American playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote “The Iceman Cometh” in 1939. A different kind of ice, man, may arrive tonight.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland has issued a winter weather advisory for all of northern and north central Ohio from 6 p.m. to Tuesday at 7 a.m. due to expected mixed precipitation in the form of snow, freezing rain and plain rain.
A low pressure system will move northeast out of Oklahoma to northwest Pennsylvania by Tuesday afternoon. The storm will bring a round of mixed precipitation in the form of snow, freezing rain, and rain. Accumulations will be light but will become a hazard on untreated surfaces.
The advisory area includes Richland, Ashland, Knox and Crawford counties.
The temperatures today and tonight will hover around the freezing mark, making the exact form of precipitation any weather forecaster’s guess.
Total snow accumulations of up to one inch and ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch are expected.
Motorists and pedestrians should plan for slippery road and sidewalk conditions on Tuesday morning on their way to school or work. There is also potential for what’s called “black ice,” which is highly transparent, making it unlikely you’ll be able to see it while driving down the road.
Roads become very slippery when black ice forms, leading to hazardous driving conditions and an increased risk of car accidents.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, cited by the Insurance Information Institute, show two types of winter driving errors account for winter accidents. The NHTSA said 22 percent of accidents involve some form of “driving too fast for conditions,” while 28 percent arise from “failure to keep in proper lane or running off the road.”
Here are some winter driving tips from NHTSA:
— Don’t rush. Make sure you have enough time to get where you want to go. That means allowing extra time when the weather is bad. Look at the weather report before you hit the road.
— Don’t change your direction quickly or stop suddenly when a road is icy or snowy.
— Maintain a safe following distance. The Insurance Information Institute recommends leaving at least 10 seconds of stopping distance between you and the vehicle ahead.
— Ignore the posted speed limit. Chances are, you’ll need to travel much more slowly, as your capacity to maneuver and stop will be limited.
— Carry a cellphone with you, in case you need to call for help when you get stranded in your car. But don’t use it while you’re driving.
— Check your exhaust pipe to make sure it’s clear of ice. If it’s blocked, it might leak lethal carbon monoxide into your vehicle
— Be careful when driving over bridges or other areas that are not exposed to sun often, as these areas often are home to “black ice” — slippery surfaces not easily detectable to the naked eye.
— If you end up behind a snowplow in operation, avoid passing until you absolutely know it’s safe. Snowplow drivers have a pretty limited field of vision.
