Winter storm clobbers northern New England, knocks out power

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A winter storm brought more than 2 feet of snow to parts of northern New England overnight, and more than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power by this morning and early afternoon in hard-hit Maine.

In the region's first major storm of the season, the National Weather Service received multiple reports of snow falling at a rate of 6 inches per hour. Powerful bands of snow buried some areas knee-deep while other places just miles away received mostly rain.

"It went from just a garden-variety, low-pressure system to a turbocharged storm," said weather service meteorologist Eric Schwibs.

Hundreds of cars slid off roads from the beginning of the storm on Thursday through this morning, when people began digging out.

Some plows got stuck in the heavy snow, blocking roads temporarily.

In Vermont, state police said a 69-year-old man was killed in Cornwall when his car went off the road in slippery conditions Thursday and crashed into a tree.

In Maine, a man died in a fire at the height of the storm in the town of Pownal, but it wasn't clear if the weather played a role.

Southern and western Maine turned out to be in the storm's bull's-eye, but the storm played a game of hop-scotch, pummeling some communities with snow while leaving others just miles away drenched in rain.

Big snow totals in Maine included 27 inches in Standish and Naples, 25 inches in Parsonsfield, and 22.7 inches in Hollis.