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Hundreds of Crashes in Va. During Storm

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The metro area still is recovering from a nasty bout of winter weather, with D.C. area roads turning icy overnight and western and northern suburbs scraping away several inches of accumulated snow.

The D.C. metro area saw about 1 inch of snow from the storm Wednesday before temperatures warmed and the rain started. But to the west - especially in western Maryland and West Virginia - snow accumulations were much higher. Frostburg, Md. saw 7 inches of snow, and Petersburg, W. Va. saw 8 inches.

The I-81 corridor saw as much as 4 and 5 inches of snow in some places.

The weather caused dangerous travel conditions throughout the region, especially Wednesday morning: Virginia State Police said they responded to 686 traffic crashes statewide from midnight through 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Most of those crashes were minor, with only one fatality reported.

One of the hardest hit areas Wednesday was Frederick Md., which saw snow, sleet and freezing rain and a number of accidents on the roads, including a number of cars sliding into guardrails, News4 transportation reporter Adam Tuss reported.

Another hard-hit area: Loudoun County, Va., where slick roads sent cars into each other and off the roads, reported News4's David Culver.

Though the storm has passed, travel conditions will worsen again as precipitation re-freezes overnight, reported Storm Team 4 Chief Meterologist Doug Kammerer. There could be black ice on roadways.

Late Wednesday, Maryland state highway officials took to Twitter to remind drivers to stay off the roads "until the sun comes up and the temperature rises."

"Roads may get icy," the tweet read.

The National Weather Service extended a winter weather advisory through 6 a.m. Thursday for western Maryland, the panhandle of West Virginia and several counties in northwestern and central Virginia.

A wind advisory was also in effect for Thursday for most of the region. Winds could gust to 40 to 50 mph in some locations, and there could be some power outages, Kammerer reported.

Temperatures through the end of the week will be in the low 40s, with mornings as cold as the high 20s.

 


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