ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996                TAG: 9603110041
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

MIXED-UP MARCH ENTERS LIKE LAMB, TURNS INTO ICE LION

Winter-weary Virginia got another dose of snow and frigid temperatures Friday after several days of balmy weather.

Lynchburg was the snowiest city as 5 inches fell, adding to what was already the greatest seasonal snowfall ever recorded, the National Weather Service said.

Dewey Walston, a meteorologist in the Sterling office of the National Weather Service, said other areas also added to their already record-breaking snow accumulations.

Could Virginia get more snow before the end of winter?

``Who knows? It would be like flipping a coin'' to predict, Walston said.

Many schoolchildren got yet another three-day weekend as school districts closed Friday because of slick roads, which caused minor accidents and major traffic delays in urban areas.

The largest accident was a 20-vehicle pileup on northbound Interstate 95 in Prince William County near Woodbridge. A tractor-trailer jackknifed in the northbound lane about midnight, causing the chain-reaction crash, state police said. There were only minor injuries.

Snow accumulations tapered off in the southwest, with Bedford and Floyd counties getting about an inch and most areas west of the Blue Ridge Mountains getting just a dusting.

The snow and gusting winds drew a sharp contrast to the first week of March, during which temperatures reached the 70s in some areas. High temperatures were expected to hover just above freezing today.

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