The blizzard of March 1993 came as a surprise to many across Alabama when the snow began falling that Friday afternoon.

Legendary ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann, however, once said it came with ample warning.

“We said this thing would bring six inches and people wouldn’t believe it. It turned out that number was way too low,” Spann told AL.com in 2013.

What did come as a surprise to Spann was when he was called to fill in for beloved TV personality ‘Country Boy’ Eddie the following Monday morning.

Gordon Burns, known as Country Boy Eddie, died at 92, WBRC announced today. Burns hosted the “Country Boy Eddie Show” on WBRC from 1957 to 1993.

Spann was in the station when Burns called to say he was snowed in.

“I picked up the phone and as soon as I heard his voice I knew who it was. For the first time in all those years he couldn’t make it in and he asked me to host his show. That was probably the worst hour in local TV history. Bill Bolen was asleep on a cot. I woke him up to get him to help me out.”

Burns, in a 2013 video, recalled asking Spann to start his early morning show with his signature “mule call.”

Spann today paid tribute to Burns on Twitter. “One of my favorite (Country Boy Eddie) memories was in March 1993, when I had to host his program during a generational blizzard,” Spann tweeted.

“I think the reason he became so great was because he run my show that morning when that big snow was on and he learned all about braying like a mule, riding a mule, hanging there like a rusty fishhook,” Burns said in 2013.

Burns gave Spann four rings of the cowbell for his success as a meteorologist, the highest honor on his long-running show.