BANGOR, Maine — The good news is that after four storms in less than two weeks, it appeared Thursday Mainers would finally get a break from shoveling and plowing.
The bad news is the entire state is under wind chill warnings and advisories calling for bitterly cold conditions, according to the National Weather Service’s forecast offices in Caribou and Gray.
The areas hardest hit by the most recent round of snow, which fell late Wednesday into Thursday, included Hancock, Penobscot Kennebec, Waldo and Knox counties, where some communities received 8 or more inches of fresh snow.
Ellsworth, Sedgwick, Springfield, Hope and Palermo all fell into that category.
Coming in at half a foot of snow or more were spots in Lincoln and York counties, including Old Orchard Beach, Biddeford, Kennebunk, Boothbay, Nobleboro and Edgecomb.
While Androscoggin, Piscataquis, Somerset, Aroostook, Sagadahoc and Oxford counties did see some snow, accumulation in those counties did not break the half-foot mark.
The forecast for the week ahead calls for continued frigid weather, with wind chill values as low as minus 36 degrees on Friday, as low as minus 24 on Saturday, as low as minus 19 on Sunday and as low as minus 9 on Monday.
The cold snap is not expected to break until Tuesday, when the forecast calls for a high of 11 degrees and a 30 percent chance of snow.
Eastport had received 76 inches of snow between Jan. 25 and Feb. 4, which was a new 10-day record for documented snowfall anywhere in Maine. The previous record of 71 inches for a 10-day period was set more than 50 years ago at Ripogenus Dam, just west of Baxter State Park in Piscataquis County, from late December 1962 to early January 1963, according to the National Weather Service.
Portland had a record of 22.5 inches snowfall during the Jan. 27 blizzard, which helped make the monthly total of 40.5 inches the second highest in the past five years, behind only the 49.6 inches Portland got in February 2013.
Several records for snowfall in Bangor — over seven days, over eight days and over 10 days —- that date back 87 years have been broken by the 40-plus inches of snow Bangor has gotten since Jan. 24.
BDN writer Bill Trotter contributed to this report.