BOSTON (AP) - Just when flowering bulbs were poking out their heads and snow shovels were getting a well-deserved rest, winter weather has returned. And on the first day of spring no less.
Forecasters say a storm dumped up to 6 inches of snow on the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday. New England will be on the lower end of the snow totals but even Boston, which has seen a record 108.6 inches of snow, could get an inch or more.
In typical regional fashion, New Englanders said they're tired of cold and snow, but they'll deal.
"I'm sick of it," said Donna Bohan, 52, a lifelong South Boston resident. "I want to not have to wear my boots, and I want to be able to take a nice walk. But we can handle a bit more. We're New Englanders. We're tough."
South-central Pennsylvania received up to 6 inches of snow, Friday said meteorologist Kevin Fitzgerald of the National Weather Service. Philadelphia's northern suburbs received up to 5 inches, although the city itself had gotten just 2-3 inches by early evening, he said.
Up to 6 inches fell in western Maryland, including Frostburg, near the Pennsylvania state line. Only a trace of snow was reported at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
By midday, only a half-inch had fallen on Long Island, Fitzgerald said. South-facing coastal areas in New England could get a few inches.
"It doesn't matter. We've had so much snow already. It's supposed to hit 50 degrees tomorrow, so it's almost over," said Keith Maxwell, a heating system mechanic from Brockton, Massachusetts.
Some areas also will see rain.
The threat of more snow didn't scare away some visitors to Boston.
"An inch isn't going to stop us from coming to the (New England) Aquarium," said Sara Wright, 77, visiting from Northampton, Massachusetts, with her daughter and two grandsons.
Still, she was ready for spring.
"I find this winter has been so tiresome," she said. "I don't remember a winter like this."
A little more snow couldn't discourage the Chisling family of Dover, New Hampshire, either.
"We've had so much snow, what's a little more on top of that?" said Aaron Chisling, visiting Boston with his wife, Amanda, and their 1½-year-old daughter.
Besides, the Chislings drive a four-wheel drive vehicle, Amanda pointed out.
Dee Sullivan, a legal secretary from Whitman, Massachusetts, said she's "fed up" with the snow, but like so many others, has to resign herself to a little bit more.
"There's not much you can do about it," she said.
Julianne Ferullo, a real estate agent from Whitman, said she is not fazed by the thought of more snow on the first day of spring, but said her 10-year-old daughter is worried the massive snow mounds may still be around when the family takes a camping trip in July.
"It's been so long, I think I'm numb to it. Someday, the snow will stop," Ferullo said.
Today, it will be in the 40s in the Northeast and in the 50s in the mid-Atlantic, but temperatures are expected to drop again early next week, said Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist with the weather service in Taunton, Massachusetts.
"I would say that the extreme cold that we have been having is an anomaly for this time of year," she said.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue, of Weather Bell Analytics, warned that spring might take a while to fully win out. Temperatures will remain unseasonably cool into next week, and another system with snow potential is headed for the Midwest, he said.