CAMDEN — The blizzard continues to hammer Midcoast Maine late Saturday morning, and despite the wind gusts and 2-feet of snow, power outages have not been as much of a problem as originally feared.

Using a yard stick at our front door on Chestnut Street in Camden, the snow depth was about 17 inches at 8:30 a.m. Another check an hour later and the measuring stick sunk in up to the 21-inch mark.

That means that the National Weather Service's forecast of snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour this morning is spot-on.

Camden Police Chief Randy Gagne reported that the snow depth in Searsmont, where he lives, is close to 30 inches, with at least 2-feet in the roadways and higher drifts.

"No plows have been out here since 3 a.m.," said Gagne. "Lt. Mike Geary is on duty in Camden today and he told me roads are terrible, and impassable in most areas. Plow trucks are off the road. Another is on its roof. I'm snowed in here."

Out at the Camden Snow Bowl, which decided to stay closed today due to driving and parking lot conditions and high winds, Ski School and Marketing Director Andrew Dailey said he is wading through areas of waist-deep snow on site.

"Driving is not safe and we have a lot of clean-up to do to open again," said Dailey.

This weekend the Snow Bowl is hosting the 23rd annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships. Toboggan team registration, practice runs and toboggan inspections were held as scheduled Friday, but races and related events slated to start Saturday were postponed to Sunday – with a condensed format.

The committee plans to spend the afternoon Saturday, after the worst of the storm passes, shoveling out the chute and throughout Tobogganville in preparation for Sunday. The committee is also meeting late Saturday afternoon to assess the venue clean-up and review the weather report.

The large tent erected for West Bay Rotary's planned events has thus far survived the blizzard, but two smaller vendor tents and a team's geodesic dome on the ice all either blew over or lost their canopies overnight, according to Dailey. In addition, four portable toilets tipped over and one side of the Toboggan Nationals canopy at the top of chute has come undone.

Central Maine Power is reporting 183 customers without power this morning. Power outages have not been as much of an issue in Knox County with the blizzard, and until just before 11 a.m., only 18 people had no power. That changed minutes later, when CMP's website reported a spike, and 167 of the 181 without power were in Camden.

The bulk of those customers live on Oak Street, followed by John Street, Maple Street, Harrison Street, Free Street and Mechanic Street, Norwood Avenue and Dailey Street.

In Knox County, Owls Head has 11 customers without power and South Thomaston has two, while Rockport, Hope and Warren each have just one.

In total CMP is reporting 6,249 of its 556,366 customers are without power as of 11:49 a.m. Waldo County has the most (2,066), followed by Oxford County (1,413), Cumberland County (1,288), Sagadahoc County (330), Lincoln County (360), Kennebec County (272), Hancock County (220), Knox County (183), York County (79), Penobscot County (21), Androscoggin County (9) and Piscataquis County (2).

The hardest hit town in Waldo County, as far as power outages, is Winterport with 1,381 without power. Stockton Springs has 332 customers reporting outages, followed Jackson (115), Monroe (88), Frankfort (65), Brooks (29), Searsport (28), Prospect (13), Islesboro (7), Searsmont (3), Waldo (2), Liberty (1) and Thorndike (1).

The National Weather Service's "Urgent Winter Weather Message," updated at 10:59 a.m., is calling for continued dangerous blizzard conditions into the early afternoon.

Significant snow banding is still occurring on the coastal plain into the foothills, with lighter snow in between the bands. And additional 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible through the early afternoon and winds will continue to gust between 35 and 45 mph.

"Conditions continue to be dangerous...and significant blowing and drifting snow will continue into the early afternoon...conditions will begin to improve rapidly from west to east...especially this afternoon...as the low gradually pulls away," according to the NWS message.

A blizzard warning remains in effect until 4 p.m. Saturday, and the worst conditions will continue during the next couple of hours, especially for the Midcoast where snow continues to fall heavily at times.

Snow covered roads and near-zero low visibilities in blowing and drifting snow will likely cause whiteout conditions at times. The NWS is saying that travel will be difficult at best, and nearly impossible at times.

Temperatures will be between 11 and 18 degrees Fahrenheit, with north winds at 25 to 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.

The coastal flood warning remains in effect until 2 p.m. Saturday, from the Midcoast south to the seacoast of New Hampshire.

Related links:

• Storm closings and cancellations (constantly updated, send your news to news@penbaypilot.com; storm photos to pix@penbaypilot.com).

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached by email at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or by calling 207-706-6655.