If you're shaking your head today thinking that you've never seen a February like this before, you're right.

The 7.9 inches of snow that fell on the Pittsburgh area Tuesday and Wednesday brought the region's snowfall total for the month to 29.6 inches, making it the snowiest February on record.

And the month isn't half over.

"This storm is pretty much wrapping up for you guys," Mike Pigott, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com in State College, said Wednesday night. "We're looking at a coating of only about an inch overnight. You'll continue to see light flurries and snow showers through Friday, but the next potential for snow isn't until Monday."

Mr. Pigott hesitated to predict how much that next storm might bring, but he said the possibility existed for another couple inches.

According to records that date to 1884, the previous high mark for Pittsburgh snow in February was 25.3 inches set in 2003. Every additional flake that falls today and in the next 17 days moves the record higher.

February 2010 also can be penciled in as the sixth-snowiest month Pittsburgh's ever shoveled itself out of. The months that have gone deeper are December 1890, January 1978, March 1993, November 1950 and January 1994.

As far as setting a record for snowy winters, however, Western Pennsylvania still has a ways to go. The record for this region is 82 inches, set in the winter of 1950-51. The snow total for this winter is just over 57 inches.

Other parts of the state haven't been as fortunate. The 14 inches of snow that fell on Philadelphia Wednesday moved that city's total for this winter over 70 inches, well past the previous seasonal record of 65.5 inches recorded in 1995-96.

Blizzard conditions in the central and eastern parts of Pennsylvania prompted Gov. Ed Rendell to order the entire length of the Schuylkill Expressway, as well as Interstates 78, 83, 176, 476, 676 and PA 581 closed. Interstate 81 in Maryland, from Interstate 80 to the Maryland state line, also was closed.

An Illinois man was killed in a crash on I-80 in Clearfield County when the car he was driving crashed near Lawrence. Steven K. Samuelson, 57, was killed and a passenger in the car was treated for a leg injury at DuBois Hospital. State troopers said the crash involved 14 commercial motor vehicles and three passenger cars.

Two tractor-trailers jack-knifed on I-78 in Berks County Wednesday morning, tying up 170 other vehicles behind them before the highway was shut down to traffic. But because of much-improved communication and coordination between state emergency management agencies, no motorists were stranded and a repeat of the February 2007 "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" storm in that same area didn't occur.

Officials expressed hope that the highways could reopen this morning.

Carl DeFebo, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, said the turnpike was never closed and that the stretch of toll road in Western Pennsylvania was the agency's "bright spot across the commonwealth."

"You can actually see blacktop out your way," Mr. DeFebo said Wednesday night. "But it's still wet and slushy and there are drifts occurring, so it still isn't a good idea to be driving if you don't have to."

Speed restrictions, however, remained in place and the state banned empty tractor-trailers, double-trailers and oversized trailers from traveling on the turnpike.

The biggest concern in Western Pennsylvania Wednesday night was in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, where a blizzard warning remained in effect until 4 a.m. today. The problem wasn't snowfall so much as strong, gusting winds that stirred up snow and limited visibility.

"We're ready for some big-time winds this evening," Westmoreland County spokeswoman Sandy Smythe said Wednesday night. "We have the National Guard here to assist us with emergency access or transportation, and we're doing well. We're hanging in there, we're hunkered down and we're ready to go."

More than 60,000 customers were without power across the state as of early Wednesday evening. The outages included about 35,000 customers in suburban Philadelphia and more than 25,000 in Western Pennsylvania.

"I know people are starting to get a little bit haggard, a little bit cranky. That's one of the problems, but that's to be expected," said Ms. Smythe,

The real problem, she said, was the threat of additional power outages and the potential for structure collapses from the weight of the snow on tree branches, power lines and rooftops.

"We're planning for that, but we're hoping that we don't have to utilize anything that we're planning," she said.

The Central Blood Bank in Pittsburgh Wednesday issued a call for donors after the recent storms forced the cancellation of appointments amounting to more than 1,200 units of blood. Volunteers are asked to drop in at community donor centers, which have extended their days of operation.

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