Highway shut down after major pileup caused by minimal amount of snow
By
Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 9, 2019 11:39 PM EDT
On Dec. 9, a pile-up occurred on interstate 80 in Des Moines, Iowa, with about 50 vehicles involved in the crash. There was one serious injury but no fatalities.
A quick-moving snowstorm created treacherous driving conditions near the Des Moines, Iowa, area on Monday morning, which led to many accidents across the region, including a multi-vehicle pileup of roughly 50 cars with at least one person severely injured, officials report.
Police report the westbound lanes on I-80 between Altoona, Iowa, and the intersection with Interstates 35 and 235 remained closed around 11 a.m. for more than an hour.
According to local news station KCCI, the Iowa State Patrol said the crash tore the sides off semitrailers, mangled the fronts of some vehicles and shredded the trunks of others. The very early stages of the chain-reaction accident were captured on video by a KCCI reporting duo that happened to be on the side of the highway when some of the first vehicles involved in the mass wreck were unable to stop.
At least one person was seriously injured in the crash, but no fatalities were reported, KCCI reported.
“Temperatures fell into the low 20s F as the snow squall arrived and visibility was reduced to below a quarter of a mile,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.
“I think the fact that conditions changed so rapidly likely contributed as well. This is the type of thing that will easily catch someone off guard,” Adkins said.
A multiple car pileup on I-80 westbound near Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, December 9, 2019, after a burst of snow rapidly caused dangerous driving conditions. (Iowa DOT)
Snow ended across the eastern Dakotas early Monday morning, but the snowstorm was just beginning to ramp up farther to the east.
The narrow band of heavy snow moved eastward across central and eastern Iowa on Monday afternoon, causing the National Weather Service to issue Iowa's first-ever snow squall warning.
Traffic in the westbound lane of Interstate 80 near Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, December 9, 2019, came to a complete standstill after an intense snow squall triggered a massive highway pileup. (Iowa DOT)
The sudden snow and quick coating likely contributed to the multiple-vehicle pile-up.
“Total snow amounts in Des Moines were generally less than an inch, but the combination of a slick coating of snow, significantly reduced visibility, and wind gusts near 40 mph likely produced very dangerous driving conditions,” Adkins said.
In Minnesota, there were 114 crashes, which injured 16 with injury and there were 114 vehicle spin-outs or vehicles that were off of the road, and eight jackknifed semis 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, the Minnesota State Patrol reported on its Twitter page.
In Omaha, Nebraska, a fast-moving band of snow also caused car pileups on Monday. There was a seven-car pileup after the storm dropped minimal amounts of snow and created slick roads in the area that was photographed by a resident and posted on Twitter.
And a Nebraska state trooper vehicle lost control arriving at the scene of a pileup and promptly became part of the pileup, video captured by a bystander showed.
On Sunday morning, snow began falling across parts of Montana, Wyoming and western Colorado. Snow accumulations were light, with just a couple of inches reported on lower elevations.
The snow reached the Dakotas later in the weekend, with 5.7 inches reported at the National Weather Service office in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Rapid City, South Dakota, recorded a wind gust of 67 mph as the snow moved in late Sunday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Winter Weather
Highway shut down after major pileup caused by minimal amount of snow
By Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 9, 2019 11:39 PM EDT
On Dec. 9, a pile-up occurred on interstate 80 in Des Moines, Iowa, with about 50 vehicles involved in the crash. There was one serious injury but no fatalities.
A quick-moving snowstorm created treacherous driving conditions near the Des Moines, Iowa, area on Monday morning, which led to many accidents across the region, including a multi-vehicle pileup of roughly 50 cars with at least one person severely injured, officials report.
Police report the westbound lanes on I-80 between Altoona, Iowa, and the intersection with Interstates 35 and 235 remained closed around 11 a.m. for more than an hour.
According to local news station KCCI, the Iowa State Patrol said the crash tore the sides off semitrailers, mangled the fronts of some vehicles and shredded the trunks of others. The very early stages of the chain-reaction accident were captured on video by a KCCI reporting duo that happened to be on the side of the highway when some of the first vehicles involved in the mass wreck were unable to stop.
At least one person was seriously injured in the crash, but no fatalities were reported, KCCI reported.
“Temperatures fell into the low 20s F as the snow squall arrived and visibility was reduced to below a quarter of a mile,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.
“I think the fact that conditions changed so rapidly likely contributed as well. This is the type of thing that will easily catch someone off guard,” Adkins said.
A multiple car pileup on I-80 westbound near Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, December 9, 2019, after a burst of snow rapidly caused dangerous driving conditions. (Iowa DOT)
Snow ended across the eastern Dakotas early Monday morning, but the snowstorm was just beginning to ramp up farther to the east.
The narrow band of heavy snow moved eastward across central and eastern Iowa on Monday afternoon, causing the National Weather Service to issue Iowa's first-ever snow squall warning.
Traffic in the westbound lane of Interstate 80 near Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, December 9, 2019, came to a complete standstill after an intense snow squall triggered a massive highway pileup. (Iowa DOT)
The sudden snow and quick coating likely contributed to the multiple-vehicle pile-up.
“Total snow amounts in Des Moines were generally less than an inch, but the combination of a slick coating of snow, significantly reduced visibility, and wind gusts near 40 mph likely produced very dangerous driving conditions,” Adkins said.
In Minnesota, there were 114 crashes, which injured 16 with injury and there were 114 vehicle spin-outs or vehicles that were off of the road, and eight jackknifed semis 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, the Minnesota State Patrol reported on its Twitter page.
In Omaha, Nebraska, a fast-moving band of snow also caused car pileups on Monday. There was a seven-car pileup after the storm dropped minimal amounts of snow and created slick roads in the area that was photographed by a resident and posted on Twitter.
And a Nebraska state trooper vehicle lost control arriving at the scene of a pileup and promptly became part of the pileup, video captured by a bystander showed.
On Sunday morning, snow began falling across parts of Montana, Wyoming and western Colorado. Snow accumulations were light, with just a couple of inches reported on lower elevations.
The snow reached the Dakotas later in the weekend, with 5.7 inches reported at the National Weather Service office in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Rapid City, South Dakota, recorded a wind gust of 67 mph as the snow moved in late Sunday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo