Slippery snow, slushy sleet cause of multiple crashes along the Midcoast
A tractor-trailer jackknifed on Route 17 in Washington early in the afternoon, Feb. 27, after the driver slipped off the snow-covered highway and collided with a guard rail. The crash occurred in the eastbound lane, just west of the Vanner Road intersection in Washington.
Tractor trailer went off the road and is hanging off of the guardrail in the eastbound lane of RT 17. It is on the flat stretch at the bottom of the hill, just west of Vanner Road.
The trailer is in the ditch and the truck is jackknifed on top of the guardrail.
The tractor-trailer slowed traffic along Route 17 for some time before a wrecker arrived to remove it from the highway
A tractor-trailer jackknifed on Route 17 in Washington early in the afternoon, Feb. 27, after the driver slipped off the snow-covered highway and collided with a guard rail. The crash occurred in the eastbound lane, just west of the Vanner Road intersection in Washington.
Tractor trailer went off the road and is hanging off of the guardrail in the eastbound lane of RT 17. It is on the flat stretch at the bottom of the hill, just west of Vanner Road.
The trailer is in the ditch and the truck is jackknifed on top of the guardrail.
The tractor-trailer slowed traffic along Route 17 for some time before a wrecker arrived to remove it from the highway
A winter storm that was characterized more as a low pressure system by meteorologists nonetheless created a day of traffic havoc Feb. 27, with numerous crashes along slippery Midcoast roads.
It started soon at 9 a.m., coating the roads with an inch or two of heavy, wet snow, before transitioning over to sleet and rain. The recipe proved treacherous until early evening while road crews worked to keep roads cleared.
In Washington, a tractor-trailer jacknifed on Route 17, snarling traffic on the highway that slowly moved along one lane.
Later in the afternoon, firefighters were called back to the crash site for temporary traffic control and highway closure while a wrecker hauled the tractor-trailer away.
A similar crash occured on Route 90 in Warren earlier in the day, just as the roads started to get greasy.
In Southwest Harbor, the driver of a pickup truck failed to stop when driving onto a wharf. The driver lost control and went headfirst into the water. The pickup flipped upside down in the water but the driver was able to climb out to find safety.
On Route 3, in Palermo, a semi tractor-trailer was reportedly having a hard time climbing a steep hill in the thick slush, and was slipping off the road.
In Searsport, a crash stopped traffic, and in Troy a car slammed into a tree. More slippery misfortunates were reported in Swanville and South Thomaston. The crashes petered out toward evening, with one last call in Camden, where a driver slid off the road.
After the bands of precipitation move out, the National Weather Service is calling for breezy and sunny conditions for Friday, Feb. 28, and then another possible round of snow and rain. Behind all that, even colder air, as March settles in.
It is commonly accepted that March can be a snowy month in Maine, if not the snowiest. In 2001, 25 inches of snow fell in March, after 33 inches fell in February, according to NWS data recorded in West Rockport. But in 2003, as a contrast to Maine's variable weather systems, a mere .3 inches fell in March.
Over the past 25 years, the snowiest winter was 2014-2015, with 130 inches of snow. The mean is 77.9 inches.
