Brothers Jacob, 11, and Michael, 14, Bridgeman of Valencia spent the afternoon Wednesday sled riding with their dad, Jim Bridgeman, at Glade Run Lake park.

The winter storm that started Wednesday and carried into Thursday morning likely brought 7 to 9 inches of snow, according to weather experts.

Shannon Hefferen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh, came to that estimated amount based on the 6.6 inches logged at Moon Township, Allegheny County, which is the official site for Pittsburgh, at 6 p.m. Wednesday and from an earlier report from the Portersville area.

At around 6 p.m., visibility was listed at about 2 miles, showing the effects of a more intense span of snow that swept through the area.Residents should also consider freezing temperatures overnight as possible conditions for black ice on the roads as they begin their morning commute and throughout the day Thursday, according to Hefferen.“We're not going to have a flash freeze or anything, but the temperatures are going to stay below the freezing mark (Wednesday night),” she said. “We might get just above freezing temperatures (Thursday). The clouds will not help give us some warmer air.”Snowfall was expected to end around 3 a.m. Thursday, potentially followed by “freezing drizzle” until about 9 a.m.Wednesday's portion of the storm brought some incidents along with it.

“There were a bunch of crashes,” said Butler County 911 coordinator Rob McLafferty. “Most of them were fender benders.”Multiple accidents were reported when the snow began to accumulate shortly after 1 p.m. Light fluffy snow created slick conditions on the roads.Route 308 was so slippery with ice and snow that even a PennDOT truck that was responding to clear the road following an accident ended up at the guardrail.Pennsylvania State Police closed a portion of Route 308 between Holyoke and Marvel roads Wednesday morning while they waited for PennDOT to arrive to clear the road to help move a Ford pickup truck that had slid off the road into a guardrail earlier in the day.According to Trooper Shaun Milkovich, as the PennDOT plow truck was driving up Route 308, the truck started to slide across the road. As the driver tried to gain control of the vehicle, he slid back into his lane and hit the guardrail.

In another instance, Jim Knepp of Herman was traveling on Bonniebrook Road near the Route 422 interchange and encountered a tractor-trailer that had jackknifed on the side of the road. He rounded a bend and about 50 yards later, he saw a second tractor-trailer jackknifed in the middle of the road.“It's pretty slick,” Knepp said. “I was in 4-wheel drive. I've seen a lot of flatbeds out and about too.”The number of accidents dissipated between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.Shortly after 4 p.m., the county saw another uptick in accidents.Between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., there were about 16 accidents reported to dispatchers that came across the Butler Eagle's police scanner.

“There were a bunch of crashes in the southern portion of I-79,” McLafferty said. “There are also a lot of roads that people are just stuck on that aren't crashes.”Due to people getting stuck, multiple roads were closed and reopened, while others remained closed through Wednesday night.A section of Route 308 at the intersection with Mahood Road was closed Wednesday evening because of poor conditions.There were also a number of medical calls, and at one point dispatchers warned of a delayed response due to weather conditions.McLafferty said the fire department was able to assist in those scenarios with vehicles that allowed them to move through difficult terrain and pick up the injured.There was also at least one call for wires down, but McLafferty had not been alerted of any significant outages Wednesday night.According to West Penn Power's outage tracker, there was one outage in the areas of Mars and Valencia that affected between 20 and 100 customers. It was expected to be restored at 8:30 p.m.

Central Electric Cooperative showed no outages in Butler County on its own map.In a news conference Wednesday evening, state officials said the storm progressed through the state as anticipated with the heaviest snowfall amounts seen in the center of the state.Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said he was optimistic that the brunt of the snowfall would come overnight.“Most of it's occurring overnight, so there's less travel,” he said.Padfield said he encouraged people not only to stay at home when possible, but also to check on their neighbors, including on Thursday when many people will clear snow off vehicles, sidewalks and other areas. He said clearing sidewalks can be hard on some people, particularly the elderly.“If you have neighbors who are elderly, check in on them at this time,” Padfield said. “It really starts out with the community as the first line of support.”<i>Eagle staff writer Jim Smith contributed to this report.</i>

Jackie Gray, left, and her sister-in-law, Kim Gray shovel and salt the sidewalks in front of the “Cornerstone” building at Cunningham and Main Street Wednesday afternoon, December 16, 2020.

The driver of a van waits for a tow truck Wednesday afternoon after losing control of his van along Route 8 in Butler Township. Between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., there were about 16 accidents reported to dispatchers that came across the Butler Eagle's police scanner.

Jacob Bridgeman, 11, of Valencia spent the afternoon sled riding with his brother, Michael, 14, and dad, Jim Bridgeman, at Glade Run Lake on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.

John Ankeny clears the sidewalk in front of a business on Main Street in Butler on Wednesday.

Jackie Gray shovels the sidewalk in front of the Cornerstone building at Cunningham and Main streets in the afternoon, as the snow continued to fall.