Unexpected Snow Falls in Appalachians : Record Lows Posted From Michigan to Northern Florida

Up to 10 inches of snow fell in the central Appalachians today and snowflakes clung to spring flowers in the nation’s capital, while thermometers hit record lows for the date from Michigan to Florida.

Freezing temperatures spread as far south as Huntsville, Ala., which tied its record for the date of 32 degrees.

At least three traffic deaths were blamed on the snow.

Ten inches of snow piled up in Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs and the Allegheny Mountains east of the city. But by the morning rush hour, most roads were merely wet or slushy as the temperature hovered around freezing.

Storm Unexpected

“We thought we might get something but certainly not what we got,” said Bill Comeaux, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. “If it had been a little warmer, we’d have had thunderstorms.”

“It was a small storm, not in the amount of snow it delivered but in its extent of area,” said National Weather Service forecaster Lou Giordano.

Up to eight inches of snow fell over the mountains of northeastern West Virginia, forcing some counties to delay school openings.

The Sinks of Gandy region in rugged Randolph County received eight inches of snow, while seven inches fell at Dailey, Terra Alta and Canaan Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

West Virginia’s mountaintop Snowshoe ski resort had a low of just 10 degrees.

Record Low Temperatures

Elsewhere, record lows for the date included 43 at Apalachicola in northern Florida; 29 at Ashville, N.C.; 38 at Jacksonville, Fla.; 23 at Knoxville, Tenn., where the old record of 29 had stood since 1914; 35 at Meridian, Miss.; 28 at Paducah, Ky., and 14 at South Bend, Ind. Record-tying lows were reported in Illinois, Michigan, Alabama and Indiana.

Frost and freeze warnings were posted over parts of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Two to four inches of snow fell across northern Ohio, making roads slippery and icing bridges.

Two people were killed in separate traffic accidents in Ohio, and eight people were hurt in a 26-vehicle chain of accidents on snow-covered Interstate 480 in Summit County, state trooper Mike Marchek of Akron said.

The snow extended into lower Delaware and Maryland, where one fatality was blamed on icy roads as up to six inches of snow fell, and flurries dampened streets and covered spring flowers in Washington. Up to three-quarters of an inch accumulated on lawns around Washington.