LMAO
PENNSYLVANIA
The Pennsylvania Turnpike came to a standstill for hours on Thursday. Several interstates were closed and bridges had iced over in dozens of locations.
A person identified as Kristin Anne on Twitter said she got on the Turnpike in Quakertown at 12:30 p.m. and it took her six hours to reach her destination of Media, about 45 miles away. That was after sitting still for at least three hours.
About 50 disabled and homeless people were stranded at an Allentown Dunkin Donuts when LANTA bus service was suspended at 2:30 p.m.
Across much of the Lehigh Valley, the snow caused semitrailer trucks to jack-knife, cars to run off the roads and fender-benders galore.
After being stuck in traffic on Route 309 for three hours, Rebecca Schorr, who moved from California to Pennsylvania about eight years ago, told the Morning Call, “I have never seen anything like this. It has already taught me some things as far as winter preparedness, but they never touched upon this in drivers ed in southern California.”
Crashes and disabled vehicles slowed Route 22 to a crawl in South Whitehall Township.
Interstate 78 eastbound was jammed from Route 33 to Lehigh Street, and in Berks County, the interstate was being closed as of 5:20 p.m. American Parkway in Allentown was gridlocked.
Northbound Interstate 83 was is closed between MM 28 and MM 40 because of disabled vehicles.
The number of accidents in Lancaster County alone topped 180 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., according to Lancaster Online.
CBS 3 in Philadelphia reported Montgomery County saw more than 250 accidents and 350 disabled vehicles beginning at noon Thursday. Delaware County officials reported 150 accidents.
A camel was seen walking along the side of Route 309 near Souderton. Bob Strange told CBS 3 Philly he thought the trailer hauling the camel got stuck in the snow.
A few school districts that originally planned on early dismissals are keeping students at schools with road conditions worsening.
Hempfield School District said some buses are unable to complete routes and are trying to find alternates.
NEW YORK
As Avery's snow reached New York City, a multi-vehicle accident brought the George Washington Bridge to a gridlock Thursday afternoon. All lanes were blocked, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tweeted. All lanes reopened shortly after 6:30 p.m., but travelers were advised to expect delays.
In addition to the George Washington Bridge being closed, the Holland Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel were both experiencing delays.
A disabled semitrailer truck blocked all westbound lanes of the Gowanus Expressway at the Belt Parkway split in Brooklyn about 4:30 p.m.
Central Park received 6 inches of snow by Thursday evening.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan was closed to any more passengers about 5:30 p.m. because it was so overcrowded, the New York Times reported. Only a limited number of buses were able to make it to the terminal in Manhattan.
After being in line for an hour, Marlyne Page, an executive assistant who works in Midtown, was still a block away from the entrance to the bus terminal and her bus to Passaic. “And this isn’t even a real storm,” she said. “Someone didn’t plan.”
Officials were telling people to take ferries or trains. However, commuters said, Penn Station also became dangerously crowded.
Multiple accidents shut down portions of N.Y. Route 17 near Vestal and Apalachin. WBNG reported that a semitrailer truck carrying wood overturned at the Route 26 bridge that connects Vestal and Endicott. Closures were announced at Route 17 westbound between the Nichols and Barton exits and Route 17 westbound between the Apalachin and Vestal/Endicott exits.
Trees were falling on streets in New York City's Hell's Kitchen.
NEW JERSEY
Nearly every major highway in the state experienced gridlock as people tried to leave work early to beat the storm, New 12 New Jersey reported.
“Listen, we’re getting clobbered,” New Jersey Gov. Philip D. Murphy said. “No forecast — none — predicted this. This is slower, it’s deeper, it’s colder.”
The renovated Bayonne Bridge was closed in both directions Thursday afternoon because of slippery conditions and because drivers couldn't make it up the steeper inclines, NJ.com reported. A spokesman for the Port Authority told the website the bridge would be reopened after the stuck cars were removed and trucks could salt and sand the bridge.
Sgt. Lawrence Peele, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, said troopers responded to 441 vehicle crashes as of the 4:30 p.m. on roads the agency patrols. Dozens of accidents and disabled vehicles were reported on other roadways as well.
Stretches of the Garden State Parkway and Interstate 78 were closed.
New Jersey Transit buses and Transit train service were both experiencing 60-minute delays because of the weather.
Significant delays or accidents were reported on Route 20 in Paterson, Route 10 in Randolph, the Palisades Interstate Parkway, Route 287 in Parsippany and Route 23 in Wayne, NorthJersey.com reported. On Route 3, a semitrailer jack-knife and caused delays.
A number of New Jersey school districts closed early Thursday and were planning to remain closed on Friday.
