Snowstorm

Hagerstown residents awoke Saturday to a bizarre world in which snowflakes fall alongside autumn leaves, ice crystals form on decorative cobwebs and children don hats and scarves in place of Halloween masks. "I was amazed," Michael Parker of Hagerstown said. "Startled. Stunned. " The reaction was a common one for local residents, many of whom said they had heard snow was in the forecast, but still had trouble believing their eyes as more than 3 inches of wet snow piled up in a pre-Halloween snowstorm.

The death of at least one Washington County resident might have been related to Wednesday's snowstorm, authorities said. A neighbor saw the man using a snowblower Thursday morning in the 20800 block of Netz Road, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Robert “Jack” Willis said. The neighbor looked out about 20 to 30 minutes later and saw the snowblower but not the man, Willis said. “They walked out and found him face down in the snow,” said Willis, whose office was informed of the incident at about 9:50 a.m Sheriff’s office officials responded to the scene off Md. 67 south of Boonsboro to make sure there was nothing suspicious about the death, Willis said.

The number of Tri-State customers without electrical power following last weekend's snowstorm had dwindled from the thousands to the hundreds by Wednesday afternoon, according to utility companies working on the outages. More than 6,000 Tri-State residents were without power as of Monday afternoon and just over 1,700 as of late Tuesday afternoon. Workers have restored power to most of them, the utilities said. In Washington County, 48 customers were without electricity as of 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to Potomac Edison.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - A Chambersburg man involved in a fatal accident during a snowstorm last year was sentenced Wednesday in Franklin County Court, not for the accident itself, but for what he failed to do afterward, according to Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Nancy Meyers. John Leo Marcoux, 34, of 1185 Tallow Hill Road, pleaded no contest on Feb. 23 to accidents involving death or serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony, according to court records.

The Herald-Mail Co. has named the following people as Employees of the Month for their efforts in braving the elements and making it to work through the snowstorm on Sunday, Feb. 16: Emily Auldridge; Kathy Baker; Pepper Ballard; Brent Banas; Brad Bennett; Stacey Clapp; Jeff Cunningham; Larry Curry; Dave Daugherty; John Day; Jack Duffey; Linda Duffield; Dave Elliott; Steve Finelli; Barb Fischer; Kevin Gilbert; Pat Goodrich; Tina Green; Julie Greene;...

andrews@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - First, there was work. Then came play. With her right arm curled around a snowboard and the end of a dog leash in her left hand, 14-year-old Schuyler Feiser was headed for Funkstown's "Suicide Hill. " This was her way to enjoy the region's first substantial snowfall this season, which plopped more than 5 inches on Hagerstown, according to weather observer Greg Keefer's Web site. All around, people shoveled, bundled, trudged and sighed on Friday as they regrouped and recharged after the overnight storm.

Hancock Town Manager Larry Logan commended town employees and residents Wednesday for their handling of the Feb. 16-17 snowstorm. He said the storm resulted in a damaged light on Main Street and a number of damaged curbs. Logan also thanked the Hancock Volunteer Fire Department for making sure fire hydrants were dug out. "We got through it and thank you for all of your assistance," Logan said.

The issue: The Chambersburg Borough Council needed to decide what to do about borough residents who failed to clear their sidewalks within 24 hours after a snowstorm. What happened: The council adopted a new snow and ice removal policy last week. Systematic sidewalk inspections will be conducted by borough employees, beginning 24 hours after a snowstorm has ended. Under the previous policy, the borough warned and then ticketed property owners based on complaints received by the borough or observations by municipal employees.

MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) - The 14-year-old son of NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol was presumed dead Monday after a fiery jet crash that killed two crewmen and injured the executive and another of his sons. The aircraft with six people on board crashed during a snowstorm Sunday while taking off from the airport outside this small town 185 miles southwest of Denver. Federal authorities had no immediate word on the cause of the crash. With light snow falling, crews began picking through the charred pile of twisted metal and a 6-foot-high shard of the fuselage with three gaping, round windows.

Editor's note - Please be as brief as possible when calling Mail Call, The Daily Mail's reader call-in line. Mail Call is not staffed on weekends or holidays so it is best to call Mail Call during the week. The Mail Call number is 301-791-6236. You are welcome to leave a recorded message on any subject, but some calls will be screened out. Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "I am calling about WHAG-TV 25 and the weather line. I am watching the 6 p.m. newscast and there is nothing on there about Washington County Schools being closed and WQCM already announced that they are closed.

