A light dusting of snow overnight combined with below-zero temperatures created slippery roads across the metro Monday morning, spawning more than 300 crashes including a fatal wreck in Carver County.

Traffic was snarled across the metro as icy roads sent scores of motorists sliding into ditches and other vehicles. During the peak of the commute, more than 40 crashes littered metro area highways. Among them was a two-vehicle mishap involving a transit bus about 7:15 a.m. in the westbound lanes of I-94 in the Lowry Hill Tunnel in Minneapolis.

Authorities closed Hwy. 212 at Kelly Avenue in Dahlgren for about 2 hours after at least one person died in a crash, the Minnesota State Patrol and Carver County Sheriff's Office said.

A State Patrol reconstruction team was on site to try to determine what happened. Neither agency has released further details about the incident, which happened just after 7 a.m.

In the north metro, commuters were forced off Hwy. 10 after a crash in Anoka. The eastbound lanes were closed for about an hour and traffic was diverted at Ferry Street, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said. The highway reopened about 7:20 a.m.

Conditions were not much better outside the metro. The State Patrol responded to 314 crashes across the state that resulted in 33 injuries and at least one death between 5 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Another 64 vehicle spun out or went into the ditch, the State Patrol said.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768