Whoa — winter already?
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
Flurries were falling throughout southern and central Aroostook County on Saturday, Oct. 14, but aside from providing a subtle wintry ambiance, officials are confident that the flakes haven’t affected the harvest.
FIRST SNOWFALL — These deer were spotted on a Blaine resident’s back lawn Sunday around 7 a.m., during the first snowfall of the season. 
While some weren’t happy to see the white stuff arrive this early, others are anxiously awaiting more to enjoy outdoor activities liking skiing and snowmobiling. Here, the deer take a break from foraging for food and nuzzle each other under a tree, as if practicing for mistletoe.
“At this point, snow will do nothing but get the ground wet — as long as it doesn’t get too cold,” explained Tim Hobbs, director of development and grower relations for the Maine Potato Board in Presque Isle.
“At this time in the game, [snow] is one of those things we may have to deal with, but the affect is no different that if it had rained,” he added. “Cold is our enemy now.”
Very little of the white stuff stuck around for very long when temperatures warmed up on Sunday, but Meteorologist with the Caribou National Weather Service Office Mark Bloomer shared a list of the communities that received the most snow in the region.
Oakfield topped the chart with a big one inch, and sharing the half-inch measurement were Mapleton, Sherman, Hodgdon, Easton and Linneus.
Communities from Houlton to Van Buren recorded light snowfall on the morning of Oct. 14, according to National Weather Service data.
While the fleeting flurries came a bit on the early side this year, Bloomer is confident that the region will stave off additional snowfall in the near future.
“It looks like it’s going to be a little milder than it’s been for the next week or so, in general,” he said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Hobbs anticipated that growers would probably be able to finish up their harvest if Mother Nature provided three or four consecutive days of decent weather.
