HARTFORD, Conn. — After an unseasonably warm winter, Connecticut finally got a snow day. FOX61 meteorologists said this storm "behaved itself" as it rolled across the state.
Snow began between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday night, starting from west to east with the heaviest of the snowfall accumulating overnight into 6 a.m. Tuesday. By late morning, most of the snow became flurries.
Most of the state - including the shoreline - got around 4'' to 8" of snow, with pockets in the northwestern part of the state getting over 8''.
The FOX61 meteorologists and reporters said it was an ideal snow day, with the kids safe at home for a snow day and the roads salted and cleared for those who couldn't avoid travel. Dozens of schools canceled classes.
"It's great to be out here and playing in the snow," said Jackie, a student at Quinnipiac University who is originally from California. "It's very beautiful and I love seeing it."
However, the snow day didn't go without crashes on some of the major roadways. Connecticut State Police said troopers responded to 87 crashes between midnight and 2 p.m. Tuesday. There were also 62 motor assists and around 700 calls for service in that same time frame.
Connecticut crews were active throughout the night and into Tuesday.
"We’re going to schedule people to come back five trucks tomorrow morning. Before school starts, they’ll be five trucks going out at 4:30 in the morning," said Coventry Superintendent of Operations Mark Owens.
Mark Owens and his team of 17 snow plow drivers were called in at 8 p.m. Monday night to pre-treat the roads before the bulk of it arrived. Their work, however, is not done as temperatures are expected to dip to the 20s which will create icy roads.
Just minutes away in Coventry is the well-known Bread and Milk Street. A father of three was busy snow blowing while, of course, enjoying some homemade bread and milk.
"I like it! I was looking forward to maybe a big storm and I’m kind of ready for spring," said Brian Tarleton of Coventry.
Tarleton's sons had a half day of remote learning and spent the rest of the afternoon burning some calories.
"When I first came out here, I was wondering if it was just powder snow but then it was harder snow, so then we thought of making a hill down," said Colton Tarleton of Coventry.
Before the snow came to an end, Connecticut State Police were busy responding to calls.
Sgt. Christine Jeltema told FOX61 from midnight to 2 p.m., they responded to a total of 700 calls for service. 87 of them were motor vehicle accidents and 82 of them were drivers stranded on the highway.
"We had a bunch of tractor-trailer knife or accidents involving tractor trailers and thankfully, none of those were critical," said Sgt. Jeltema.
North Haven had a slew of crashes, one on Interstate 91 involving at least one tractor-trailer and one on Route 40.
There were also crashes reported on Interstate 84 in Southington and West Hartford, as well as on Route 10 in Cheshire.
There is no word on injuries for any of these crashes.
This also may not be the only snowfall we see this week.
Another storm is possible Friday into Saturday. While its track is highly uncertain at this point, Connecticut could see rain, snow, or a mix of both, depending on how close it comes to the state.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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