Winter Weather — Hamilton, Ohio

2013-01-21 · Hamilton, Ohio

Event narrative

Snow squalls in the region caused whiteout conditions, resulting in a 90 car pileup on I-275 on the northwest side of Cincinnati. The accident has been called the largest vehicle crash in Ohio history, involving 18 semi-trailers and 72 cars, trucks, and SUVs. A 12 year old girl was killed and 27 others were injured. The fatality occurred when a vehicle hit a median barrier made of wire. The girl was farther up the highway and outside of her vehicle that was involved in the pileup. When the car hit the wire barrier, the wire snapped further up the road and the girl was killed when it recoiled into her.

Wider weather episode

A highly unstable airmass produced deep convective snow showers that produced snow squalls during the late morning into the afternoon. These isolated squalls caused whiteout conditions on area roadways. Three major pileups and one minor pileup resulted in over 175 vehicle crashes on the interstate system, causing numerous injuries and one fatality.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 429917. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.