The One Sound That Instantly Means Winter Has Arrived in Maine

We’re back in Maine in the 90s, when playing outside was all we knew. We didn’t have cell phones, just our imaginations.

The first snowstorm of the season had just hit, and even though it was already dark, my mom said, “Let’s go outside and play.” So we bundled up in snow pants, layer after layer, pulled on our boots and mittens, and headed out the door.

Sure, we could have helped shovel while our dad snow-blowed the driveway, but instead we grabbed our sleds and ran for the hill beside the house.

After countless rounds of flying down and climbing back up, we’d start building a snowman on the front lawn for the whole neighborhood to see. We always had so much snow that we’d climb the giant piles and play on top of them like they were mountains.

When my dad finally finished snow-blowing, he’d help us start a snow fort, the kind that took days to complete. Eventually, we’d have all our friends over to play inside it. Those were core memories, the best of times: No worries, just endless snow and the simple joy of being together as a family.

But the one thing that will always stay with me is the soundscape of those nights: plow trucks rumbling in the distance, the scrape of a shovel against the ground, the steady hum of a snow blower.

Those were the nostalgic noises that told us winter had truly arrived in Maine, and that we were home.

And now, every time I hear those same winter sounds, especially at the start of the season or the first snowfall, I’m instantly transported back. We’ll never truly get those moments again, unless you have kids of your own to carry on these classic Maine snowstorm traditions.

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It’s wild how a single sound can hit with so much nostalgia, but that’s what plow trucks do for me. Even when you’re asleep and you hear one rumble by, you instantly know there’s snow on the ground and so no need to check the weather app.

What’s the one sound that instantly means winter has arrived in Maine for you?