MAINE PUBLIC • January 4, 2026
Snowmobile clubs are warning riders to stay off most trails until Maine gets more snow. Al Sweat, operations director at the Maine Snowmobile Association says early snowpack was mostly wiped out by a December rainstorm, leaving icy, hazardous conditions across most of the state. Sweat said, "We already had one fatality; we lost a child up in the county, and that was a preventable accident and it never should have happened." Once dependable Maine snowpack has become less abundant and predictable, and it's taken a toll on the state's snowmobiling industry. Winter is Maine's fastest warming season as global temperatures rise because of greenhouse gas pollution from burning fossil fuels.