A late winter storm this weekend is expected to bring heavy rain, high winds and significant flooding to parts of coastal Maine that are still recovering from back-to-back storms that battered the state earlier this year.
Meteorologists are predicting 1.5 to 2 inches of rain starting around 10 p.m. Saturday night and tapering off around 10 a.m. Sunday.
Following on the heels of Wednesday’s rainfall, the Portland area should expect a “pretty good soaking,” according to Michael Clair, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.
A man wades through a flooded street in Ocean Park on Jan. 13 while searching for his trash bin. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Forecasters are concerned about some flooding in rivers, which are “starting to run a little higher,” but are primarily worried about the coast.
Based on the moon cycle, the tide is at its “astronomical high” or highest point for the month, Clair said, so he expects significant flooding, similar to what the state saw on Jan. 10, the first of two January storms that clobbered the state and caused millions worth of damage. He does not expect flooding to be as severe as that following the second storm on Jan. 13.
Despite a relatively dry February, “the coast has been hit pretty hard already from those two storms. A lot of dunes have been damaged and some sea walls,” he said. “All that’s adding up to some problems for the coast.”
High tide in Portland will be 11:41 a.m. and forecasters say there’s a 95% chance the tide will exceed 13 feet by noon. There’s a 29% chance it will exceed 14 feet.
Wind along the coastline could gust up to 55 mph, with the strongest winds seen in the Midcoast, Clair said.
Moving inland, the mountains will likely see “the first pretty good snowfall in a while,” with early estimates reaching 8-12 inches in the higher terrain.
“People thinking about going skiing this weekend or next week might have a silver lining,” he said.
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