This story has been updated.
Mainers awoke Friday morning to find the streets outside buried under a fresh sheet of snow that will only get deeper as the day drags on.
Nearly the entire state will remain under a winter storm warning until 7 p.m. according to the National Weather Service. The storm, the second wallop of snow to hit Maine in less than a week, prompted school and government office closures all over the state, because the storm is likely to make for difficult travel, according to a weather service advisory.
Rain falling over the state on Thursday transformed into snow overnight as colder air blew in from the north.
So far, the Greater Bangor region has reported the most snow accumulation from Friday’s storm. As of 10:30 a.m., Milo had reported 12 inches of snowfall, and Enfield had reported 10.7 inches of snowfall, according to the weather service office in Caribou.
Meanwhile, by 11 a.m., Orono reported 8.2 inches of snow accumulation, and by 1:30 p.m. Bangor had recorded 9.1 inches of snowfall.
Millinocket reported 7 inches of snowfall as of 7 a.m. this morning, Winn reported 12 inches at around 10 a.m., and Hodgedon had reported around 7.5 inches of precipitation at around 7:45 a.m. As of 1:30 p.m., Caribou has reported 7.7 inches of snow accumulation, and as of 7:30 a.m., Van Buren had reported 4.3 inches of snowfall.
The Down East region has been spared the heaviest snowfall so far, with Columbia Falls reporting 2 inches of snow around 7:45 a.m., but the regions is expected to continue to experience sleet and freezing rain.
About 1 to 2 inches of sleet and 0.1 inches of ice are expected to fall over coastal Hancock and Washington counties, the Caribou weather station reported.
The total accumulation expected for the southern coast has been markedly lower than much of the state, with snowfall totals ranging from just over 1 inch to 4.5 inches reported from Portland to Rockland this morning, according to the weather service office in Gray.
Meanwhile, the western mountains, which were largely spared from the most recent storm, have reported some of the highest snowfall totals, with Madrid reporting 13 inches of accumulation as of noon, Ranglely reporting 10 inches and Kingfield reporting 8 inches as of 6 a.m., with local snowfall totals yet to be reported for the afternoon, the weather station in Gray reported.