10/25/2026
For three straight days in January 1998, freezing rain fell across Maine and simply never stopped. By the time it ended, half an inch of ice was already considered catastrophic, and parts of the state got two to three times that amount coating every branch, wire, and rooftop.
Power lines snapped under the weight and wooden poles buckled across entire counties, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes dark in the middle of a New England winter. Governor Angus King declared a state of emergency, utility crews were flown in from as far as North Carolina, and Maine National Guard soldiers escorted out of state workers through blocked roads so repairs could even begin. Some residents didn't get their lights back on for weeks, and full statewide restoration took 23 days.
What people in Maine remember most isn't just the ice, it's the response: linemen pulling 17 hour shifts in the cold, neighbors checking on elderly residents without heat, and towns opening up warming shelters so nobody had to wait it out alone. ❄️
If you lived through the Ice Storm of '98, what's the one detail you still remember most clearly?