Ohio
One person was killed in an accident that started a chain of a dozen other crashes along U.S. 30 in Stark County.
Barry Bailey Sr., a 61-year-old from Paris Township, was killed early Thursday morning in the crash, county investigator Rick Walters told the Canton Repository.
The cause of the accident “appears to be ice on the road with the very low temperatures and the rain,” said Lt. John Bosley of the Canton Police Department.
No other injuries have been reported from the chain of accidents.
More than 140,000 lost power in Ohio during Winter Storm Avery Thursday morning, per PowerOutage.us.
An ice-covered tree crashed on a house in Newtown, outside of Cincinnati. WCPO reported that no one in the home was injured. About 45 miles north in Middletown, a tree fell on a car, but the driver escaped without injury.
MARYLAND
A woman was killed in Millersville Thursday morning after her car slid on a mix of rain, sleet and snow into oncoming traffic, according to the Captial Gazette.
An Anne Arundel County vehicle struck the woman's sliding sedan, sending it into a nearby ditch, said county fire department spokesman Capt. Russ Davies.
The driver of the county vehicle was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries. The woman's name has not been released.
The fatal accident was one of nearly four dozen crashes that occurred between 4:30 a.m. and noon, Davies added. A woman and two children were seriously injured in a two-car accident on Route 2 in Deale.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed temporarily with ice coating the surface, causing trucks to jackknife and vehicles disabled, the Frederick News-Post reported.
One lane has reopened and the State Highway Administration is currently treating the interstate's surface.
ARKANSAS
Three people were killed in two separate crashes on icy roads in the Little Rock area Wednesday night, according to the Associated Press.
Arkansas State Police reported 26-year-old Quinten Young of Little Rock was killed after hitting a patch of ice and crossing into opposing traffic. Jack Winover, 49, who Young collided with, was injured in the accident.
Two people were killed in the Jacksonville area when their car veered off U.S. 67/167 before colliding with a tree. The driver, whose name hasn't been released, was killed along with passenger 56-year-old Meralon Noah, state police confirmed.
Interstate 40 was closed overnight in the eastern part of the state because of multiple accidents along the White Bridge River. After the interstate had reopened, traffic was slow-moving because some drivers had fallen asleep.
MISSISSIPPI
DeSoto County emergency responders said that two people were killed and at least 44 were injured when a bus traveling along Interstate 269 overturned on Wednesday, according to WMC-TV.
The victims of the crash were identified as 70-year-old Betty Russell and 61-year-old Cynthia Hardin, said DeSoto County Coroner Joshua Pounders. Both women were from Huntsville, Alabama, where the bus was traveling from. The accident took place about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.
Witnesses told state investigators the driver of the bus has lost control after driving over an icy overpass, before rolling onto its side, said Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. Johnny Poulos.
Article image content | The Weather Channel
"All of a sudden the bus started swerving then it spun around two times, hit the rail and then flipped over," said bus passenger Veronica Love as she left a hospital after the wreck. "The second spin, it started picking up speed. It was, I mean, what could you do?"
"I'm just thankful I'm alive," Love said.
Teague VIP Express, the operator of the tour bus, posted on its Facebook page, "Our hearts and prayers go out to victims of this tragedy. Please keep everyone involved and (their) families in your prayers."
Three of the injured were listed in serious condition Wednesday evening.
VIRGINIA
The scheduled launch of an unmanned cargo rocket to the International Space Station had to be postponed one day because of weather, according to NASA.
The Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket with Cygnus cargo spacecraft has revised their launch window to early Friday morning from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wattsville.
Freezing rain and sleet was coating trees and causing limbs to fall and knock out power in parts of the commonwealth.
INDIANA
A 33-year-old woman was killed after a tree fell on Interstate 65 early Thursday near Sellersburg in southern Indiana. Three other people were injured. The Courier-Journal reported that Indiana State Police said the woman, Isidra Cornejo Pineda of Lilburn, Georgia, died at the scene. She was a passenger in the minivan that slowed to avoid the fallen tree. A UPS tractor-trailer couldn't stop in time and hit the minivan.
Ice on the roads of Central Indiana caused large several large school districts to close and numerous crashes.
Indianapolis Public School were closed Thursday due to poor driving conditions, as well as Carmel-Clay and Hamilton Southeastern districts, according to the Indy Star.
The Indiana State Police reported a "couple dozen accidents" had slowed traffic along Indianapolis-area interstates.
Some 80,000 people had lost power statewide as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
KENTUCKY
Numerous outages and dozens of accidents were reported overnight Wednesday into Thursday in Kentucky as icy wintry weather moved into the area.
Over 130,000 customers were without power across the state Thursday morning, PowerOutage.us reported.
