MANCELONA -- A fresh round of lake-effect snow made for slick driving conditions in several area counties, with reports of crashes ranging from fender-benders to fatalities.
Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim and Kalkaska counties were under a lake-effect snow warning Friday, according to the National Weather Service, after receiving several inches of snow overnight in some spots.
Among the incidents:
-- Two people were severely injured on U.S. 131 near Mancelona Friday morning when their car attempted to pass a plow truck and collided with a tractor-semi trailer, Antrim County Sheriff Daniel Bean said.
Both occupants of the car were freed from their vehicle by Mancelona Fire Department personnel. The 86-year-old male driver and his 84-year-old female passenger are from the Grand Rapids area and were transported to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Bean said. The driver was listed in critical condition and the woman in stable condition.
-- State police in Traverse City responded to a rollover crash about noon on Keystone Road near Hoch Road. Trooper John Arthur said a male driver turned onto Keystone and attempted to test the road's traction by applying his brakes, but the back end of the vehicle began to fishtail. He went through a snowbank, down a roughly 7-foot embankment and flipped, Arthur said. The driver was uninjured. Road conditions were "slushy" at the time, he said.
-- The Leelanau County sheriff's office handled a three-car crash, though road conditions didn't appear to be a factor. A 58-year-old Maple City man driving his sport-utility vehicle south on Maple City Road blacked out due to a medical condition at about 8 a.m., Deputy Ev Bowen said. He crossed the center line, clipped an oncoming Toyota Prius and struck an oncoming Jeep. No major injuries were reported.
"He almost hit the Prius head on," Bowen said. "That would have been ugly."
-- Dispatchers recorded two minor crashes in Benzie County, including property damage and a car-deer collision, Undersheriff Bill Sholten said. Sheriff Rory Heckman said no injuries were reported.
"It's pretty greasy and slippery out there," Heckman said, adding that most of the problem areas were along U.S. 31. "It surprised the heck out of them and they can't stop."
Road conditions in Antrim County on Friday weren't "unusual for the middle of winter," said Burt Thompson, the county's road commission manager. "It was light, fluffy lake-effect snow."
Thompson estimated more than 6 inches had fallen near the commission's office in Mancelona by Friday morning. State highways were glazed and local roads were covered.
