Snow melted away in communities across the state as heavy rain swept across the state through the day Wednesday, ahead of what is predicted to be a windy evening.
The rain will continue overnight in northern and eastern Maine, according to National Weather Service forecasters, with wind gusts reaching up to 55 and 60 miles per hour in the northeast.
According to the Caribou NWS office, gusts on Katahdin could reach up to 80 and 85 mph Wednesday night.
Coastal regions will also see higher wind gusts, in the 60 and 65 mph range, overnight.
Travel will be complicated by high winds, and officials continue to anticipate power outages throughout the evening that will likely persist throughout the day Thursday. Visibility may also be limited by foggy conditions, as well as blowing precipitation.
As of 7:30 p.m., Central Maine Power was reporting power outages to about 8,900 residences in its service area. The majority of those outages were in Cumberland (4,894), Lincoln counties (1,544) and York (1,116) counties.
Versant Power was reporting about 3,200 residences without power on Wednesday evening.
That number could climb significantly throughout the evening.
Forecasters have also warned of localized flash flooding, as rainfall on top of packed snow can quickly create streams of runoff. A flood warning is in place for western Maine until Thursday morning.
As of around 1 p.m., Millinocket had received around 0.27 in of freezing rain, while the Bangor Airport reported around 0.24 inches of precipitation. In Aroostook County, the Frenchville Airport reported around 0.35 inches of freezing rain.
Augusta was reporting around 0.38 inches of freezing rain on Wednesday evening.
