Late Snowstorm Rakes South, Sets Record Low Temperatures : New Englanders Struggling With Flood Problems

A wintry storm surprised the South today by bringing record low temperatures and spreading up to a foot of snow from Mississippi to the Virginias, closing roads and schools and knocking out power.

“This is incredible. I moved here from North Dakota about five weeks ago and I thought I’d seen my last snowflake,” said Scott Sharp, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Ala.

In New England, hundreds of people were kept from their homes today by mud, debris and water left behind by record floods. Civil defense officials said about 300 people in Maine and 40 families in New Hampshire spent the night in shelters or the homes of friends and relatives, though many had returned home Thursday to begin cleaning up.

A 233-year-old British-built fort was swept away by flooding in Maine. (Story, Page 31.)

‘Freaky’ Weather

Early today the snow reached from the Virginias across eastern Kentucky, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, northwest Georgia and central Alabama. Record cold extended south from the Great Lakes.

“It’s freaky for this time of year,” said James Francis of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency in Nashville. “The snow is falling faster than they can clear it off.”

At least 19 record low temperatures were set in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Kentucky. A 17-degree reading in Chicago tied the previous record low, set in 1879.

Snow was falling as far south as Mobile, Ala., on the Gulf Coast and gusty winds combined with a temperature of 35 degrees to produce a bitter wind-chill reading of 13 degrees.

Schools were closed in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee as snow iced and closed a few roads, causing many traffic accidents.

Up to Foot of Snow

Up to 12 inches of snow covered the eastern Tennessee mountains, nine inches was on the ground in southwest Virginia and in Fort Payne, Ala., six inches fell in southeast Kentucky and four inches was reported in Adairsville, Ga.

Numerous traffic accidents were reported throughout Alabama and a few roads were closed around Birmingham. Electricity also was knocked out as tree limps snapped under the weight of the snow and pulled down power lines.

The storms came on the heels of a record three-day cold snap in the Southeast that hit Florida on Thursday and devastated Alabama’s $10-million peach crop for the third straight year.