By Ed Payne
(CNN) — Ah, the first day of spring.
It conjures images of butterflies flapping through azure skies and bunnies hopping through meadows of fresh tender grass.
Someone forgot to send the memo to the Northeast and Upper Midwest where some folks are digging out from up to 15 inches of snow and temperatures in some areas are well below zero.
Winter isn’t ready to give up yet as a lingering storm was dumping more snow across most of Maine on Wednesday, after hitting the rest of the region a day earlier.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until noon for central and northwest Maine, where 8 to 14 inches of snow are expected.
“Definitely over winter,” an exasperated David Riley of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, told CNN affiliate WHDH-TV. “I’m ready for spring.” The town about 40 miles northwest of Boston received 15.5 inches of snow on Tuesday.
“Pretty sick (of this),” Fran Gallagher said. “Our house is going on the market at the beginning of April and we’re getting out of here … hopefully some place warm.”
With all the snow this winter, the Worchester, Massachusetts, school system has already burned through five snow days built into the schedule and will have to make up two more at the end of the year. The city has received more than 100 inches of snow this season.
Bitter cold
While temperatures are cold in the Northeast, in the teens in many areas, the Upper Midwest is in deep freeze.
The wind chill in cities like Fargo, North Dakota, are forecast to reach 30 degrees below zero, the National Weather Service said.
Even the Deep South was getting a taste of winter on the first day of spring.
Freeze warnings swept in an arch from central Alabama to North Carolina, with forecasters telling farmers to harvest or protect tender vegetation.
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