Thursday's storm could be the hors d'oeuvres for Sunday feast

Scott Colwell of Morrill and Son Landscaping of Milton Mills scrapes out front of Dollar General in downtown Milton at the height of Thursday's storm. (Lebanon Voice photos)

Pounding snow, buffeting winds and bone-chilling wind chills lashed the Northern Seacoast on Thursday as the season's most powerful winter storm canceled schools and left roadways treacherous most of the day.

Plows struggled to keep up with heavy bands of snow but with temperatures plummeting from the mid-20s to single digits by the end of the day, all they could do was scrape, scrape and scrape again.

"We scrape it down and as soon as you scrape it in no time it's white again," Lebanon Road Commissioner Tom Torno said Thursday afternoon. He said as the storm got going in the morning they were dumping sand to help on hills and corners, but that once temperatures moved below 25 degrees, the sand did no good.

He said plows had to move a little slower than usual and take extra care, because as the temps moved south, keeping windshields clear became a daunting task in itself.

"The windshield wipers were getting frozen," he said. "This was the most challenging storm of the season."

Lebanon Fire and EMS posted no serious accidents on their Facebook Page, and Torno said he was aware of only one mishap, a propane truck stuck at the bottom of Sewall Shores Road.

In Milton, Scott Colwell of Morrill and Son Landscaping of Milton Mills had his hands full keeping the sidewalks clear for customers at Dollar General where he was scraping pathways about once an hour, he said.

Milton Police Sgt. Evan Favorite said there was far less traffic on the road and no serious accidents had been reported.

In Rochester, Police Capt. Todd Pinkham reported only a half-dozen storm-related incidents through midafternoon: three minor accidents and three cars off the road, all with no injuries reported.

As the snow wound down soon after sunset the cold temperatures descended on the region.

This morning at 5 a.m. with about eight inches of snow from Thursday's storm on the ground, the mercury stood at 4 degrees in West Lebanon.

Enjoy a short respite today, with brief periods of snow over the the next two days before a predicted blizzard that could bring a foot of heavy, wet snow and howling winds that could bring down power lines for Sunday into Monday.