Roads could ‘flash freeze’ Friday morning
Rain is expected to turn to snow and could cause roads to “flash freeze” in time for Friday morning rush hour, when temperatures drop to single digits.
The forecast for Friday isn’t expected to improve during the day, as high winds could bring gusts reaching 48 miles an hour and create a windchill of -23 degrees.
The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning, wind advisory and winter weather advisory in Butler County for Friday morning.
“There’s an arctic cold front that will be moving through the area early (Friday) morning. With that we have rain ahead of it turning to snow as the cold front passes.
“Then we will go to single digits behind that cold front (Friday). Any remnant moisture on roadways, overpasses, bridges will have that chance to freeze quickly. We’re calling it a ‘flash freeze,’” said Myranda Fullerton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
Wind and freezing temperatures will persist into Friday night. The temperature will dip to -1 degrees, but winds of 30 mph with gusts reaching 50 miles an hour will create a wind chill factor as low as -10 to -15 degrees.
Fullerton said an inch or so of snow might accumulate, but the freezing temperatures and high winds could cause problems for people driving.
“Wind and low temperatures support low wind chills — negative 10 to 15 or maybe lower with higher wind gusts. The wind chill threat persists at least until Saturday,” Fullerton said. “Wind and cold are the main story.”
The record low temperature for Christmas Eve of 13 degrees that was set in 1983 could be broken if the predicted temperature of 11 degrees comes to fruition Saturday. The wind speed will peak at 24 to 29 miles an hour before decreasing.
“It could be a historic, record breaking event we all get to experience together,” Fullerton said.
