Snowy Saturday Brings Snow, Sleet, Gusty Winds, Power Outages
❄ The entire area is under a Winter Storm Warning until 7 p.m. Saturday night for "significant snowfall"
❄ 12-18 inches of snow are expected to fall inland with 6-8 inches for coastal areas
❄ Gusty winds up to 45 mph out of the northeast and wet snow could also bring branches down onto power lines
Saturday's snowstorm is on track for up at least a foot of snow for inland areas of the Seacoast region with the heaviest of the snow expected to fall during the morning.
The entire area is under a Winter Storm Warning until 7 p.m. Saturday night for "significant snowfall" that will create some hazardous driving conditions, especially inland where gusty winds will blow the dry, fluffy snow around. NH State Police troopers responded to more than 15 crashes and vehicles off the road since the start of the storm Friday night.
A tractor trailer jackknifed on the northbound Maine Turnpike Saturday morning in Wells, closing the highway for about 30 minutes, according to Maine State Police. No one was injured.
There could also be periods of locally heavy snow that accumulates up to two inches in an hour.
12-18 inches of snow are expected to fall inland including most of Strafford County, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
The anticipated totals have come down to 6-8 inches for coastal areas and most of Rockingham County because of sleet that will mix in with the snowfall. Ground temperatures are also slightly above freezing, which will keep down accumulations.
Power Outages
Gusty winds up to 45 mph out of the northeast and wet snow could also bring branches down onto power lines. Unitil opened its Emergency Operations Center Saturday morning to coordinate any needed response to outages.
“We’ll continue to monitor the storm throughout the duration of the event and our crews will be ready to respond to outages if they occur and work closely with first responders to address public safety issues as needed during the storm," Unitil spokesman Alec O’Meara said in a statement.
O’Meara also warned to stay away from dangling wires and those on the ground, as they are energized and live.
Seacoast power outages as of 10:50 a.m.
- Eversource: 790 statewide including Barrington, Dover, Lee, Madbury and Rochester
- NH Electric Co-op: 57 statewide
- Liberty: none
- Unitil: 69 statewide in Exeter and Kensington
- Central Maine: 2,764 in York County mostly in Alfred and Saco
Parking Bans
COAST bus is not operating on Saturday and will resume normal operations Monday.
- Dover: Citywide parking ban in effect Saturday 10 p.m. until Sunday 6 a.m. (downtown 1 a.m. - 6 a.m.)
- Portsmouth: A citywide parking ban is in effect for Saturday except for the downtown area. Resident flat rate parking in Hanover $5 and Foundry $3
- Somersworth: Citywide parking ban from 1 a.m. Saturday until 1 a.m. Sunday
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH