An ice storm warning that sent Mainers in central, coastal and Down East Maine scurrying to stores for supplies Saturday and canceled worship services Sunday was lifted by the National Weather Service shortly after 10 a.m.
A winter weather advisory that predicted sleet and freezing rain remained in effect until 1 p.m. Sunday for those regions.
A winter storm watch remained in effect until 4 p.m. for northern portions of the state where a mixture of snow and sleet was predicted. As of noon, there were no warnings or advisories in place south of Waterville.
As of 8 a.m., snow, sleet and ice were falling primarily north of a line running from Dexter to Calais, according to the National Weather Service office in Caribou.
Heavy rain fell on the Bangor area in the early morning hours but let up around sunrise as the thermometer hovered around 36 degrees Fahrenheit. By noon, the temperature had dropped just 2 degrees as showers fell on the Queen City.
The 70 mph speed limit on Interstate 95 remained lowered to 45 mph north of Old Town.
Shortly after noon Sunday, Emera Maine and Central Maine Power reported fewer than 500 outages across their service areas, down from a high of about 3,000. Power was expected to be returned by 4 p.m.
Between 4 and 5 inches of snow fell overnight in northern Aroostook County, with a total of 10 inches predicted for this storm, the weather service said. In Caribou, precipitation cycled between snow and sleet overnight and into the morning.
Update on Saturday's high temperatures...a number of sites saw temperatures continue to rise during the evening, with another 7 locations reaching or exceeding their record high for January 11th. Another half dozen bumped their record higher before midnight. pic.twitter.com/cEK6xRdnxp
— NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) January 12, 2020
Rain fell over southern Maine overnight after the temperature in Portland hit 63 degrees Saturday as the sun was setting, breaking the old record of 54 degrees set in 2017. In Bangor, the temperature hit 55 degrees, 3 degrees above the record high set in 1983.
Temperatures were expected to plummet overnight to single digits in the far north to double digits in the south.
Updated 1:20 p.m. Jan. 12, 2020
