Snow still falling in Great Lakes, Deep South sees freezing temps in winter blast

A blast of winter weather sent a sprinkling of snowflakes into parts of the Deep South and had plunged much of the Eastern U.S. into frigid temperatures by Tuesday morning .

Snowflakes were reported as far south as Atlanta, the National Weather Service reported.

A “dusting of snow” was reported in Hyde County along North Carolina’s coast, said Meteorologist Roger Martin with the weather service office in Morehead City. And, three-tenths of an inch of snow was measured on the coast of Virginia, in Virginia Beach.

The early season reports of snow and frigid cold follows preseason forecasts that a cold, wet winter could be in store for parts of the U.S. The Climate Prediction Center previously warned the Great Lakes region is likely to see plenty of precipitation this winter.

But although the seasonal forecast also indicated a warmer-than-average season is likely across the South, that isn’t materializing this week for millions in Florida, Georgia and Alabama who are under freezing or frost advisories for the morning of Nov. 12.

Snow squalls were reported in Pennsylvania, including a storm along Interstate 80 on the night of Nov. 10 near Elliot State Park. Visibility dropped to a quarter of a mile in heavy snow, and a 4.5 degree temperature drop was reported in 30 minutes, said the National Weather Service office in State College. An accident involving three commercial vehicles closed the interstate for several miles overnight.

Lake-effect snow blankets region

Lake-effect snow was still falling on Veterans Day morning in the Great Lakes region, where some communities already had received a foot of snow or more. In Negaunee, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula roughly 12 miles from Lake Superior, the weather service reported up to 18 inches of snow over the weekend.

Mill Creek, Indiana, southeast of Lake Michigan, reported 16.1 inches of snow over 72 hours, and nearby Walkerton reported 15.8 inches. In Edwardsburg, Michigan, 14.2 inches fell over 72 hours and more than 10 inches fell in Crawford, Pennsylvania.

Lake-effect snow also was occurring south of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the weather service said. Nearly 8 inches of snow was reported in Southington, Ohio, and 8.5 inches of snow was reported in Constantia in Oswego County, New York.

Snow reports

Among the snowfall measurements scattered across the East were the following:

• 11.7 inches in Canaan Heights, West Virginia.
• More than 8 inches in Saint Albans and East Enosburg in Franklin County, Vermont.
• 7.5 inches and rising in Yancey County, North Carolina, at an elevation of 4,360 feet.
• 5.1 inches in Wise on the western edge of Virginia.
• 4.5 inches in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
• 4.0 inches in Garrett County, Maryland, the state’s westernmost county.

Warm temperatures in the West

While the thermometer was diving in the Southeast, high temperatures in some locations in the West were breaking records. Eureka, Nevada, saw a daily record high of 69 degrees on Nov. 10, breaking the record of 68 set in 2016.

In Butte, a daily record high of 64 degrees was set on Monday, breaking the record of 62 set in 1996.