black ice

[davidpizzica]

Right now Pittsburgh is under a winter weather advisory until 11:00 for freezing rain and and black ice. The T.V. stations are saying for people to stay home and not to ventureout on the roads unless it's absolutely necessary. All of the major interstates around the Pittsburgh area are closed down until at least 11:00 or until it warms up. There are car wrecks and cars slipping everywhere. Salt trucks are having a rough time getting out to salt the roads. My prayers go out to all of people who are caught out in this dangerous situation.

[Marigold2]

David that sounds awful. I am calling my son who lives in NJ to see what is going on there. Here in Ohio it's raining like crazy. Wish it was snow.

[davidpizzica]

Marigold2, that's one advantage to being in assisted living. I don't have to drive in these conditions, but my prayers and thoughts go out to those people who have to go out in this.

[redbird]

David that sounds awful. I am calling my son who lives in NJ to see what is going on there. Here in Ohio it's raining like crazy. Wish it was snow.

I live in NJ and it's just raining pretty hard on and off. No snow in sight thank goodness.

[Pinot's Mom]

Here in Maryland we're all too familiar with Black Ice. Growing up in RI I hadn't even heard of it until here, but it is NASTY STUFF!! Once I was literally almost trapped in a parking lot at work; I had to crawl along the wall of a delivery dock to get into a back door, because I couldn't walk on the lot, which was covered in it. It can unfortunately pop up anywhere and you just don't see it. NASTY!

[pomtzu]

Here in Maryland we're all too familiar with Black Ice. Growing up in RI I hadn't even heard of it until here, but it is NASTY STUFF!! Once I was literally almost trapped in a parking lot at work; I had to crawl along the wall of a delivery dock to get into a back door, because I couldn't walk on the lot, which was covered in it. It can unfortunately pop up anywhere and you just don't see it. NASTY!

Same here Maggie. When I heard the term black ice in this area, I didn't know what the heck it was. Unfortunately I'm all to familiar with it now, from roads, to parking lots, to driveway! It will be 2 years in Feb that I encountered it in the driveway and ended up with a fractured hip. I went down so fast that I didn't know what hit me. I ordered a pair of those spikes that slip on over shoes or boots, since I was really paranoid last year about stepping outside even with a little frozen dew on the steps, etc. Don't need a repeat performance.

[Husky_mom]

what is black ice?...

I hate nasty weather... stay safe everyone..

[Karen]

Probably a phenomenon you'll never see! Black ice is when water falls as rain but freezes onto the roadway in a way that just looks like the road is wet, not icy. It looks like wet pavement, but is ice, so traction is impossible, and because folks are expecting it, can be deadly when you try to do something like break suddenly. It'll throw you into a spin, and only practiced, experienced drivers can get out of that without crashing.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Probably a phenomenon you'll never see! Black ice is when water falls as rain but freezes onto the roadway in a way that just looks like the road is wet, not icy. It looks like wet pavement, but is ice, so traction is impossible, and because folks are expecting it, can be deadly when you try to do something like break suddenly. It'll throw you into a spin, and only practiced, experienced drivers can get out of that without crashing.

Indeed! Black ice is really a problem around here because it doesn't have to rain for it to form...fog is enough to turn the roads into an ice skating rink when temps dont get above 30 degrees F. If you absolutely HAVE to drive out on black ice, my hubby (who is a trained professional race and stunt driver ) has some tips:

~ If youre driving a stick shift (manual transmission) start out in second gear after stopping. You have less torque but a LOT better traction. Its also a good idea to keep running one gear higher than normal. Having driven a stick shift over quite a few winters, I can tell ya this helps a LOT.

~For automatics make sure you aren't in overdrive if your car has this feature, it does NOTHING for traction. (something I learned the hard way my first winter on the road lol)

~ 4wd does NOT mean you stop any faster. Having a car with 4wd does NOT mean you are safe from the dangers of ice. Putting the car in 4wd will help you not slip while continuing after a stop but make sure if your vechicle has a 4 hi and a 4 lo setting, that it is in 4 hi. 4 lo is generally for towing and pulling out tree stumps, not for ice!

~when braking on ice, try to use your engine to decelerate more than your breaks. For manual transmissions this means downshifting. You can force downshift on automatics too, just let off the gas and shift down one gear if you can (this takes practice though so you know if youre not overreving your engine, do not try unless you know your car well!)

~Keep a box of sea salt in your car. Salting the area around a parking space and sprinkling some salt on your tires will help get you out of a parking space and give some extra traction on short trips. Parking lots tend to be icier than streets!

~In the winter, try to get over to a truck stop or some other car wash with hot water to spray off your undercarage. It keeps dirt and ice from forming on your breaks and other critical driving components. It also keeps the de-icer that some cities use from rusting and rotting the underside of your car.

Winter can officially GO AWAY as far as Im concerned but since it wont, being safer helps winter pass without too much incident.

[ChrisH]

Last year I slipped and fell whilst going to close my gate because of black ice, luckily there were no bones broken just a very bruised and sore lower back. So, be very careful David, you don't have to drive to get hurt because of it.

[smokey the elder]

We were supposed to just get rain yesterday, but since the ground was so cold, it froze instantly. It took 4 hours for the salt trucks to get out because the DPW got caught with its britches down. I was on my way home from errands when the storm hit. There were cars off the road from one end to the other. Fortunately, even though I hate driving in ice, I can do it. Now if only the jerks in SUVs wouldn't tailgate...