Cars and semis vanished into whiteout conditions across interstates and back roads as a powerful winter system buried much of Ohio in deep, drifting snow. Plows struggled to keep up, drivers abandoned vehicles in ditches, and law enforcement moved from warning to outright shutting down travel in some counties as the storm intensified.
The chaos on the roads was the most visible sign of a broader emergency, with heavy snow, escalating travel bans, and a follow up blast of bitter cold combining into one of the most disruptive winter events the state has seen in years. From Central Ohio’s major arteries to smaller communities in the northeast, the storm turned routine weekend drives into dangerous ordeals.
The storm that turned Ohio’s roads into a parking lot
The system that paralyzed traffic was not a routine clipper but a sprawling winter event that locked in over large parts of Ohio. As snow intensified, visibility dropped and pavement temperatures fell, leaving even treated highways slick enough that cars and semis lost traction on straight stretches, not just on ramps and bridges. Video from the scene shows long lines of vehicles at a standstill, with drivers stepping out into thigh deep drifts to check on neighbors and assess damage.
In Central Ohio, the storm was identified as Winter Storm Fern, a system that delivered some of the heaviest snow in Columbus in more than a decade and pushed conditions past the point where normal plowing could keep roads open. As the snow bands pivoted across the region, the storm’s reach extended from the state capital to smaller communities, overwhelming local crews that were already running continuous shifts.
Cars in ditches, semis stranded, and a storm chaser’s front row seat
On the ground, the impact was immediate and unnerving. Heavy bands of snow turned interstates into ice rinks, and within hours there were reports of cars sliding into ditches and tractor trailers jackknifing or stalling on grades. One widely shared clip shows a line of semis stuck on a gentle incline while smaller vehicles try, and fail, to weave around them before spinning out themselves, a scene echoed in multiple reports of heavy snow causing major travel problems across the state.
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby documented multiple vehicles sliding off highways and into snowbanks as drivers misjudged braking distances on what looked like wet pavement but behaved more like polished glass. In one sequence, a semi appears to lose control as it approaches a curve, forcing a chain reaction of sudden stops that leaves several cars stranded in the median. The footage underscores how quickly conditions deteriorated from manageable to treacherous, even for experienced truckers in modern rigs like late model Freightliner Cascadias and Volvo VNLs.
Level 3 emergencies and a patchwork of travel bans
As the situation worsened, local leaders moved from advisories to outright restrictions. In Central Ohio, authorities used their Key Points briefing to Declare Level 3 snow emergencies across at least 13 counties, a designation that effectively closes roads to non emergency traffic. Under that status, anyone driving without a critical reason risks not just getting stuck but also facing potential citations, a step officials reserve for the most severe conditions.
Farther north, counties in the Cleveland and Akron corridor escalated their own responses as the storm’s second wave approached. Forecasters warned that from Sunday afternoon through Monday, the weather service expected another 3 to 8 inches of accumulation on top of what had already fallen, prompting Sunday and Monday snow emergencies that ratcheted up from Level 1 to Level 2 and beyond. The patchwork of restrictions left some commuters navigating a confusing map of open and closed routes, but officials argued that the alternative would have been even more gridlock and more stranded motorists.
Central Ohio’s epicenter and the threat of bitter cold
Central Ohio bore the brunt of the storm’s early punch, with Columbus and surrounding suburbs seeing some of the most disruptive totals. Local updates described Winter Storm Fern bringing heavy snow that shut schools, disrupted flights, and forced major employers to pivot to remote work where possible. The same live coverage noted that the storm’s impacts were not limited to snow totals, with the seven day forecast hinting at a prolonged period of below normal temperatures that would slow melting and keep side streets hazardous.
That bitter cold is not just an inconvenience, it is a compounding risk factor for anyone already stuck. As plows work to clear interstates and primary routes, abandoned vehicles on ramps and shoulders complicate the job, and drivers who misjudge conditions can find themselves stranded in subfreezing wind chills for hours. Local weather Updates flagged the combination of deep snow and falling temperatures as a key reason for the aggressive emergency declarations, warning that even minor fender benders could quickly turn into dangerous exposure events if tow trucks and rescue crews were delayed.
Inside the travel chaos: from Lebanon to the last stranded semi
Some of the most striking images of the storm’s impact came from around Lebanon, where long stretches of highway looked more like snow covered fields than engineered pavement. In multiple clips, traffic is barely visible under the swirling flakes until a car or semi suddenly emerges, already sliding sideways. One widely shared segment of Travel footage from Ohio shows a semi attempting to climb a modest hill before its wheels spin out, forcing the driver to stop as smaller cars stack up behind it.
Storm chaser Posted his clips with timestamps that captured how quickly the situation deteriorated, and later Last updated them as more vehicles became stranded. In one sequence, his camera tracks a compact SUV, something like a Honda CR V, as it tries to navigate around a stuck semi only to bog down in the unplowed shoulder. The driver steps out into knee deep powder, phone in hand, as the wind whips across the open lanes and the hazard lights of a line of trucks flash in the distance.
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