BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A potent March snowstorm blanketed much of Alabama with up to 4 inches of snow Sunday before heading toward the Northeast.
The storm threatened to drop up to a foot of snow in the Philadelphia area, 13 inches in New York and 15 inches across southern New England late Sunday.
In Georgia, the snowfall made roads treacherous and delayed flights, while in Alabama, more than 210 churches in the central part of the Bible Belt state had to cancel morning services.
Vonda Braswell was throwing snowballs in her front yard instead of putting on her Sunday best. “I think you can worship in this it’s so rare,” she said.
Up to 7 inches of snow was expected through this morning in areas of Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., where Mayor Adrian Fenty declared a snow emergency.
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced more than 1,300 sanitation workers would spread salt and plow city streets to prepare for more than a foot of snow.
“It’s the first of March, which as you know is the month that we say comes in like a lion and out like a lamb,” he said. “It’s pretty clear that the lions are getting ready to roar.”
As Wayne Letson drove through snowy Alabama toward Florida on Sunday, the Michigan resident fretted about sharing the roads with Southerners unaccustomed to winter weather. The last time it snowed in Alabama was more than a year ago, in January 2008.
“This is nothing to me, but I’m worried about the other people who think they know what they’re doing,” Letson said.
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