I'm not sure how this ranks all-time for Western Maine blizzards but we woke up this morning with a 20-inch surprise, certainly good 'nough for a snow-day and definitely a test for the snow-blower Beth's Dad donated to our household last winter. 
Considering there was but a trace of snow at 10:30 PM last night when I turned off the Academy Awards show (Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor, as predicted, and apparently the rest went true-to-form), the rate of snowfall must have been in the 2 to 3 inch per hour range for a good part of the night. Power was out for a while here in Dixfield and longer in surrounding areas.
Considering there was but a trace of snow at 10:30 PM last night when I turned off the Academy Awards show (Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor, as predicted, and apparently the rest went true-to-form), the rate of snowfall must have been in the 2 to 3 inch per hour range for a good part of the night. Power was out for a while here in Dixfield and longer in surrounding areas.
We all had our duties. Archie and Brent cleaned off the cars and did some shoveling, while I ran the snowblower. Beth took the official measurement and recorded it digitally (twice) for future generations to marvel at.
This was definitely one for the record books, if only that it was the first to make this blog.
Still on the top of my list is the Blizzard of 1969, though. I arrived in Lewiston just in time for that, one with the intention of visiting and interviewing at Bates College for a couple days and doing the same down the road at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Blizzard had other ideas, however, and my stay at Bates lasted 4 nights. I remember walking over to the Cage one afternoon for a track workout and seeing a maintenance worker just starting to shovel the walk. He was just finishing as we left and already 2-3 inches had fallen at his start point.
As an avid skier, the storm sold me on coming to Maine and an acceptance from Bates sealed the deal. I've yet to see another storm quite like that though.
