A winter storm delivered a chilly blast to the Southeast on Sunday, bringing an unusual but short-lived dose of snow as far south as Florida and Georgia before traveling up the East Coast and into New England, where it was expected to linger into the night.
A winter storm warning in effect over the northwest of the Florida panhandle was lifted as much of the snow had melted in the afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
By 10 a.m., Smithville, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, had gotten three inches of snow. Forecasters said early on Sunday that light snow had fallen in Mobile, Ala., as well as Baldwin County, on the Gulf Coast.
The system brought snow across the Northeast and was expected to last through late Sunday night.
Winter weather advisories remained in effect from Philadelphia to Boston to Portland, Maine, with forecasters warning of slippery roads.
The Weather Service in Boston reported widespread three to five inches of snow with localized spots of up to six inches. The heaviest snow was expected to fall between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Monday.
Nearly half an inch of snow had fallen in Central Park by Sunday afternoon and “anywhere from a few tenths to a couple of inches of snow” was reported in the New York metro area, the Weather Service said.
Joe Wegman, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, said a second round of snow would come later in the day.
“It will be a little bit heavier with that second round,” he said. “But still generally light accumulations, especially for that part of the world.”
The snow was expected to taper off Sunday night in New York City and by early Monday in Boston.
Some of the highest snowfall totals were expected in eastern Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The snow was expected to continue as the New England Patriots and Houston Texans played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
There were nearly 1,000 flight cancellations in the United States on Sunday, with Kennedy and La Guardia Airports leading the list, though it was not immediately clear if they were weather-related.
The storm that formed in the Gulf was pulling a stream of moisture northward as anomalously cold arctic air spilled into the United States from Canada and moved south.
This coastal system was moving over the Atlantic Ocean, parallel to the East Coast. On Monday, it will move into the Canadian Maritimes, Atlantic Canada and Nova Scotia.
In Georgia, Stacey Robinson shared a video on Facebook and to the television station WMAZ of her two dogs, Ruger and Ruby, as they explored the snow.
“What is it? What is that?” she asked the dogs. “I don’t know what that stuff is.”
In Macon, Ga., Village Coffee announced that it was “Closed for a Snow day!”
“We might see snow one day each year, if that,” said Brandon Lawler, who owns the shop with his wife, Carrie. “The ambience and white landscape isn’t common, so we try to slow down and enjoy it while it’s here.”
Sheriff John Sawyer of the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office in Butler, Ga., about 100 miles south of Atlanta, said that “the locals love it, especially the children, when we have a snow day in the South.”
He said the sun was already melting the snow and “hopefully drying out the roads” on Sunday afternoon.
As the snow began to melt in parts of Georgia, Weather Service offices in South Carolina and North Carolina reported light to moderate snow on Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Wegman said the Southeast “can easily go multiple winters in a row without seeing snow.”
He noted that Georgia had snowfall as recently as last year, from the same winter storm that brought up to eight inches to New Orleans. The last measurable snowfall in Georgia was in 2010.
Johnny Diaz and Nazaneen Ghaffar contributed reporting.
Amy Graff is a Times reporter covering weather, wildfires and earthquakes.
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