Starting at 6 a.m., the Ohio State Highway Patrol was responding to crashes all over the county.
Six crashes occurred--two on I-470 and one each on routes 40, 800. 147 and I-70.
Officials say five out of the six were due to icy conditions.
Ironically, the sun was shining and the roads appeared dry and powdery with the remaining residue of road salt.
"On some of the highways and the back roads, the snow comes right up to the edge of the road," says Lt. Jeff LaRoche, post commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Belmont County. "If you get off the edge of the road and it's full of snow, it can send you out of control. And then the sunshine comes out, it melts some water on the road, and then when the sun goes down it freezes up. And as soon as you go around a a turn and there's a slippery spot, that's black ice."
Troopers say only one of the six crashes was not caused by ice.
They say in Wolfhurst, a driver slowing down to make a turn was struck from behind.
"People are preoccupied, distracted, and they they don't see the car stop ahead of them." said LaRoche. "Whether it's snow-related or not, we have a lot of those crashes. Obviously these conditions can add to that. If you look up at the last minute and discover you have to stop and you're on ice, you can't stop in time."
He says they responded to 22 crashes in Belmont County throughout the snowy weekend.
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