Cars Pile Up as Snow, Ice Cover Northern U.S.

Freezing temperatures and snow prevailed from the Northwest to southern New England today after high wind drove Montana’s wind chill as low as minus 60 degrees and snow and ice figured in hundreds of traffic accidents.

Snow fell today from central New York state to parts of New England, Lake Superior, the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. A sloppy mixture of snow, freezing rain and sleet extended from Wisconsin to northern Pennsylvania.

Travelers’ advisories were in effect in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin and Michigan, where snow-covered roads were hazardous.

The National Weather Service said up to eight inches of new snow had accumulated Monday in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Four more inches fell this morning on International Falls, Minn., while Hibbing, Minn., and Albany, N.Y., had three inches. Rochester, N.Y., and Worcester, Mass., had two inches.

“The roads are a mess,” Michigan State Police dispatcher Mark Obrecht said in Lansing after salt trucks were deployed on roads slicked by freezing rain and the Upper Peninsula braced for at least two more inches of snow.

“It was like a sheet of glass,” said Trooper James Paul after 11 cars were involved in accidents on the Michigan 40 overpass at Interstate 94 at Paw Paw. At least eight cars collided at one slick intersection in the Detroit suburb of Southfield.