a freezing rain advisory for the state, giving a bit of an early Christmas gift to holiday travelers.
“There are still some pockets of freezing rain out there in the higher elevations,” Rich Norton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Caribou, said late Wednesday afternoon. “But for the most part we dodged a bullet with the freezing rain [and] there are no travel issues.”
Drivers should be cautious on driveways and secondary roads, which may have been snow-covered before the rain started, Norton said, as the rain could create icing conditions on top of that snow.
Temperatures are rising steadily around the state and are expected to top out on Christmas Day in the low to mid-50s in coastal and central Maine and the upper 40s in northern Maine, according to Norton.
The big Christmas weather story will be the rain, he said, and a weather advisory remains in effect along the coast, where heavy rains totaling up to 2 inches and high winds are expected.
Central and northern Maine could see up to an inch and a half of rain.
“We do expect some flooding issues due to rain and snow melt,” Norton said. “But they should be fairly minor.”
The potential for coastal high winds and heavy rain prompted officials at Acadia National Park to close down Black Woods Campground on Wednesday morning through Christmas Day.
According to park staff, officials will look at reopening the campground Friday, depending on the weather.
Weather was not affecting flights in and out of Bangor International Airport early Wednesday and all scheduled flights were on time, according to Gene Foren, chief dispatcher at the airport.
“Everything is going as planned,” Foren said.
Emera Maine personnel were placed on standby starting Wednesday should power outages occur during the holidays, a company official said Tuesday.
“We are thankful that heavy snow isn’t expected this time around,” Rick Manning, director of transmission initiatives for Emera Maine, said Tuesday in a news release.
“But strong winds in the forecast always cause us to take notice and place extra people on standby. In addition, some areas may see icing, so the potential for outages exists and, as always, we work to be as prepared as we can be up front,” Manning said.
