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The last freezing rainstorm to cause major problems hit the Wasatch Front nearly three years ago. Storms like these don't arrive in Utah often, but if the rain freezes on power lines and coats the roads, meteorologists warn we could wake up with serious, slippery setbacks.
"Wherever it does fall, it will freeze to the road," said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason.
Freezing rain can block the vision through your windshield, weigh down power lines and turn parking lots into skating rinks. On Jan. 24, 2013, freezing rain slickened roads for the morning commute on the Wasatch Front. Motorists in Utah and Salt Lake counties racked up nearly 200 crashes in seven hours.
Tonight, UDOT plow crews are pre-treating roads with a brine solution, which lowers the freezing point of the rain to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
"We are just taking all of the precautions to prevent people from sliding all over, hopefully," said Jon Braun, a UDOT plow driver putting down brine this afternoon on I-15 and other major routes.
"You don't know where it's going to be the worst, where the black ice is going to be," he said. "It's very unpredictable."
- Since 1940, there have been only nine measurable freezing rain events (0.01 inches or greater) at the Salt Lake City International Airport
- Between 1940-2012, none of those events occurred with temperatures lower than 26ºF. 2013's began at 20ºF.
- The 2013 accumulation (0.08 inches as of 11 am) is the largest freezing rain accumulation since Dec. 31 1983.
- There are only three events that top that one in terms of freezing rain accumulation:
- 0.13 inches that fell at 32ºF on Feb. 9, 1976
- 0.16 inches that fell at 29–32ºF from Dec. 26-27, 1983
- 0.21 inches that fell at 30–32ºF from Dec. 30-31, 1983 (.11" of this fell as heavy sleet)
"The tricky thing about tomorrow's commute is that we know it's going to come, we know it's going to be here, we just don't know exactly where," said Gleason.
So, they're asking everyone to check their speeds while driving.
"Slow down," said Gleason. "Just assume there is black ice, because you're not going to know that you've hit it until it's too late."
Freezing rain and power
The forecast of freezing rain also puts the power companies on alert.
"Ice, as it accumulates, is a lot heavier than snow. It can cause some problems," said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen.
He said Rocky Mountain Power workers are ready to restore power if ice knocks down lines. They can even call in crews from Idaho and Wyoming if outages are widespread.
"They're very motivated when the weather is bad to get the power back on as quickly as they can, as long as they can do it safely," Eskelsen said.
Call 877-508-5088 to register an outage. That call helps them prioritize areas in need.
