Northeast clobbered with another storm

Spring kicked off with a wallop of wintry weather along the East Coast as the fourth nor’easter in three weeks rolled in with the potential for a foot of snow Wednesday.

The first full day of the season included scenes of snow falling on blooming daffodils in suburban Philadelphia, New Yorkers twisting to fix blownout umbrellas, tractor-trailers stuck on snowy highways and kids making their first snowman of spring.

“I want warm! I’m done with the cold,” said Yana Damoiseau, a pedestrian in New York City.

Airlines cancelled more than 4,000 flights, an estimated 15,000 customers lost power from West Virginia northward, and school districts throughout the Northeast called off classes ahead of the storm. At least two traffic deaths were reported in New Jersey and on New York’s Long Island.

Up to 8 inches of snow had fallen in some Philadelphia suburbs by midafternoon, and 13 inches outside Allentown, Pennsylvania. New York had at least 5 inches ahead of the evening commute and braced for a total of 6 to 12. Forecasters said Boston could get 6 inches as the storm moved into New England.

Roberto Sims expressed frustration with how quickly his just-cleared Philadelphia sidewalks became snow-covered once again.

“I give up and now the corner store doesn’t have any salt left,” he said. “I’ll just have to take my chances and hope for someone else on the block to do it later.”

The storm was just the latest to come off the assembly line in the Northeast since March 2. Many people’s tolerance for wintry weather was already worn thin, after repeated power outages and lots of whiteknuckle driving.

On the other side of the country, a storm brought heavy rain to California, and tens of thousands of people in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were ordered to flee their homes because of the danger of mudslides on slopes burned by recent wildfires.

In New Jersey, some streets were flooded along the shore, including one in Point Pleasant Beach where a pair of ducks cruised back and forth through an intersection where a plastic garbage can bobbed in the waves.

More than 1,200 flights in the New York City area alone were cancelled.