Michael Jordan won’t get the chance to play today on his 40th birthday, and a basketball showdown between defending national champion Maryland and Wake Forest was postponed Sunday after a snow storm blanketed the mid-Atlantic area.

Today’s game between Jordan’s Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors was rescheduled for March 4. It snowed Sunday from Missouri to New Jersey, and flakes fell at a rate of up to four inches an hour in parts of Maryland.

The Washington area’s Baltimore-Washington International and Reagan National airports were closed Sunday, while Dulles International Airport had just one runway open.

The two basketball games were among dozens of sports events disrupted. Several race tracks canceled cards for Sunday and today, as snow was expected to fall well past the weekend with accumulation of up to 2 feet.

Several minor league hockey games and women’s college basketball games also were called off.

And while it didn’t snow in Florida, the Daytona 500 was hit by bad weather. The afternoon start was moved up by about 20 minutes because of the forecast of rain. The heavy rain that struck Daytona was part of a weather system that brought snow to much of the East Coast.

The race was halted after 63 laps, then restarted 68 minutes later when the track was dried. The race was delayed a second time with drivers about to complete the 110th lap of a 200-lap race, and Michael Waltrip was declared the winner after an hour-long wait.

Driving conditions around the Washington area were especially dangerous, prompting a postponement of Sunday night’s key Atlantic Coast Conference game between Wake Forest and Maryland at the new Comcast Center.

The Demon Deacons beat the snow by arriving Friday in College Park, but officials called off the game because of concerns about the safety of fans, game officials and arena employees.

The decision was made after discussions involving Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow, Terrapins coach Gary Williams, Wake Forest officials and ACC representatives.

Pedestrians find the street is a better place to walk than the unshoveled sidewalks along Concord Avenue in Wilmington, Del. This weekend's winter storm dumped snow from the Ohio Valley through the mid-Atlantic states, cancelling numerous sporting events Sunday and today.

“It would be next to impossible to appropriately staff the game today, both inside and outside the arena,” Yow said.

Coming off a double-overtime victory over Duke, No. 15 Wake Forest hoped to strengthen its hold on first place in the conference by defeating No. 16 Maryland.

ACC rules say a game should be played if both teams and the officials can make it to the arena, but an exception was made.

The game was tentatively rescheduled for this afternoon, although it’s unlikely travel conditions in the Washington area will improve dramatically by then. A final decision will be made this morning.

Wake Forest (17-3, 7-2) leads Maryland, the defending ACC regular-season champs, by a half-game. The Demon Deacons beat Maryland (15-6, 7-3) this season at home.