Another messy storm is on the way, moving in late Tuesday.

Snow will start in western Maine around sunset. The exact timing will be important for the Tuesday evening commute in the Portland area. It looks like it’ll start around 4 or 5 p.m. Tuesday in York County, and with temperatures in the 20s, roads will become slippery. If it speeds up at all, more of the area will be affected during the commute.

I’d estimate the snow starts in Portland around 6 p.m. and in Augusta around 8 p.m. It will arrive closer to midnight east and north of Bangor.

Overnight, moderate to at times heavy snow will move through.

Like we’ve seen in so many storms this winter, a wedge of warm air will move in aloft. This will melt the snowflakes, refreezing them into sleet pellets before they make it to the ground.

By 2 a.m., a wintry mix is likely to start falling in parts of York County. Before this happens, most areas should see at least 6 inches of snow and some will see more.

During the early morning hours, snow will continue up north but sleet may start to make it inland, likely to Lewiston, Augusta and Bangor.

Regardless of mixing, Wednesday morning is going to be a mess.  I expect a lot of school delays and cancellations.

The storm will slow as it moves up the coast and into the Maritimes.  This will delay the ending until midday across western Maine and the afternoon for eastern Maine.

Right now, we’re expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow in most of the state, with some mixing possible after that.

A bit less than 6 inches might fall on parts of the Midcoast and Downeast, where there’s a higher chance of rain mixing in Wednesday morning.

Farther north and west, mostly snow is expected, 10 to 14 inches. It’s going to be a good storm for the mountains, with mostly snow and little mixing with sleet.