We know snow can make winter travel difficult, but do you know about flash freezes? WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew and LPM’s Bill Burton explain.
This transcript, which is from an archival episode of the series, was edited for clarity and length.
Bill Burton: It is time for us to take a look at the Science Behind the Forecast as I’m joined by WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew. Good morning, Tawana.
Tawana Andrew: Good morning. Are you ready to learn about one of winter's less known travel hazards?
BB: One of winter's less known travel hazards? That sounds dangerous. Yes, I need to know about this.
TA: We're talking about a flash freeze today. When you think of winter and you think of things not to travel in, you think snow, freezing rain, regular old rain and even strong winds. Those are the things that we really think about, but the one that we forget sometimes is a flash freeze. This occurs when you have temperatures dropping very quickly in a short amount of time. When you have roads or other surfaces that are wet and that drop in temperatures below freezing can cause black ice on sidewalks, roads and other surfaces.
Flash freezes are most common after very strong winter cold fronts, and there have been situations where temperatures have dropped more than 40 degrees in just a couple of hours.That's a crazy amount of temperature drop.
BB: That's a little intense!
TA: Then, everything is not able to dry out after a system like this. Let's say you have snow that fell, or rain that fell, and the temperature drops that much. You have all of this ice that's created, and driving in that kind of situation is absolutely treacherous. You don't have as much friction on the pavement, and that can lead to crashes.I looked up the data just to see how many crashes in the U.S. were caused by icy roadways.
Between 2007 and 2016 there were about 150,000 crashes only caused by icy roadways in the United States. About two thirds of the country really have to deal consistently with flash freezes or icy roadways. So if you think about that portion of the country and 150,000 crashes, that's a lot, and those wrecks injured about 41,000 people and killed just over 500 others in that timeframe. So it basically represented about 13% of weather related crashes and about 10% of weather related crash fatalities. That's a pretty decent amount of crashes and fatalities absolutely related to icy roads.
It's just one thing to remember as we continue through the winter season. We haven't really had that happen so far this season, but it's certainly something that is possible, and I want to make sure that everyone just has a heads up and keeps that in the back of their mind. Especially if they're traveling to work, to school or whatever. Just keep in mind that temperatures drop after a system, and make sure that you're not ending up in a flash free situation.
