By AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb. 25, 2022 12:44 PM EST | Updated Feb. 26, 2022 3:44 AM EST
It was a battle between winter and spring last week across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, but it appears winter had come out on top.
A significant winter storm tracked into the region just days after a springlike preview unfolded and hurled a variety of precipitation from heavy snow, ice, sleet and heavy rain. Residents from Ohio to coastal New England woke up a winter scene outside their windows Friday morning, with more than half of a foot of snow in many areas and a slippy wintry mix in others.
The combination of snow, sleet and rain made for a mess on roadways during the Friday morning commute. AccuWeather National Reporter Jillian Angeline reported Friday morning from the village of Sloatsburg, New York, which is just north of New York City, where multiple tractor-trailers were parked, waiting out the storm.
Tractor-trailer rollover on Interstate 90 in Auburn, Massachusetts. (Twitter/MassStatePolice)
According to Angeline, the sleet was subsiding by Friday morning, but the wintry weather created icicles and giant sheets of ice that covered tractor-trailer trucks. Angeline spoke with John Foro, a truck driver traveling from New York City to upstate New York. Foro had witnessed so many accidents that he decided to wait out the storm before continuing on his route.
Foro told Angeline that the best thing to do "when the weather is bad like that, is just to stop [driving]. "If you want to take the risk, it's not good, the result," he added.
The New York State Thruway reduced the speed limit to 45 mph because of the treacherous travel, according to The Associated Press.
Interstate 89 was closed in Milton, Vermont after multiple vehicles were involved in a crash amid dangerous weather conditions. One person was killed in the crash, according to WPTZ. More than 6 inches of snow were reported in Milton on Friday afternoon, with higher amounts reported to the southwest.
The travel was especially treacherous across Massachusetts during the Friday morning commute. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation issued a 40 mph speed limit restriction and tractor-trailer ban on Interstate 90 as the roadway conditions deteriorated on Friday morning. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said it had deployed 2,738 pieces of equipment statewide as of Friday morning.
Top snowfall totals in the Northeast as of 10:45 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
Heavy, wet snow and a slushy mix covered roadways, creating a mess on local roads in the state. Roughly an hour south of Boston, in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, Kelly O'Neill, a reporter for NBC 10 in Providence, Rhode Island, shared a photo of a slush-covered intersection and a video of the slippery roadway. In both the photo and video, no cars were on the roads, but snowplows and a lone resident with a snowblower could be seen cleaning up the mess this storm left behind. According to the National Weather Service snowfall reports, 2 inches of snow fell in North Attleboro.
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The highest snowfall total from the Bay State came from eastern Massachusetts in Winchester, which is about 8 miles north of downtown Boston, where a total of 10.5 inches of snow had fallen. In Bedford, Massachusetts, about 15 miles northwest of Boston, residents measured 9.0 inches of snowfall.
Just southwest of Bedford, state police responded to a tractor-trailer rollover on Interstate 90. No injuries were reported, but the right and middle lanes of the highway were closed as officers worked to clear the accident.
Ice and heavy snow fell on the Northeast on Feb. 25, causing treacherous travel conditions for commuters.
On the western side of Massachusetts, drivers were stuck along the highway during the morning commute amid the wintry weather. Ethan Moriarty, a mechanical engineer from West Springfield, Massachusetts, shared a video on Twitter of one motorist who slid off Interstate 91 just north of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the city of Holyoke. According to the NWS, Springfield received 6 inches of snow on Friday morning.
Just south, on Interstate 91 in Connecticut, crashes were reported just south of Hartford, Connecticut, in Wethersfield, which shut down the left lane of traffic during the morning commute. Only three inches of snow was recorded in Wethersfield, which isn't uncommon for the area, but the combination of the sleet made roads slick, creating difficulties for motorists.
More accidents were reported on Interstate 84 in Southington, Connecticut, just west of Hartford, that closed both the right and left highway lanes early Friday morning, according to a tweet From Rachel Piscitelli, a meteorologist and traffic anchor for Fox 61 Connecticut.
Snowfall totals were much higher in parts of New York. According to the NWS, Mooers, New York, measured the highest amount of snow across the state with a total of 12.0 inches reported Friday evening. Even earlier in the day on Friday, locations such as Cairo, New York, located south of the state capital of Albany, measured snowfall amounts of 8 inches. Just a few miles north of Cairo, Greenville, New York, measured 7.5 inches of snow, and surrounding areas measured snowfall totals of more than 6.0 inches.
Other notable snowfall totals came out of Maine and New Hampshire. Just south of Portland, Maine, 11.4 inches of snow was recorded in Cape Neddick. In southern New Hampshire, 7.0 inches of snow was recorded in Amherst. As of Saturday morning, the highest snow total in the Northeast was recorded in Vermont. More than a foot of snow was recorded in East Barre, Vermont, and many double digit snowfall reports surrounded the East Barre area.
The New Hampshire State Police (NHSP) said officers had responded to approximately 25 spin-outs throughout Friday morning. "Reduce your speed, leave extra space between you and the vehicle your following and drive for the current conditions," the NHSP said.
Top freezing rain totals in the Northeast as of 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
Freezing rain created a glaze of ice across parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio Friday morning. In northeastern Pennsylvania, about 0.60 of an inch of freezing rain was recorded in the borough of Bath, which is about a 90-minute drive from Philadelphia.
Freezing rain can pose a threat to motorists because the solid sheet of ice that it forms provides no traction for those on the roadways. Other dangers freezing rain can include are downed power lines and tree limbs, which could create widespread power outages.
More than 10,000 customers were without power on Friday afternoon in Pennsylvania and Ohio due to the weather, according to PowerOutage.us.
This winter weather follows a brief April-like warmup that greeted areas along the East Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, which sent temperatures in the 60s and 70s in many locations, with some places even reaching the 80s. According to the NWS, Hartford, Connecticut, maxed out at 71 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record set back in 1990 at 68 degrees F. Typically, Hartford reaches a high temperature of 42 degrees at this time of year.
But these springlike temperatures were short-lived. By Thursday morning, temperatures were 30-40 degrees colder up and down the East Coast. And by late Thursday night, winter was back as the snow started falling in the mid-Atlantic.
The winter weather won't slow down across the Northeast, as a fresh wave of Arctic air will dip southward and trigger a new round of dangerous snow squalls this weekend, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
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Correction: A previous version of the story misstated the name of Cape Neddick. It is Cape Neddick, Maine, not Camp Neddick.
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