Tricky Temperatures Tuesday Morning

If your car did a little extra slipping and sliding Tuesday morning, you probably weren't alone.  The radar showed all green (rain) falling, but once that rain hit the surface it turned icy, and fast.  That's because while our air temperatures were ranging anywhere from 33 to 39 degrees, the road and pavement temperatures were below freezing. 

We've spent the past week in a deep freeze where temperatures struggled to make it above 20 degrees.  Because of that ground temperatures cooled off rather quickly.  Even though warmer air was moving in Monday night and Tuesday morning, enough to produce rain rather than snow or a wintry mix, there was a lag in the actual ground and pavement temperatures warming up.  And that's why we stressed Monday not to be fooled by your home or car thermometer reading above 32 degrees.  So when the rain hit the sub-freezing pavement, it froze on untreated roads.  Once we got past sunrise temperatures did warm enough to eliminate the threat for any freezing rain, but then the wind kicked in and that will be the biggest weather hazard heading into Tuesday evening.