Maine is forecast to get slammed with winds gusting up to 65 mph starting Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has placed the immediate coast under a high wind watch from 3 p.m. Wednesday until 4 a.m. Thursday and a gale watch for coastal waters from 1 p.m. Wednesday through 5 a.m. Thursday. The remainder of the state has been placed under a hazardous weather outlook.
Greater Bangor is forecast to see south-southwest winds gusting as high as 40 to 45 mph, while they could blow as high as 55 to 60 mph for much of the Down East coast from Bar Harbor to Machias, according to the weather service office in Caribou.
The strongest gusts are expected near Roque Bluffs, where they could blow as high as 65 mph.
Further inland, the gusts will weaken somewhat, with the winds forecast to top off from 30 to 40 mph from Houlton all the way up to the St. John Valley.
Meanwhile, the weather office in Gray is forecasting peak winds of 52 mph in Portland, 55 mph in Rockland and 52 mph in Belfast.
Those winds could become “potentially damaging,” the weather service station in Gray warned.
It’s not just strong winds on tap for the middle of the week. Much of the state can expect an inch or more of rain, which could become heavy in some locations and eat away at the northern snowpacks, according to the Caribou weather station.
