Central Maine farmers knew not to get too excited over the seasonably warm temperatures earlier this week. They also were keenly aware that a supposed winter storm was on the way.
“We’re farmers that farm in Maine and we choose to farm in Maine,” said Mary Perry, owner of Winterberry Farm in Belgrade. “We know when to plant, how to plant and we do it differently.”
So much for a mid-April nor’easter.
Original projections called for up to 4 inches of snow in parts of central Maine, but just trace amounts of snow and less than an inch of rain touched down Friday morning through Saturday morning. The combination of precipitation totaled just under a half-inch as of 10 a.m. Saturday with not much more expected throughout the day.
National Weather Service Meteorologist William Watson said the lack of snow was due to “a combination of factors.”
“We were anticipating a second round later in the day into last night, and that was more rain than snow,” Watson said. “With a lot of this occurring during the day yesterday, you really needed some good rates to see accumulation.”
The precipitation and mid-30s to high 40s temperatures interrupted a fine stretch of weather in the area. Central Maine experienced a dry spell with temperatures in the 50s and low 60s in the days preceding the storm. Temperatures are expected to get back into the 50s and even mid-60s during the next week. More rain is expected on Wednesday and Thursday.
Perry said the cold weather could’ve impacted her farming, but she was prepared. In fact, if the weather had kept as warm as it was over the past week, that may have influenced earlier-than-usual planting.
“This is what Maine is, whether it’s global warming or not, I’m not trusting the weather,” Perry said. “Even if we had gotten a foot of snow, I’d be fine.”
Dalziel Lewis, owner of Dig Deep Farm in China, said just early transplanting has occurred at the farm so far. The plan is to plant everything in the last week of April or first week of May. She starts with sugar snap peas, which come in a direct seed. Everything else is transplanted and started in the greenhouse. In fact, Lewis called the precipitation “a gift.”
“I think we’re still in pretty good shape,” Lewis said. “We definitely have a full greenhouse and it would be nice to send some plants off or do some field work. Previous springs have indicated to me that we’ll have more cold weather, another cold stretch.”
Central Maine Power reported scant outages. Traffic accidents in the region were minor, a Waterville dispatcher said, but a flurry of accidents occurred in southern Maine on Friday. The weather did impact some events, including postponing Thorndike’s annual Town Meeting and canceling a B & T Baked Goods popup event at the Hallowell Farmer’s Market.
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Final snow totals varied in the area. A half-inch of snow was reported in Readfield, one-tenth of an inch of snow in Wayne and trace amounts in Waterville.
“It’s pretty meager up there,” Watson said.
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