Less than 24 hours before the arrival of Daylights Savings Time, Spring took a step back and winter returned to the Lakeway Area.
On the anniversary of the famed Blizzard of ‘93 which dropped more than a foot of snow across East Tennessee, a heavy snowfall starting in the early hours Saturday morning ahead of a wicked cold front dropped anywhere from 2 to 7 inches across the Lakeway Area.
In Morristown, where roughly three inches of snow fell, the city pretreated the roads which remained surprisingly clear despite the winter weather.
In the northwest part of the region, snowfall was significantly higher. With places near the Kentucky border in Claiborne County reported 10 inches while closer to Tazewell received seven and a half.
Behind the snow a cold front arrived, pushing temperatures down into the lower teens.
The sudden return of winter won’t last long. The high Monday is expected to be 60 and highs will reach the 70s by the end of the week.
The system was part of a late winter storm that blasted the northeastern United States on Saturday with high winds and snow that could pile up to a foot high, sending temperatures plummeting and making travel hazardous.
The National Weather Service said 7 to 12 inches could be expected in northern areas of Pennsylvania and New York with winds gusting as high as 45 mph. Philadelphia residents, while expecting only a few inches of snow, were warned that blizzard-like conditions were possible at one point, and later a flash freeze was possible with wet surfaces rapidly becoming icy due to plummeting temperatures.
Gale warnings were in effect in coastal New Jersey and Delaware areas, with gusts of 40 to 50 mph (65 kph to 95 kph) possible and forecasters warning of tree damage and resulting power outages as well as rough boating conditions. A wind advisory was in effect for other areas.
Parts of the Tennessee Valley and central Appalachia had already seen as much as 8 to 12 inches of snow, and areas of Pennsylvania, New York and northern New England were expected to receive similar amounts before the storm pulled away early Sunday, he said. By Saturday afternoon, 10 inches of snow or more had been reported in parts of New York and northern Pennsylvania and as much as 6 inches in eastern Pennsylvania.
Several inches of snow fell in eastern Tennessee, delaying by at least a day the season opening of Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. In Knoxville, the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade was canceled and several inches of snow in the middle of the state contributed to multiple crashes on interstate highways.