Spring Snowstorm Hits East Coast, Midwest

weather.com & Associated Press Published: Mar 25, 2013, 0:41 PM EDT

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/winter-storm-virgil-news-20130323

Winter Storm Virgil Hits Northeast

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Winter Storm Virgil is killing all thoughts of spring, as it cancels hundreds of flights and slowing morning commutes in the Midwest and Northeast. 

"This is going to be a far cry from what they dealt with in St. Louis and Denver over the weekend," said meteorologist Mike Seidel, reporting from Frederick, Md. "The snow's having a hard time sticking because it was in the 40's yesterday."
(MORE:  Track Winter Storm Virgil | Virgil Snow Reports)

The wide-ranging storm is headed toward the East Coast after blanketing the Midwest and burying thoughts of springtime weather under a blanket of heavy wet snow and slush, though less snow is predicted to fall as the storm moves eastward.

Light rain and snow were falling in New Jersey on Monday morning as the storm moved in after dropping 2 to 6 inches in Ohio.

"Some schools are closed, but a lot of students in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area are already on spring break," reports Seidel. "Some kids can go sledding. I don't know if that's what they want to do on Spring Break, but they can."

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The storm was expected to drop a similar amount as it moved across Pennsylvania, except for higher elevations like the Laurel Mountains southeast of Pittsburgh, where 6 to 10 inches were forecast - though there were no major problems reported.

In the mid-Atlantic, Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., said more than 3 inches of snow had been reported by 8 a.m. Monday at Washington Dulles International Airport, and more than an inch at Reagan National Airport.

Sheffield said most of that region's expected snowfall had already occurred, but "it happened at the worst time for the morning commute. I know I had a tough time."

But the slushy morning commute and widespread school delays as the storm moved eastward, were minor compared to the storm's impact on the Midwest, where it was blamed for separate crashes in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri on snow-slicked roads.

Springfield, in central Illinois, got slammed with a record 17 inches of snow, and several central Indiana counties declared snow emergencies after getting hit with up to 8 inches of snow.

Slick roads were also being blamed for a series of crashes on Interstate 60 north of Indianapolis that sent two people to area hospitals with life-threatening injuries. The Indiana State Police reported late Sunday that two people in a 2012 Subaru were hurt when the driver lost control while coming upon the scene of a previous crash involving a semitrailer. The Subaru hit the tractor-trailer and ended up in a ditch, police said. Authorities said both driver and passenger had life-threatening injuries and were taken to area hospitals. An update on their conditions was not immediately available.