This is not a big storm by central Massachusetts standards, but boy did it cause a lot of problems on Tuesday.
It made a mess of the morning commute, and an overnight freeze could mean more slippery travel conditions.
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This snow was deceptively slick and stuck to the roads Tuesday morning. And even though we only had a couple inches fall in Worcester, it made for some difficult driving — especially on Worcester's hills.
We saw several vehicles struggling to get up hills and sliding down them. That's one of the reasons school was closed in Worcester, and several surrounding towns, Tuesday.
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It was a light snow, so light we saw public works crews blowing it with leaf blowers. But as fluffy as this snow might have seemed, it caused several accidents.
In fact, two people, including a Worcester police officer, were taken away in ambulances after they were struck by a car that skidded into them on Franklin Street.
Incredibly, the officer and the unidentified man were standing outside his car, after it had been struck in a multi-car accident just minutes prior.
NBC10 Boston spoke with the driver of the Tesla that hit the police officer and the other man.
Thomas Nguyen said when he came over the hill and saw the tow truck and crashed cars, he tried to stop. But when he hit the brakes, he started skidding right into the two men standing on the side of the road.
"I screamed and my window was closed, but at that point, I didn't know, I froze...half a second — bam! And the policeman was knocked down sideways, and the driver he was hit, and his leg fly up and his body land on my windshield, his elbow hit the windshield here. I feel really bad, I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do. I mean, I'm just helpless," said Nguyen.
The conditions are a bit better now, but definitely a scary accident.
The good news is Worcester police said their officer suffered very minor injuries, and both men are expected to be OK.
Across Massachusetts, icy and slick conditions turned to wet and slush on most main roads and highways, especially after the salt trucks and plows were able to make the rounds Tuesday morning.
Drivers should expect traffic to be slower than normal, as people are trying to prevent traffic accidents, so give yourself plenty of extra time anywhere you're headed to.
"I've been going slow enough to annoy people behind me and I've managed to keep going straight without sliding but it does look pretty treacherous out here," said Will Wood, who was driving to New York.
"Massachusetts does a better job plowing than New Hampshire, I'll tell you that much," said John Marston, who was driving through Massachusetts from Maine.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said it deployed more than 1,300 pieces of equipment to deal with the ice and snow and advised everyone, if possible, to wait for conditions to improve or take public transit instead of driving.
