Icy roads led to numerous traffic accidents in Missoula County on Wednesday morning, including a collision that put a University of Montana student in the hospital with serious and potentially fatal injuries.

The 25-year-old Missoula woman was driving north on Highway 93 when her car slid sideways into southbound traffic, likely due to the slick, snowy road conditions. She was struck by an oncoming sport utility vehicle traveling at highway speeds, officials said. The occupants of the SUV were not injured, but the woman in the passenger car was unconscious when medics arrived at the scene.

"The doctor said if she does live, she appears to have a life-altering brain injury," said Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Andrew Novak, who responded to the wreck shortly before 7 a.m. "It's very sad."

About a dozen other wrecks were reported throughout the morning, with most of them occurring before 9 a.m. while motorists were commuting to work. The accidents mostly happened on Mullan Road, Interstate 90 and Highway 93 North.

"I guess this was our first real snow day of the year, and we had a lot of folks sliding off the road and going through fences. We had one rollover," Novak said. "Hopefully folks will start to drive more slowly."

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Novak's caveat will be important to abide throughout the week as forecasts call for more early morning snowfall, said Dan Zumpfe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula.

Zumpfe said most of the snow will arrive between midnight and sunrise on Thursday, and he doesn't expect much accumulation in the Missoula Valley proper.

"But really any accumulation on the road surface could spell trouble," he said. "Up on Evaro Hill, the elevation is just high enough that temperatures could hover around the freezing mark. You're not going to be able to travel too far outside of town without encountering snow."

Roads that appear wet are not necessarily safe, Zumpfe said, and icy spots can develop "pretty much without warning." Much of this week's snow will accumulate in the Bitterroot Valley south of Darby and into Idaho, and Zumpfe said only about a half-inch fell on Evaro Hill Wednesday morning.

"We're not seeing a lot of snow, but it's enough to make a tractor trailer go sideways. It doesn't take a lot of snow or wet roadways to really change the game for people commuting," he said.

Missoula County sheriff's deputy Jeremiah Petersen said he responded to crashes throughout Missoula on Wednesday, and encouraged motorists to be extra vigilant while driving to work, especially because many roads have not been plowed or sanded at those early hours.

"This is a good example of the road conditions changing, but people not really changing their driving habits," Petersen said. "They need to use extra caution and drive more slowly."

"It's wintertime again and you have to slow down on the ice, whether you've got four-wheel drive or not," Novak said. "And especially be mindful if the roads haven't been sanded or plowed. Usually after we get a little more snow folks get used to driving on it."