A treacherous "flash freeze" iced the Lower Hudson Valley on Sunday, shutting major highways and causing dozens of crashes and spinouts.
While Monday and Tuesday are expected to be dry and cold with temperatures in the mid-30s, commuters likely will encounter a wintry mix of snow and rain Wednesday.
A treacherous "flash freeze" iced the Lower Hudson Valley on Sunday, shutting major highways and causing dozens of crashes and spinouts. While Monday and Tuesday are expected to be dry and cold with temperatures in the mid-30s, commuters likely will encounter a wintry mix of snow and rain Wednesday.
"The worst-case scenario is 3 to 4 inches," AccuWeather.com meteorologist Tom Kines said. "It's not out of the question. The best-case scenario is flurries."
Rain falling on frozen roads between 7 and 8 a.m. Sunday turned seemingly every paved surface — from county blacktop to sidewalk cement — into a slippery sheet of ice.
The conditions forced road closures across the region. The New York State Thruway was closed southbound from Newburgh to the New York City line. Palisades Interstate Parkway was closed for hours before the ice gave way to warming temperatures.
In Westchester, the Saw Mill River Parkway, Bronx River Parkway and Hutchinson River Parkway experienced partial closures and delays.
In one of the day's worst accidents, five people were hospitalized after their car overturned on the Taconic State Parkway at the Route 202 exit in Yorktown.
Icy roads were to blame for a 15-car pile-up near Exit 13 on the southbound lanes of the Thruway. The 9 a.m. accident sent three people to Westchester Medical Center, including one with critical head injuries, and four to Nyack Hospital. Emergency responders reported a huge volume of calls.
"It was a pretty hectic morning," said Ray Florida, executive director of Rockland Paramedic Services.
Many vehicles sat abandoned — several after crashing into concrete barriers or other cars — on Interstate 287. Drivers walked the emergency lane talking on cellphones or tried to stay dry as the freezing rain fell.
"As soon as the rain started it became a disaster," Kines said. "The roads froze right away. If you were on the road, you had no warnings. You not only had a skating rink locally but across New Jersey, southern New York and eastern Pennsylvania."
Officials across the region said trucks were sent out to salt and treat roads. The situation improved by late morning as temperatures rose into the upper 30s. By mid-afternoon, a heavy blanket of fog hit the region. Rainfall turned to flash flood warnings.
Metro-North Railroad cautioned travelers to be careful when heading to train stations
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(CNN) — The mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, appears to be the first to give the Northeast’s ice storm a hashtag: #Icezilla.
Mark Boughton tweeted updates to his constituents about the icy weather; some of them were enduring interruptions on the metro this weekend as freezing rain coated Connecticut and Pennsylvania and pelted New Jersey and New York.
“Still slippery, but calls are slowing down in our 911 center. #Danbury #Icezilla,” Boughton tweeted.
Don’t drive. Just don’t do it, fire and police officials are urging.
They said every surface is slick: Bridges, overpasses, interstates.
A photo on the Danbury Fire Police Facebook page shows a lighted road sign that says, “The roads are wicked slippery!”
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Charles Metzger said conditions will warm as the day goes on, but it will continue to rain throughout the day.
Two people have died in accidents related to black ice in the Philadelphia area, state police said.
After crashing into at least 20 cars piled up on Interstate 76, one person was killed after getting out of a car and being hit by an oncoming vehicle, authorities said. Black ice coated Interstate 95 near the city, law enforcement told CNN, and there was an accident at every mile marker.
Pile-ups shut down parts of both interstates, a dispatcher said.
At least one person has died in Hartford County, Maryland, said State Police spokesman Greg Shipley.
There have been dozens of crashes throughout central and northern Maryland on Sunday, he said. Most of them occurred in Howard, Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties.
Troopers who had worked through the night kept working when their shifts were over, and more troopers were called in to help assist passengers who had accidents, he said.
Statewide, Shipley estimates that at least 100 car accidents have occurred.
“The State Highway Administration is out in force salting” bridges, ramps and overpasses, he said.
The slick roads are causing the highest number of traffic accidents this winter in New Jersey, said State Police Sgt. Jeff Flynn.
There have been 428 accidents and 186 calls to help people who have been in accidents in areas that the police are patrolling, he said Sunday morning.
There could be other accidents the department isn’t aware of yet. “So this isn’t even the whole picture,” Flynn told CNN.
Even a salt truck slid and crashed into three cars East Orange, New Jersey, according to CNN affiliate News12.
Flynn knows that no matter how much officials urge people to stay off the roads, many will choose to drive or feel they have to drive.
“If you have to be out,” Flynn said, “drive slower than you would in the snow.”
The cold is also wracking other states this weekend. Winter storm warnings are in effect through Monday morning for upstate Vermont and portions of New Hampshire, Maine and western Massachusetts.
In Vermont, there could be between 3 and 7 inches of snow and 10 inches in the state’s highest elevations.