Just days from spring, Maryland was hit yesterday with a snowstorm that exceeded forecasts, triggered scores of traffic accidents -- including two fatal crashes -- and forced many schools and government offices to close early.
School was canceled today in St. Mary's, Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Calvert and Montgomery counties.
The State Highway Administration had 1,300 trucks salting and plowing Maryland roads, with most of them in the western part of the state, said Rose Muhlhausen, an SHA spokeswoman.
Muhlhausen said workers would be on duty throughout the night.
"We're getting reports of from 4 to 7 more inches moving into the area after midnight so we're just keeping our trucks out there," she said.
The storm was a pale reminder of the March 1993 blizzard that piled 15-foot drifts in Western Maryland and paralyzed the rest of the state. But it left 2 to 11 inches of snow across the mid-Atlantic region, covering crocuses and other flowers that had begun to bloom.
The largest accumulation was in Western Maryland, with parts of Garrett County reporting 14 inches. The National Weather Service said 11 inches hit Tyson's Corner in Vienna, Va., and 10 inches fell in Mayo, Anne Arundel County.
Andy Woodcock, a weather service meteorologist in Sterling, Va., called it "a surgical snow," because areas 40 miles north of Baltimore and a similar distance south of Washington saw little accumulation.
Early forecasts of 1 to 3 inches were scrapped as 2 to 4 inches fell north of Baltimore and on the Eastern Shore. At Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, 7.1 inches collected while Frostburg in Western Maryland had 6 inches, Woodcock said. Baltimore-Washington International Airport reported a trace over 4 inches.
Until yesterday, the Baltimore area had seen 7.5 inches of snow all winter, he said.
The snowfall threw parents, drivers and school officials into a frenzy of child care preparations and early departures. Federal offices closed two hours early, and the snow's impact was felt immediately on area roads.
A Prince George's County woman was killed about 11 a.m. yesterday in Camp Springs when her car hit a guardrail. State police said two cars skidded out of control and struck Michelle Whitaker, 29, of Upper Marlboro after she got out to check the damage to her car.
The identity of the second victim was not immediately available. Police said the second accident also occurred about 11 a.m. yesterday on Route 107 near Poolesville, Montgomery County.
Northbound traffic on Interstate 95 south of Baltimore slowed to less than 40 mph by midday, while southbound vehicles crept along bumper to bumper. Slippery highway ramps sent vehicles sliding into guardrails, police said.
By 4 p.m., however, state officials reported that traffic on major highways was moving steadily. In Carroll County, where the snow emergency plan took effect at 11: 30 a.m., schools closed three hours early, but the snow had tapered off by dusk.
Baltimore County's 106,000 students went home an hour early, and an evening school board meeting was canceled, as was an afternoon promotion ceremony for state police in Pikesville.
Harford County also dismissed students an hour early, while Anne Arundel classes ended two hours early. Howard County lopped 90 minutes off the day. Only Baltimore schools closed on schedule.
Despite the disruptions, not everyone was annoyed.
"I like this kind of weather because it generates good will and nobody is snotty. Everyone's making chili, stew and frying chicken," said Cordell Salisbury, a butcher at Renno's Food Market in Shady Side in Anne Arundel County.
Michelle Lynch, a Severna Park video store assistant manager, said snow helps her business. "Popcorn and soda are going fast," along with movies and games.
At Columbia's Running Brook Elementary School, Principal Marion Miller was besieged with phone calls and parents arriving early to get children.
Sun staff writers Rafael Alvarez, Howard Libit, Alice Lukens, Melody Simmons, Devon Spurgeon, Dail Willis and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Pub Date: 3/10/99