Spring nor’easter targets Northeast with heavy snow, winds

PHILADELPHIA – A spring nor’easter targeted the Northeast on Wednesday with strong winds and a foot or more of snow expected in some parts of the region.

Airlines canceled flights and schools canceled classes ahead of the fourth major storm in three weeks.

“It’s ridiculous,” Bob Burkhard of Toms River, New Jersey, said Tuesday near the beach at Seaside Park. “First day of spring and we’re getting another snowstorm.”

Landscaping crews along the New Jersey coast tended to shrubs and plants at oceanfront homes, and then packed up their garden tools to get ready to plow. Shore towns positioned bulldozers, front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to deal with beach erosion.

The bulk of the snow and sleet was expected to pound New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday before heading toward Cape Cod early Thursday.

Widespread power outages were possible with gusts blowing up to 35 mph.

In Philadelphia, where wind-whipped snow fell Tuesday, restaurant server Katy Halbeisen called the early-spring storm “pretty lame.”

“Yesterday I was walking around and saw little birds taking a bath and it looked like they were thinking it would be spring. So I feel bad for those little birds,” she said.

Dog walker Emily DiFiglia said she was done with winter.

“I’m outside all day long. So having the weather constantly fluctuating has driven me a little mad,” she said on Philadelphia’s South Street. “Mother Nature, let’s get some warm weather!”

The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 3,000 canceled flights across the U.S. on Wednesday, most in the Northeast.

On the ground, Amtrak said it would scale back service on the Northeast corridor and some states banned certain types of trucks from major highways.