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First Big Storm of Season Hits East Coast

Posted on: Friday, 5 December 2003, 06:00 CST

The region's first real winter storm of the season swept up the East Coast on Friday, clogging roads with a daunting mixture of snow, sleet and slush.

In Maryland, where up to 8 inches of snow fell, a steady downfall of snow and sleet closed schools and clogged rush hour traffic Friday as state road crews struggled to keep major arteries clear.

"It wasn't that bad, so long as I took my time and stayed out of the way of some of the nuts on the road," said Jamaal Charleston, a clerk at the Long Reach Village Safeway in Columbia, Md.

The combination of wet snow, sleet and rain that pelted the Philadelphia area caused so many fender-benders Friday that one radio traffic reporter called it "a $500 deductible day."

The storm system had already brought a mixture of ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow in mountain regions of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia on Thursday. At least one death was blamed on the storm, that of a 23-year-old man who was killed in an accident on a slick road in Virginia.

As the system churned northward, winter storm warnings or watches were in effect as far north as New Hampshire and Maine.

In New Jersey, up to 14 inches of snow was forecast, with the worst of the snowfall expected to come late Friday and early Saturday. Dozens of school districts dismissed classes early.

"It looks like there's two pieces of the storm," National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Poirier said. "The first one is today and the second would be later tonight and Saturday."

Forecasters in Massachusetts predicted about 6 inches of snow would fall through Sunday morning.

The storm dumped as much as 8 inches of snow and sleet in western Virginia, causing havoc on highways and forcing schools to close.

"We've got a mess here," said Sgt. Tom Foster, a state police spokesman in Salem, Va.

The same was true in West Virginia, where ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow made travel difficult across much of the state Friday. Up to 14 inches of snow was forecast in the state's eastern mountains.

Three to 5 inches of snow fell across North Carolina's western mountains Thursday, where schools closed from Asheville west to the Tennessee line. Farther east, a cold rain fell in Charlotte and there was some ice buildup in the Hickory area.

No significant power outages were reported in Virginia or North Carolina.

"We've been very fortunate," said Duke Power spokeswoman Guynn Savage. "We're not anywhere close to last year's numbers."

To the West, wind gusting to 80 mph Thursday toppled trees and cut power to more than 193,000 customers in western Washington state. One person was seriously injured when a tree fell on a car.

Some 100,000 homes and businesses remained without power Friday morning

"Because of the amount of damage and the trees in the roadways, it's probably going to be days before we get the lights back on to all of our customers," said Dorothy Bracken, spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning into Saturday morning for western Washington.

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