Although the Panhandle escaped the blizzard conditions that had been predicted for the weekend…ice, snow, and high winds Sunday afternoon caused traffic accidents across the region.

The Nebraska State Patrol handled 3 weather-related jackknife accidents involving semi, including two unrelated ones that each blocked Interstate 80…one eastbound, one westbound…for  3-1/2 hour each.

The first one occurred two miles west of Lodgepole around 4:30 pm and the other a mile east of Lodgepole shortly before 7:00. The second accident involved a car carrier with 7 experimental hybrid cars valued at $140,000 apiece. Each was damaged, although the extent and dollar amount of the damage was not given.

The tractors in both accidents were listed as destroyed, but the drivers escaped serious injury. The same was true in the other semi accident, which happened a little after 4:00 pm on Highway 71 near the Sioux-Box Butte County line and involved a tractor and 2 trailers.

The State Patrol also responded to two other afternoon accidents blamed on icy pavement, but in both the drivers were wearing seat belts and also escaped serious injuries.

The first accident was about 2:30 at the junction of Hiways 20 and 385 west of Chadron…a sedan that hit a median post and went into a ditch.

The second was reported 5 minutes later but more than 150 miles away on Interstate 80 in the Sidney area about 3 miles west of the Brownson exit. In that one, a driver in a late-model pickup pulling a cargo trailer lost control due to the wind and jackknifed.