Cold Records Set From N.Y. to Deep South

Record low temperatures mostly in the 20s defied spring Friday, punishing a wide area from Alabama to New York.

The National Weather Service reported that 11 cities broke or tied records for the day. They were Atlantic City, N.J. (23 degrees); Beckley, W. Va., (24); Binghamton, N. Y., (22); Charleston, W. Va., (25); Harrisburg, Pa., (25); Hartford, Conn., (24); Huntington, W. Va., (26); Huntsville, Ala. (35); Pinson, Ala., (28); Roanoke, Va., (25), and Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa., (22).

Temperatures dipped into the teens and low 20s in the mid-Hudson Valley and eastern Catskills in New York early Friday, but forecasters predicted no serious damage to buds on fruit trees.

Temperatures also dropped well below freezing in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and southern New Jersey.

Only northern New Jersey was spared from mercury readings dipping into the teens or low 20s, registering in the lower 30s early Friday.

Temperatures in the South dropped near freezing in coastal states. Frost warnings were posted for sections of Georgia and North Carolina. Knoxville, Tenn., was 38 degrees early Friday. Jacksonville, Fla., was 45; Atlanta, 46; Charleston, S. C., 51, and Miami, 67.

Friday’s low for the Lower 48 states was 15 at Glendive, Mont.

The temperatures around the nation at 3 p.m. EDT ranged from 37 degrees at Limestone, Me., and Yellowstone, Wyo., to 97 degrees at Palm Springs.

Hail and wind gusts up to 50 m.p.h. plagued eastern New Mexico and began swinging into West Texas.

Rain was scattered over the central Texas Gulf Coast and along the northern Pacific Coast.