Within about 30 minutes, starting at about 3 p.m. Friday, North Dakota State Highway Patrol troopers had four accidents to respond to as Interstate 94 and State Highway 83 grew slippery in the Bismarck-Mandan area, said Sgt. Norman Ruud.

And at about 4 p.m., Bismarck Police Lt. Mike McMerty said officers were dealing with seven accidents at various locations in the city. The worst spot was State Street at Interstate 94, where there were about 10 cars that had made contact with each other. He didn't know at that point if it was one accident or several in the same location.

"We're really busy right now,"said McMerty, who had to cut away to answer more calls. "There are a bunch of crashes."

He said that although sand trucks were out trying to improve conditions, drivers needed to use extreme caution.

But in all this, the good news was the lack of injuries. At that point, everything appeared to be property damage.

Ruud said accidents they were responding to had occurred at State Street and Interstate 94; Exit 152 and Interstate 94; a property accident on Memorial Bridge; and another one about 10 miles north of Bismarck on Highway 83.

About the time the accident calls were coming in, Janine Vining, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the temperature was 29 degrees, and snow accumulations "were about two-tenths of an inch" at the Bismarck Municipal Airport with about another tenth expected through the evening. Wind speeds were about 10 mph from the northwest with gusts of about 20 mph.

Vining said the the snow was moving out of the area to the southeast, and that today would be much better with low clouds moving out probably in the early morning. She said today's high would be in the mid- to upper 30s with winds in the morning of 5 to 15 mph, increasing possibly to 10 to 20 mph hour in the afternoon.

Sunday is expected to be warmer, a high of 40 or in the mid-40s with west winds at about 10 to 20 mph.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@bismarcktribune.com.)