Morgantown experienced a fast and flurry-ious snowstorm early on Martin Luther King Jr. Day causing dozens of vehicle crashes.
The area between Morgantown and the Pennsylvania border was part of a band of heavy snow in an otherwise weak weather system, Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather said.
Starting about 6:30 a.m. that system passed through on its way east leaving 2-4 inches of snow behind as it left the area around 10 a.m.
The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office responded to nearly 40 vehicle-related calls between midnight and 11:30 a.m., Chief Deputy of Law Enforcement Mark Ralston said.
He said those calls were split between accidents, which involve a certain amount of property damage or a second vehicle, and motorist assist calls — to help vehicles that have slid off the road or can’t keep going on a road.
A supervisor for MECCA 911 said there were at least 65 reported vehicle accidents between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. but some of those may be duplicated – it would be impossible to tell without reviewing each individual one.
Only three of the crashes deputies responded to reported injuries and none were serious, Ralston said.
Cathy Lee, the owner of Doug’s Towing, said they were about twice as busy Monday morning as they normally are. Mostly winching vehicles back on the road but there were “quite a few tows too.”
Lee said the roads were icy when the snow started which is why this snowstorm caused so much more chaos than this much snow normally would.
At 9:39 a.m., MECCA 911 said on Facebook that most main roads in Morgantown were at a “standstill.”
Preston Sheriff Paul “Moe” Pritt said his office didn’t get an unusual number of calls Monday. There were a couple vehicles in ditches and an accident on Interstate 68.
“People just need to leave early, slow down, don’t be out if you don’t have to, and snow tires help,” Pritt said.
Kines said temperatures should be typical for this time of year for the new few days with daytime highs in the mid 30s and nighttime lows in the mid 20s.
“I don’t think we’ll see anything else like that in the next couple of days,” Kines said. “Snow showers on accumulation and maybe a small accumulation at some point but I don’t envision us getting something like we go this morning where three, four inches of snow fell.”
The biggest concern for drivers in the coming days will be ice on the roads when the melting snow refreezes each night.
Overall, the winter temperatures have been high, Kines said. December was 2 degrees above average and so far, this month is 5.5 degrees above normal.
However, the area has received several inches of snow more than it typically would at this point in the year.
