Wintry weather leads to accidents on Interstate 68

KINGWOOD — Interstate 68 in Preston County was littered with accidents Tuesday as ice and snow ushered in spring.
About 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Preston Office of Emergency Management (OEM)/911 put an alert on its Facebook page, warning people to use “extreme caution,” on I-68 due to the number of accidents. Most were between the Maryland state line and the Hazelton exit, according to the alert.
Preston OEM/911 Public Information Officer Clark Nicklow said there were at least 10 accidents, beginning about 8:30 a.m. and continuing through the next two hours or so. Those included a box truck full of groceries, a tractor trailer and several passenger vehicles.
“As far as I know, there was only one transport from all those,” Nicklow said.
Later in the afternoon, there was a one-car rollover reported around the 19-mile marker westbound.
There were also two accidents on I-68 in Monongalia County, in the vicinity of Cheat Mountain, Mon County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Al Kisner said.
Both accidents occurred between noon-1 p.m., and neither required transportation to the hospital.
Preston County Schools dismissed two hours early because of the weather.
As for today, don’t look for any warming trend, cautioned AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey.
“What’s going to happen is we’re going to see this ugly mix of snow, sleet and rain,” Tuesday, Duffey said. Sometime early this morning, he expected that to turn all to snow. The snow will probably be around most of today, he said, letting up some around the time of the evening rush.
“For the most part, it should come down pretty steady,” Duffey said, accumulating an average of 2-4 inches in the Morgan-town area and closer to 6 inches in higher elevations.
WV MetroNews reported that, “The snowfall is part of a much larger system, which is expected to dump a bigger load of snow on New England later in the week.”
“It’s going to take a while to warm up here,” the meteorologist said, reaching the upper 30s today, and perhaps up to 40 degrees on Thursday. Friday and Saturday he’s looking at 41 degrees, then 43 on Sunday and 47 Monday.
Keep in mind, Duffey said, that spring is a transitional season, and, “you always have a chance you could see winter or summer at any point in spring. Especially early on, you’re more likely to see winter than summer.”