WEST LEBANON — Winter Storm Fern hit the Upper Valley Sunday afternoon and continued into Monday.
Amid snow accumulations of as much as 18 inches in some parts of the region, there were numerous slide-offs.
Sabil and Sons, a roadside service company based out of White River Junction, assisted 12 vehicles within 24 hours of the storm, owner Doug Josler said by phone. The company’s tow trucks had chains around their tires to keep from slipping on the way to aid drivers.
“It’s not speed related; it’s more condition related. It doesn’t seem like there are enough people to keep up with the road conditions,” Josler said.
Constant snowfall Sunday led to poor road conditions with limited visibility. On Monday, a winter storm warning from the National Weather Service remained in effect until 7 p.m. The advisory warned of moderate snowfall with occasionally heavy snowfall, amounting to about two inches of snow per hour. Monday morning and evening commutes were potentially impacted, and the Weather Service asked people to consider delaying travel.
Of the dozen incidents Sabil and Sons responded to, four were cold-weather truck breakdowns and the rest were vehicle accidents. There were no injuries. All vehicles sustained minor damage, if any, except for one incident in Bethel, where a box truck required towing after going over the guardrails.
In Royalton, a town vehicle went off the road while conducting winter maintenance, leading to the closure of Johnson Hill Road between the intersections of Fisher Road and Smedley Road, according to a town social media post. The driver did not sustain injuries.
The Lebanon Fire Department responded to four vehicle incidents on Sunday, three on the highway and one on Seminary Hill Road, Lebanon Fire Chief James Wheatley said. All four incidents involved vehicles sliding off the road, as opposed to collisions, with one injury. One incident occurred before the storm, and the other three were between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Wheatley did not feel that these incidents were necessarily speed-related, but instead a result of poor driving conditions caused by large amounts of snow to drive through.
The local road conditions in Lebanon were poor on Sunday and Monday, though maintained properly, said Wheatley.
“As far as the conditions, they were what I would expect for the amount of snow that was coming. The highway crews were out doing the best they could keeping things cleared off,” Wheatley said.
The New Hampshire State Police reported 86 accidents statewide in a Monday morning social media post.
In New Hampshire, 13 accidents required a full or partial lane closure on state highways, with about half of these closures being in the Upper Valley.
“For a storm of this magnitude, that’s actually really good. It just goes to show that people are staying off the roads,” Jen Lane, a spokeswoman for NH DOT, said by phone.
In Vermont, most of the accidents were slide-offs. One collision involved a small car rear-ending a plow truck in Norwich on Sunday afternoon. No injuries were sustained.
For the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, the main challenges for plows were the duration of the storm and the speed of falling snow, said Lane.
With three inches of snow each hour, drivers would return from two-hour rounds to five more inches of snow since they left. Lane said all plow drivers have been involved in road-clearing efforts since 11 a.m. Sunday.
The intensity of the storm was characterized by a high rate of snowfall and type of snow, which blew easily and limited driver visibility. Fluffy snow also packs higher, said Lane.
In spite of the heavy snowfall from Sunday afternoon into Monday, Vermont Agency of Transportation Southeast District Transportation Administrator Shauna Clifford said interstate plowing improved the conditions significantly, making highway travel an option as needed.
“The roads are scraped down. There’s pavement showing,” said Clifford. “You just can’t go 70 miles an hour.”
Highway drivers were asked to reduce speed to 45 miles per hour. VTrans issued an emergency travel notice, restricting commercial vehicles other than essential deliveries until 7 p.m. Monday.
Clifford warned of low visibility, adding that light, fluffy snow can make it even worse. However, the storm is no reason for alarm as long as drivers take caution.
“Yesterday’s storm was sort of just another day for us,” said Clifford.
In Hanover, there were no reported accidents as of Monday morning. The Hanover Police Department was staffed normally, with extra officers on standby who did not need to be called, said Chief James Martin by phone.
The Fire Departments in Plainfield, Canaan and Enfield similarly had not received any storm-related accident calls as of Monday afternoon.
Driving in on Monday, Martin said he only saw one truck on the highway. He suspects people were staying in as advised, which explained the “very light traffic.”
“It seems to be that everybody is kind of adhering to the advice to stay off the roads and let the highway departments clear the roads,” said Martin.