(NECN: Lauren Collins - Manchester, NH) The weather is to blame for a fatal crash in Stratham, New Hampshire Friday morning.
"It was terrible," says Jeff Smith who walked down to the scene from his home on Winnicut Road.
Police say a 25-year-old woman was killed when she lost control of her car on icy roads and hit a school bus head on. Only the bus driver and her daughter were on board. They were not hurt.
"I saw a school bus driver standing with her daughter on the side of the road," describes Smith.
Slick conditions caused more than a hundred accidents in the southern part of the state.
"Speed it what's getting us today," says New Hampshire State Police Lt. Chris Aucoin of the Troop B Barracks. "People are driving too fast, they see slush and they think the road's probably got some traction. But the reality is that there's ice under that slush and they're just sliding off the road all over the place."
Many - but not all - schools in the state were already closed for vacation. The University of New Hampshire curtailed classes and bus service at noon.
Local
"We just got out here," says student Lisa Harvey. "We didn't think it was this bad. We didn't even know classes were canceled."
Her boyfriend, Steve Durand, was a little disappointed. "I had a quiz today," he says. "I studied for it, but, whatever."
Early snow turned to rain, then to sleet, and back to snow by afternoon.
"It's pretty wet, it's kinda miserable," says Emma Carcagon shoveling her driveway in Newmarket.
First responders now worry about the hours ahead.
"Things are going to freeze up pretty hard here before too long and we're going to have a second rush of accidents," says Lt. Aucoin.
