Snow And Fog Cause 50-Plus Vehicle Pileup On I-81 In Pennsylvania

As winter wanes, many drivers start to prepare their cars for summer. The warm-weather tires go on, and the shovels and ice scrapers start moving from trunks to closets. But early-spring storms, covering roads with snow and skies with fog, are still a danger — as new video out of Pennsylvania shows.

Earlier today, snow squalls in Schuylkill County left Interstate 81 a mess of snow, fog, and traffic. A Facebook Live video, streamed by Mike Moye and re-posted to YouTube, showed vehicle after vehicle losing control in the low-traction, low-visibility situation — and collecting into a single, massive pileup.

While the video does not directly show human injury, local news is reporting at least five casualties in the pileup. It is possible that the footage contains, though is not detailed enough to directly show, human deaths. The footage contains multiple high-speed collisions and at least one large vehicle on fire.

Multiple tractor trailers can be seen colliding in the video, as well as smaller passenger cars and SUVs. Even an emergency vehicle, presumably sent to remove damage vehicles, skids past the camera entirely out of control. A tractor trailer towards the front of the mass of vehicles appears to have caught fire at some point in the pileup, spewing black smoke across the road’s southbound lanes.

Local new sources are reporting fifty to sixty cars were involved in the pileup, and at least five deaths have been reported. Jalopnik has reached out to the Schuylkill County Coroner and Schuylkill County Sheriff to confirm these numbers, but neither responded by press time.

Winter may have technically ended, but the dangers of snow and ice on roadways remain. Until temperatures start to rise and snow turns to rain, extra caution is always needed on the roads. The video from Pennsylvania serves as a warning: Always take extra care in snow and fog, because you never know what exists just beyond your view.