Cold snap puts chill into spring
Story Highlights• Record low temperatures forecast for Southeast, Midwest
• Freezing endangers blueberries in Georgia, peaches in Alabama
• Snow postpones baseball games in Cleveland, Ohio
• Famous Washington, D.C., cherry blossoms covered with snow
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- It's two weeks into spring, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Cold air in much of the country has those celebrating Easter this weekend swapping out frills, bonnets and sandals for coats, scarves and socks. Baseball fans are huddled in blankets, and instead of spring planting, backyard gardeners are bundling their crops.
The National Weather Service was predicting record lows Sunday for parts of the Southeast and Midwest, and an unseasonably cold weekend for much of the Northeast. Snow was forecast in parts of Ohio, Michigan and New England. (Watch where the cold and snow are lingering )
"Our musicians are worried about their fingers," said the Rev. Michael Bingham, pastor of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, where Sunday lows were predicted to be in the low 20s. The church's sunrise Easter service usually held in a courtyard will be moved indoors.
In Morrison, Colorado, officials were forced to cancel an annual sunrise service at the Red Rocks Amphitheater because seats and stairways were covered in ice.
In Washington, D.C., visitors to the nation's capital awoke Saturday to see cherry blossoms coated with snow. Snow also fell in metro Atlanta Friday night, and even in parts of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle.
Heavier snow in Ohio postponed Saturday's doubleheader between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners. The doubleheader had been scheduled because Friday's home opener in Cleveland was postponed. (Watch how a young baseball fan sums up the day )
In Nashville, Tennessee, a forecast low of 22 degrees Sunday would beat the current record set on March 24, 1940, when the morning temperature was 24 degrees.
"We're going to be in record territory, for sure," said Jim Moser, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Nashville.
Farmers were worried about the impact the weather could have on crops. Blueberries could be particularly affected, said Stanley Scarborough, production manager of Sunnyridge Farms, which has fields in Baxley and Homerville, Georgia.
Scarborough said the majority of the state's blueberry crop, a variety called rabbit-eye, is normally harvested around June 1. This year, the bushes bloomed early because of a heat wave last week. Scarborough said the blueberries are not able to withstand freezing.
"At 26 or 27 degrees, you would probably lose half of the Georgia crop," valued at $20 million to $25 million, Scarborough said.
In Alabama, growers scrambled to protect early blooming peach orchards. State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said if temperatures stay at 28 to 29 degrees for two hours, there could be "very severe" damage to the crop.
"If we stay there for four hours, we could possibly lose the peach crop," he said.
