A surprise snow swept across parts of Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, falling on pumpkins and power lines, according to NBC.
It was the earliest snow on record in the Columbia area by eight days, according to the National Weather Service, Reuters reported. Neither Boston nor New York City has had snow yet this fall and Fargo, North Dakota, has had only a trace of the white stuff.
The wet flakes in South Carolina collected on trees and sent branches still full of leaves crashing down on power lines, according to Breitbart.com.
Utilities reported a peak of about 20,000 power outages as the snow tapered off before noon Saturday, NBC reported. Most of the snow was gone by the afternoon, leaving behind a cold, windy, bitter day in the 40s. Highs in Columbia will be back in the 70s by midweek.
Maine's governor declared a limited emergency after about 120,000 properties lost power, according to NBC.
The weather service said around 2 inches of snow fell in some areas of Greenville, which is in the northwest part of the state, according to NBC. It continued south dumping a couple of inches of snow all the way to Lexington County, just west of Columbia.
Troopers closed a part of Interstate 20 in western Lexington County for a few minutes because several 18-wheelers got stuck in the slush trying to make it up a small hill, NBC reported.
The main coast was slammed with snow, wind and 10 foot seas, meteorologist Tom Hawley said some towns had yet to see a frost, and many trees were still laden with leaves, Reuters reported.
"They just couldn't handle the snow load. That heavy wet snow on top of branches and leaves plus a stiff 40 mile per hour (64 kph) wind meant lots of power outages," Hawley added, according to Reuters.
