More “Black Ice” Possible This Morning
Sunday’s rain and ice was deadly for morning drivers; forecasters are telling pre-dawn commuters to be aware of the same today.
PennDOT started calling in crews on Sunday evening to prep the roads in hopes of preventing more dangerous conditions during the morning commute.
At 8:00 p.m. Sunday, the trucks loaded up and started salting the roads that were already to beginning to freeze.
About 135 trucks began working on the highways mostly in Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks counties.
PennDOT says drive slow, give yourself extra space, and be careful for slick spots or if possible, just stay inside.
AP reports four people were killed and dozens injured on Sunday amid hundreds of crashes (and multicar pileups) through the Philadelphia region:
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Eugene Blaum called travel conditions “very hazardous” due to light rain falling onto cold surfaces, creating a sheet of ice.
“This is the worst type of winter precipitation to combat, because it can freeze instantly and it doesn’t need to be the whole pavement for vehicles crossing it to have problems,” Blaum said.
A crash involving 30 to 50 vehicles on Interstate 76 outside Philadelphia killed one person, and two others died in a crash involving multiple vehicles on nearby Interstate 476, police said. In northeastern Pennsylvania, a man was killed after his car overturned on an icy road and he was thrown from it and hit by a commercial vehicle. In Connecticut, police cited slippery conditions in a crash that killed an 88-year-old woman who struck a utility pole in New Haven.
The Weather Channel offers one more detail:
Philadelphia also had its wettest January day of the 21st century, with 1.84 inches of rain as of 10 p.m. EST Sunday. That’s the eighth-wettest January day on record there. The last time more rain or melted snow fell in Philly on a January day was when 2.32 inches fell on Jan. 23, 1998.
