Snow begins to fall late Tuesday afternoon on Lancaster Avenue in Columbia.
A snowplow hits the road as snow begins just before dark Tuesday on Lancaster Avenue in Columbia.
Snow began falling Tuesday around 5 p.m. and by 6:30 p.m. roadways around the county were snow-covered and slippery.
A man trying to help a motorist whose car got stuck on Route 222 Tuesday night was struck by another vehicle near Peach Road in West Earl Township.
According to police, the unidentified man was one of several people trying to help. He was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries.
The storm is expected to kick into high gear today, when it will be goosed by high winds.
Those who can stay home should, officials said.
The storm could be "the real blizzard of 2010," said Millersville University meteorologist Eric Horst.
MU, AccuWeather and the National Weather Service all are calling for 10 to 18 inches of snow to fall here by the time the storms ends.
But it's the high winds on the back half of the storm that are expected to wreak havoc here, as they will cause drifting and possibly blizzard conditions.
"It's really going to be ugly," said Scott Tanguy, the state transportation maintenance manager for the county. "People think, 'We've dealt now with 20-plus inches in December and 20-plus inches just this past weekend.'
"But this storm is a whole different animal."
Some officials began taking emergency steps as the storm approached.
Lancaster city declared a snow emergency that started at 6 p.m. Tuesday. All cars must be removed from the city's snow emergency routes by 8 a.m. Wednesday when, Mayor Rick Gray said, "Our tow trucks are ready to roll."
The city's parking garages, except for the Penn Square Garage, will be available for free parking until 8 a.m. Thursday.
"And that's subject to change," Gray said.
The mayor said public works crews are ready to start plowing and clearing the streets.
Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Denver, Manheim and Mount Joy boroughs, and Pequea and West Donegal townships also declared snow emergencies Tuesday.
A number of county school districts announced they will be closed today, including Donegal, Elizabethtown, Hempfield, Manheim Central, Manheim Township, Penn Manor, Solanco and Warwick, as well as Elizabethtown College, Millersville University and all campuses of Harrisburg Area Community College.
As the storm began to worsen Tuesday night, PennDOT lowered speed limits to 45 miles per hour on interstates 81, 78 and 83, US. 11, 15, 22, and 322, and routes 283 and 581.
While the weekend storm brought drifts of 2 to 3 feet, Horst said the coming storm could bring drifts of 8 to 10 feet.
"This is impressive," he said.
The storm could meet the meteorological criteria for a bona fide blizzard: 35 mph wind speeds sustained for three hours, or frequent gusts above 35 mph, as well as visibility below a quarter of a mile for three hours or more.
Blizzard conditions are not dependent on the amount or type of snow, Horst said, but are created by blowing snow.
Winds of 20 to 40 mph are possible, he said. That's twice the speed of the winds during the weekend storm, but they technically carry four times the amount of energy, Horst said.
County residents who wake up to 6 to 8 inches of snow Wednesday morning may be able to get to work, but getting home could be dangerous, Horst said.
"The heaviest snow will be falling tomorrow morning into the midday hours," he said.
It's a storm in which a driver "could get on the interstate," Horst said, "and get stranded. Just stay home. Don't even think about traveling after midnight tonight."
Winds will slack off Thursday afternoon, but that means a 24-hour period of drifting and major headaches for road crews, motorists and possibly power line crews.
"This will be much more impactful (than the weekend storm), even though on the measuring stick it may not be that much," Horst said.
Once again, as it did last weekend, PennDOT is urging people to stay off the roads whenever possible.
Motorists who must travel are urged to take a cell phone, blankets, warm clothes and food in case they get stranded.
"The reality is that motorists who must travel Tuesday night and during the day on Wednesday will face conditions possibly worse than those seen over the weekend due to the strong, gusty winds currently forecast," said Scott Christie, PennDOT's deputy secretary for highway administration.
In addition to dealing with drifting snow, road crews also will face another headache, Tanguy said.
"We're out of room," he said, noting the significant amount of snow already on the ground.
PennDOT was trying today to line up emergency equipment, such as large loaders that could stack the snow a little higher, he said.
Residents, he added, need to be realistic about how quickly crews will be able to clear roads.
"If you're on one of those secondary roads that typically drifts, we're going to do our very best to keep it open," he said. However, he said some roads may be impassable at times.
The storm follows a storm that dropped 20 inches here Friday and Saturday, and a Dec. 19 storm that dropped between 8 and 21 inches here.
It will likely make this winter one for the record books as it would be the first time three major storms have been recorded in one winter since local weather statistics have been kept, dating back to 1926.
VIDEO: AccuWeather Forecast