Recently, Towson University at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown held a leadership simulation for its senior nursing students. The faculty at the Hagerstown campus regularly offers simulation exercises to their students as part of the nursing curriculum. This month, Towson at USMH will graduate 13 students in its second winter graduating class. The students will receive a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Throughout their program at USMH, students are required to participate in simulations as part of the curriculum.

Heavy snowstorms, including two December nor'easters, are predicted to blow through the mid-Atlantic region this winter, according to J. Gruber's 2013 Hagers-Town Town and Country Almanack. The almanac, which covers September 2012 to December 2013, predicts that the first snow in the region could fall as early as Nov. 28, and snow could continue to hit the area up to the end of March. The forecast includes 15 possible heavy snow days. “Last year, we had a very mild winter, and it's going to be the exact opposite this year,” said Jerry Spessard, business and sales manager of the almanac.

Unseasonable snowstorms that were expected to hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and far Western Maryland should steer clear of Washington County, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Monday. Hagerstown could see less than a quarter-inch of additional rain by Tuesday morning, then the rain should start subsiding, said Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. Some snow flurries might mix with the rain in the Hagerstown area, but little or no accumulation is expected, according to the weather service.

A light snowstorm that is predicted to hit the Tri-State area overnight might make roads a little slick for drivers this Sunday. National Weather Service Meteorologist Carrie Suffern said Saturday afternoon that a storm might drop an inch of snow before sunrise Sunday. Erin Wolfe, Hagerstown communications manager, said the city Public Works Department was monitoring the storm. “If the weather should worsen, they'll send the (salt-truck) crews as appropriate,” she said.

Truck drivers in Maryland now have designated places to stop during snowstorms. Six park-and-ride lots across the state have been selected as emergency lots for truck drivers going through Maryland by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Maryland Motor Truck Association (MMTA), and the I-95 Corridor Coalition, according to a press release from the Maryland State Highway Administration's website, http://sha.maryland.gov . These lots will be cleared for truck drivers to park during snowstorms of six inches or more.

The number of Tri-State customers without electrical power following last weekend's snowstorm had dwindled from the thousands to the hundreds by Wednesday afternoon, according to utility companies working on the outages. More than 6,000 Tri-State residents were without power as of Monday afternoon and just over 1,700 as of late Tuesday afternoon. Workers have restored power to most of them, the utilities said. In Washington County, 48 customers were without electricity as of 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to Potomac Edison.

Hagerstown residents awoke Saturday to a bizarre world in which snowflakes fall alongside autumn leaves, ice crystals form on decorative cobwebs and children don hats and scarves in place of Halloween masks. "I was amazed," Michael Parker of Hagerstown said. "Startled. Stunned. " The reaction was a common one for local residents, many of whom said they had heard snow was in the forecast, but still had trouble believing their eyes as more than 3 inches of wet snow piled up in a pre-Halloween snowstorm.

The death of at least one Washington County resident might have been related to Wednesday's snowstorm, authorities said. A neighbor saw the man using a snowblower Thursday morning in the 20800 block of Netz Road, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Robert “Jack” Willis said. The neighbor looked out about 20 to 30 minutes later and saw the snowblower but not the man, Willis said. “They walked out and found him face down in the snow,” said Willis, whose office was informed of the incident at about 9:50 a.m Sheriff’s office officials responded to the scene off Md. 67 south of Boonsboro to make sure there was nothing suspicious about the death, Willis said.

What began as a routine trip from the Baltimore area to Hagerstown turned into a nightmare for a Washington County father and daughter who were stranded most of the night on Interstate 70 with hundreds of other motorists. Richard and Rachel Bibbee said they began their trip from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and spent more than 12 hours on I-70 before making it to their home off Leitersburg Pike at about 6 a.m. Thursday.

The region began rebounding Thursday from a paralyzing winter storm that stopped many motorists in their tracks, cut power to thousands and may have led to the death of a man in southern Washington County. The death involved a man who was seen using a snowblower Thursday morning in the 20800 block of Netz Road, Washington County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Robert "Jack" Willis said. Willis said a neighbor saw the man operating the snowblower. When the neighbor looked out about 20 to 30 minutes later, he saw the snowblower, but not the man, Willis said.