Reduced visibility and a coating of snow led state troopers to reduce the speed limit to 40 miles per hour on a long stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike Saturday evening.
Reduced visibility and a coating of snow led state troopers to reduce the speed limit to 40 miles per hour on a long stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike Saturday evening.
As approximately an inch of snow fell, with slightly more accumulating in the Berkshires and other areas of higher elevation, the speed limit on the Mass. Pike was twice dropped on Saturday. Around 3 p.m., troopers reduced the speed limit to 40 miles per hour from the New York border to the Chicopee exit and around 8 p.m., it was extended to the Millbury exit in Central Massachusetts.
15-30 mile-per-hour gusts of wind reduced visibility while the coating of snow on the ground made roadways slick in some spots.
A few minor car accidents were reported around the region on Saturday but it wasn't immediately clear if weather was a factor in any of them. The snow was expected to taper off by late Saturday in Southern New England and the next big concern was arctic air.
The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory for Worcester County, Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, from approximately 1 a.m. until Noon Sunday.
An advisory is issued when the wind chill index – a calculation that describes the combined effect of the wind and cold temperatures on exposed skin – is predicted to reach minus 15 to minus 24 degrees for at least three hours. Without proper protection from the cold under such conditions, frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly.