Winter’s Parting Shot Greets Midwest On First Day Of Spring

Travelers were stranded in snow-bound cars Wednesday on the first day of spring, after winter’s last big gasp pummeled the Midwest with up to 15 inches of snow and wind whistling at 65 mph.

More than 200,000 customers were without power, and schools were closed today from Michigan into Georgia. It was the first time all season that Detroit shut down classes because of snow.

Because of all the snow and closed schools, the National Weather Service in Indiana had to postpone Wednesday’s statewide tornado drill. Illinois’ Wabash County had to close election polling places early because of the snow Tuesday. It is believed to be the first time that’s happened in state history.

The storm that began Tuesday was blamed for 11 traffic deaths: three in Indiana, one in Michigan, two in West Virginia, one in Illinois and four in Kentucky.

And while deep drifts blocked fire trucks and ambulances, fire killed a 2-year-old girl at Woodburn, Ky. Her parents and 1-year-old sister were hospitalized in critical condition. Woodburn Volunteer Assistant Fire Chief Garland Richardson said he didn’t know if Savannah Akins could have been saved if rescuers had been able to reach her home sooner late Tuesday.

Believe it or not, spring officially began Wednesday at 12:03 a.m. PST, the vernal equinox or the time at which the sun was directly over the equator.

Up to 15 inches of snow fell at Jasper, Ind., canceling Wednesday’s mail deliveries in the town, and Indianapolis got 11.3 inches Tuesday, its heaviest one-day total all winter. Drifts were up to 6 feet high on some rural roads in Kentucky, state police reported.

“The roads that are passable are slick and hazardous. Two-lane roads are down to one lane,” said Jeff Wardlow of the Indiana State Police.

Drifting snow stranded 73 travelers along a highway 25 miles west of Indianapolis, said Cindy Birch, a dispatcher with the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Department.

Some of them refused snowmobile rides to a shelter at a nearby church, preferring to wait for snow plows, but it was uncertain when the roads would be reopened, she said this morning. Many of them were still stuck as of midday.

Paramedics used snowmobiles to check on the motorists.