ELYSBURG - Falling temperatures overnight changed rain to snow, making Friday morning's commute treacherous and causing an accident along Route 487 that injured one woman.
Locust Township Chief Allen Breach said Helen Duncheskie, 55, of South Franklin Street, Shamokin, was traveling north toward Catawissa at 8:41 a.m. in a gray 2003 GMC Envoy when the road conditions caused the vehicle to spin, slid down an embankment and strike two trees. She was taken by Elysburg Ambulance to Geisinger Medical Center, where she was listed in fair condition late Friday afternoon.
She was wearing a seatbelt and no charges are pending, police said.
Friday morning was frigid, a drastic change in temperature from earlier, almost springlike weather.
After an unseasonably warm day on Thursday, when temperatures reached mid 40s throughout the region, they dropped quickly overnight as a cold front moved into the area. That changed the fleeting rain showers into snow, which dusted roads and lawns by dawn, when temperatures were in the mid 20s.
The earlier rain followed by freezing temperatures froze wipers to windshields and in some cases forced motorists to remove ice from their vehicle doors to get them open.
Staying cold
Today is expected to stay cloudy and cold, according to Craig Evanego, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
"There's a slight chance of a snow shower with temperatures in the lower 30s. A west wind will blow in at speeds of 15 to 20 mph. It won't be as windy as Friday," he said.
The skies were expected to clear up by nightfall with temperatures in the lower teens, he said.
Evanego said Sunday won't be much warmer with temperatures in the upper 20s, but it will be mostly sunny.