This past Sunday, December the 13th, was predicted to be icy, and sure was it. The weekends are always busy in the Poconos with tourism in both the summer months and winter months it can make for crowded roadways. What made it especially traffic laden this weekend was the ice that arrived in the morning hours on Sunday. In the higher elevations it started out as sleet (picture above), changed to freezing rain and finally just rain. There was at least some visual with the sleet that the roads could be slippery. Unfortunately in the lower elevations the rain came down, but the problem is that the ground was frozen turning it into ice and very deceiving ice at that. You would have just assumed it was raining, and it was warm enough too, but the frozen ground from the previous week made for quite a dangerous drive.
There were plenty of fender benders, people sliding off the road, and unfortunately a fatality or two due to the ice. With many people heading out to church or home, it’s easy to rationalize the fact that you ‘must’ drive. At the same time you really need to double check the weather, and the conditions, and weigh the outcomes. Getting in an accident or being stuck in hours for traffic in the cold is not worth it sometimes. The snow they’re pretty good about clearing, the ice, with these roads…you really need to be careful. Unfortunately we get a lot of weather changes in the winter, it doesn’t just snow and stay snow for the winter. Here’s hoping for more snow, and no more ice!
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