Weather Authority: Freezing rain potential Friday is strong, especially in the Lehigh Valley
PHILADELPHIA - The potential for a flash freeze exists Friday after temperatures plummet in the afternoon, while the ground is still wet from heavy rain forecasted to fall Thursday night and Friday morning. In a flash freeze, anything that’s wet will freeze quickly.
What is freezing rain? Well you know you have rain when you have warm air all the way down through the atmosphere. But, when you have a shallow level of cold air, a thin layer right at the surface, the rain falls down and the subfreezing air at the surface allows for the falling rain to freeze to any surface that is below freezing.
So, that’s the ground, it’s a railing, it’s a sidewalk, it’s your car. Surfaces may look like wet, but, indeed, it is black ice.
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And, that is the concern for Friday morning north and west of the city and into the day on Friday that the plummeting temperatures create an atmosphere for the creation of freezing rain. Travel could become dangerous.
A Winter Storm Watch, issued by the National Weather Service, is in effect for Carbon and Monroe counties Friday, from 1 a.m. through 4 p.m.
For the latest forecasts and conditions, download the FOX 29 Weather Authority app.
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