Mark Zadworny (right) leads daughters Megan and Zoe and his wife, Karen, down the hill from Marye's Heights after visiting Fredericksburg National Cemetery yesterday. The Zadwornys, who live in Seattle, said they weren't going to let a little rain and snow stop them from sightseeing. rdt View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Balmy to wintry, overnight

The weekend brings a grab bag of weather, as the high temperature drops 40 degrees from one day to the next.

By CATHY DYSON

Date published: 3/31/2003

March is supposed to be a mixed-up mess of weather anyway, but who knew one weekend could hold such drastic changes?

"You mean, the way we went from wearing T-shirts and shorts one day to freezing our butts off the next?" asked Angela Graves.

Yeah, something like that.

Graves is the assistant manager of the Meadows Farm garden center on State Route 3, and, like many others, was surprised by the difference a day made.

Saturday called for tank tops and flip-flops. Skies were sunny most of the afternoon, temperatures were in the high 70s and daffodils and forsythia bloomed in full force.

Yesterday called for winter coats and warm socks. Skies were gray and filled with snow showers, temperatures were in the low 30s and heavy, white flakes fell on pink cherry blossoms.

"It was a full 43-degree difference in one day," said Jim Robinson, a Falmouth man who watches the weather as intently as his favorite forecaster, Bob Ryan. "It was incredible."

But not terribly unusual for this time of year, Robinson said. The Fredericksburg area usually gets about 21/2 inches of snow each March, according to the Virginia State Climatology Office. In March 1960, it got a record 21 inches of the white stuff.

That's how things are in the spring. Blasts of arctic air often sweep through the region, mixing with warm air from the South.

What made the weekend weather more dramatic was how quickly things changed.

The shift started Saturday afternoon, when the temperature began to drop about five degrees an hour. Violent thunderstorms moved through the area, and "if you noticed, the sky almost looked tropical at times," Robinson said.

Tornado warnings were issued, and a Florida man said he saw funnel-shaped clouds near Spotsylvania Mall.

Alan Hughes, who used to live in the Fredericksburg area, was headed into the mall about 5:30 p.m. when he saw the first of two thin, vertical clouds. Neither touched down, but both rotated in the sky the way twisters do, he said.

There was a lot of dust and debris swirling between the first and second clouds, and several grains of sand caught Hughes in the eye.

"A lot of people were standing outside, pointing at it, and some others were running inside for cover," Hughes said.

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Date published: 3/31/2003