Wintry Snowstorm Cools Off Spring Fever in the East

A wintry storm put a damper on spring fever in the East today, blanketing the Appalachians with up to a foot of snow and pushing temperatures into the 30s as far south as Florida.

Light snow and cold temperatures stretched from the Great Lakes across the central Appalachians into northern New England, the National Weather Service said.

The snowstorm dropped 12 inches of snow on Terra Alta in the northern mountains of West Virginia. Alpine Lake Resort spokeswoman Beth Colville said the snow shocked residents who had been enjoying an unseasonably warm spring.

“It really changed all of our moods. Everyone here had a serious case of spring fever,” she said. “We knew (snow) was coming but we were still surprised to see that much.”

Elkins, W.Va., which received nearly eight inches, shattered its seasonal snowfall with a total of 114.1 inches, breaking the previous record of 107.7 set during the 1970-71 season. Dailey had 11 inches of snow, and up to eight inches fell at Snowshoe.

Two to three inches of snow fell overnight in western Pennsylvania. Travelers’ advisories were posted for most of the area.

Temperatures were unseasonably cold overnight across the eastern third of the nation. It was warmer in parts of the northern Plains than it was in the Southeast. The low temperature of 41 degrees at Boise, Ida., topped a low of 35 at Tallahassee, Fla.