Cold, Snow Batter Eastern Half of Nation

Bitter cold, ice and up to 17 inches of snow blew across the eastern half of the nation Friday, turning highways into deadly bobsled runs and dropping temperatures below the freezing mark as far south as Alabama.

Vehicles slid into chain-reaction pileups in both the Midwest and the South. Slippery roads were blamed for at least 13 traffic deaths.

Temperatures fell during the day from New England into the Southeast, dropping through the 30s, 20s and teens.

The temperature at Huntsville, Ala., was expected to drop to 10 degrees during the night. The National Weather Service warned of wind chills of zero to 20 below for northern Georgia.

“It definitely will be the coldest night of the season so far,” said Jerral Miller of the weather service at Huntsville.

Florida was expected to receive freezing temperatures by this morning as far south as Ft. Lauderdale, with readings in the upper 30s in Miami. Central Florida citrus growers anxiously watched forecasts to decide whether to take precautions against a hard freeze.

“This couldn’t have hit us at a worse time,” said Roy Parke, a strawberry farmer in Plant City. “We’re coming into the peak season. Two-thirds of our crop is on the bushes right now. It’s too late in the ballgame to start over.”

Squalls off the Great Lakes dumped heavy snow on parts of Michigan, with 17 inches at Marquette. Up to 14 inches of snow accumulated in northeastern Ohio, with 10 inches in parts of northern Indiana and up to 12 inches in the mountains of West Virginia.

Snow drifted two to three feet high along the Indiana Toll Road, state police reported. And four-foot drifts were reported in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.