'Snowvember' Kicks Off With a Winter Blast

— -- A winter blast of record-breaking snow and cold impacted the East this weekend.

Columbia, S.C., had its earliest snowfall on record (picking up a trace) on Saturday, breaking a 101-year-old record. The sprinkling of snow was a dramatic turnaround from mid-week, when the mercury was in the 80s in the city. Record daily snowfall was also recorded in Jackson, Ky., (0.8”) and a whopping 5” was recorded in Lynch, Ky.

Parts of Tennessee got over a foot of snow: 12.8” in Hartford brought trees down, and an amazing 22” of snow fell in Mt. Leconte with snow drifts waist deep. This was the highest snow amount from the storm. In North Carolina, winds gusted to 68 mph at Jennettes Pier, with 50 to 60 mph gusts elsewhere across the state.

Record low temperatures were also broken across Florida on Sunday morning: Daytona Beach (41), Orlando (44), Fort Myers (47) and Miami (55).

As the snowstorm shifted into the Northeast and strengthened off the coast, winds were gusting 50 to 70 mph, bringing down trees and power lines from Pennsylvania to Maine. Winds gusted to 70 mph in Nantucket, Mass., and at Logan International Airport a trace of snow was reported. At Gillette Stadium, workers struggled to clear the snow-covered field shortly before the Patriots vs. Broncos game.

On Sunday, Maine picked up massive amounts of snow, shattering daily records in both Caribou and Bangor. The 10.1" in Caribou and 12" in Bangor make Nov. 2 the largest calendar day snowfall so early in the season and by far the earliest double-digit snowfall on record for both. The highest snowfall report out of Maine was 21” in Cary, Aroostook County. The heavy, wet snow and strong winds knocked out power to more than 100,000 Maine residents. A Central Maine Power spokesman has stated that there are no assurances that all polling places will have restored electricity for Election Day.

A nice warm-up is now in store for the East, with much milder temperatures for the first half of the week. By Tuesday, forecast highs are in the 60s and 70s for much of the coast and inland. Florida will be in the 80s while New England is expecting temperatures in the 50s.