Snow squall

Several tractor-trailers were involved in the chain-reaction crash on Interstate 81, about 50 miles northeast of Harrisburg, Pa.

The Pennsylvania State Police said two dozen people injured in the crash on Monday were taken to four hospitals in the area. One driver who was involved in the pileup captured the chain reaction on video as it happened, and the diminished visibility that motorists encountered. The pileup snarled traffic for several miles on the highway, making it difficult for emergency responders to reach the wreckage, which the authorities said extended for about a mile. In the video, the driver of a sedan narrowly avoided being hit by another car after hitting a highway sign on the shoulder. The southbound lanes of the highway reopened on Monday afternoon. The chain reaction happened around 10:36 a.m. on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County about 50 miles northeast of Harrisburg, Pa., where an early spring burst of wintry weather overwhelmed drivers in the northbound lanes.

A portion of Interstate 81 was closed and at least 20 people were transported to local hospitals, according to the Schuylkill County Emergency Management.

Large black smoke plumes rose from what appeared to be a vehicle on fire, based on video taken by someone who said they were involved in the crash after they got out of their car. Authorities said Tuesday that clean-up was "about half done" and urged motorists to avoid the area. It's unclear what caused the pileup.

At least three people have died after a snow squall led to a multi-vehicle crash on a Pennsylvania highway on Monday, state coroner's office spokesman John ...

There wasn't a snow squall warning issued for the location of the accident at the time the crash happened. Drone footage of the scene shows dozens of cars and trucks pointed in various directions across the road. Mike Moye was one of those caught up in the crash and captured video of the mayhem. A vehicle then comes flying into the wreckage and slams into the black sedan and Moye's car as he screams, "Watch out!" Heavy fog and precipitation from the squall caused a mass pileup of about 40 vehicles on Interstate 81. The pileup happened shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Monday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 near mile marker 116, Blickley said.

More than 50 vehicles were involved in the crash, which forced the closure of Interstate 81 northbound in Schuylkill County.

Snow squalls are so dangerous that in 2017 the National Weather Service debuted a “snow squall warning” that would target drivers who might approach a snow squall. “This new warning aims to bring better situational awareness to drivers and mitigate impacts related to these squalls.” A similar chain-reaction crash occurred on Interstate 93 in New Hampshire in 2015, according to a Boston CBS affiliate. As additional snow squalls swept across the state, the State College Weather Service office issued 15 warnings, mostly Monday afternoon. Blinding snow squalls were moving through the region at the time. A vehicle traveling at 60 mph would have moved 44 to 66 feet during that time.

Dangerous snow squalls swept across Pennsylvania on Monday, leading to a pile-up on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County. York County was under a snow squall ...

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 43. Wednesday: A chance of rain, snow, freezing rain, and sleet before noon, then a chance of rain between noon and 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Breezy, with a northwest wind around 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Partly cloudy, with a low around 21. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Partly sunny, with a high near 33.

The warning includes parts of Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties.

- I-283 from mile markers 0 to 2 - Lebanon County Black ice may occur as the roadway rapidly freezes.

A snow squall in Pennsylvania caused a massive car crash Monday involving dozens of cars and tractor-trailers and leaving at least three people dead.

He skids and slams into the stranded truck, one of the dozens of vehicles caught in the pileup that killed at least three people, the video posted on Facebook shows. Authorities said a dangerous blend of snow and fog led to the pileup that shut down a section of the highway in rural Pennsylvania, state transportation officials said. Wild dashcam video captures the moment a stranded motorist is forced to leap for his life as a truck barrels into an 18-wheeler during a deadly pileup on a Pennsylvania highway Monday.

A Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency meteorologist is urging everyone to regularly check weather updates when snow squalls are in the forecast.

However, he says it's best to avoid driving entirely if a snow squall is in the forecast. Jumper says if you're on a highway during a snow squall, get off at the nearest exit if you can. If you're stuck in a snow squall, Jumper says to slow down, not slam on the breaks, turn on your headlights and stay in the lane.

Dangerous snow squalls can quickly create extremely poor visibility for drivers, forecasters said.

The following highways are under the squall warning: Interstate 78 from mile markers 0 to 8; Interstate 81 from mile markers 65 to 120; Interstate 83 from mile markers 43 to 50; and Interstate 283 from mile markers 0 to 2. The National Weather Service issued a snow squall warning that will stay in effect until 1:30 p.m. in Dauphin County, northern Lancaster County, Lebanon County, southern Northumberland County, Schuylkill County, Snyder County and southern Union County. A “dangerous” band of snow squalls has been spotted in central Pennsylvania, creating a risk for extremely poor road visibility Monday afternoon, forecasters said.

See what you missed overnight, what's happening today and our latest Maryland weather forecast. TODAY'S MARYLAND WEATHER FORECAST. Meteorologist Ava Marie says ...

A video captured the scene of a massive pileup along Pennsylvania's I-81 during a snow squall, killing at least three people and injuring several others.

"Very high snowfall rates, on the order of 2 inches in 30 minutes, are not uncommon." Video mounted on the dash of a vehicle showed how quickly the road conditions changed. A reunification center was set up at the Goodwill Fire Company No. 1 in Minersville for people to meet friends or relatives or arrange accommodations. In one video, an SUV struck a passenger car sending it spinning narrowly past a person standing on the shoulder in snow and fog. Stopped vehicles rose like a wall in front of the driver, and a person on the roadway stretched their arms out and jumped to escape the runaway vehicle. This is crazy!"

The snow squall led to clouded visibility on Interstate 81 before the pileup, officials said.

Their conditions were not immediately known. More than 50 "travelers were taken via Transit Authority buses to a reception center at a local fire station where the American Red Cross, County Emergency Management, and Pennsylvania State Police are working on family reunification," a spokesperson for the Schuylkill County Office of Emergency Management said in the statement. At least three people died and many more were injured after a mass pileup took place during a snow squall in Pennsylvania on Monday, according to local officials.

UPDATE: From Pennsylvania State Trooper David Beohm, the public information officer for Troop L, on Twitter: “I-81 Pileup Crash Update-PSP can confirm ...

Once the vehicles are removed, authorities will have a better idea if there is structural damage to the highway, Beohm said. It could take days just to get an accurate count of the number of vehicles involved, Beohm said. But by 6:30 a.m., only about half the cleanup was done in the northbound lanes as the closure continued between Exits 107 and 119, Beohm tweeted. The highway is relatively straight in that stretch, he said. The walking wounded and the stranded were driven by Schuylkill Transportation Service to a nearby Wegmans distribution center, Trooper David Beohm said in a news release. That Lehigh County hospital hosts a burn unit, but it did not receive any such victims from the crash, Downs said.

Here's what made that snow squall in central Pennsylvania so deadly · The winds. “The wind was the worst of it,” said David Martin , veteran meteorologist at the ...

It is uncertain whether it was a factor in terms of advance notice, but AccuWeather’s Walker said the accident site is not well-observed by radar. And the ones on Monday were “small … in and out in a couple of minutes,” he said. The squall, part of what Martin called an eight-hour siege, blew up a bit sooner than forecasters expected and in advance of the “main event” squalls in the afternoon. Temperatures in the upper atmosphere, 5,000 to 10,000 feet above the surface, were as cold as any all winter, said Martin. Snow forms when warm air rises over cold air. Snow was able to quickly layer the highway. Snow squalls are not to be confused with flurries or snow “showers.” They are short-lived, ferocious mini-blizzards that can reduce visibilities and rapidly cover road surfaces.