BANGOR, Maine — Whenever and wherever it falls, snow can really throw a shovel in your parking routine.
During the winter months, it can feel like there is an overnight parking ban nearly every night of the week. That's because even when there's barely any snow, sleet, or ice on the ground, there may still be a parking ban in effect -- even in the days after a storm.
"It can take up to four days to remove the snow from the downtown areas," said Eric Willett, Bangor's Department of Public Works director. "We could possibly have a four day stretch."
Don't let the sunshine three days after a storm fool you.
"Even when the sun is out, we still have to remove the snow from downtown," said Willett.
A parking ban means no on-street, overnight parking.
"A lot of people think it's just during the storm or maybe the day after," said Sarah Baker, co-owner of Union Street Towing. "They end up parking on the side of the road and their vehicle ends up getting towed."
Baker's business has towed up to 20 vehicles a night during downtown winter parking bans.
DPW plow trucks "sometimes have several crews out trying to clear the roads, and they have to wait for us to move [the cars], so it does slow them down quite a bit," added Baker.
However, there are ways to avoid falling victim to the tow.
"They put up signs," listed Butch Foss, former owner of Union Street Towing. "They email you. They do a lot of stuff for the motorist."
Each city and town has its own system of alerting residents to parking bans, before and after storms.
In Bangor, an alert is posted on the city's website and on its Facebook page.
There is also an option to sign up for email alerts, which is a service available in many of the larger cities across the state.
Finally, Bangor's DPW has electronic road signs posted downtown as a drive-by reminder during the day.
"Every once in awhile we'll forget to turn one off, but we never forget to turn them on," said Willett. "So if you see those on, generally we're having a parking ban and don't park down there."
"It's a lot better now than it used to be," said Foss. "It used to be, [the police] would call us at midnight and we would go out, and the police would tag [the cars], and we would tow them. Period. No warning. No nothing. If you parked on the street, it was gone."
Willett added that the current alerts system has been working for the city, and there are no plans to make any changes.
"Once we do the first parking ban of the season that eliminates all parking on all city streets until March 31," said Willett.
"You're technically not allowed to park on the street," added Baker. "They don't always enforce it. They don't want to have people's cars towed."