Treacherous Roads This Morning

At 6:30 this morning, we headed out for a Sunday morning walk with our dog. Light rain was just beginning but the temperature was only 22 degrees. That combination meant that as soon as the raindrops hit the ground, they would freeze. It wasn’t too bad at first, but by the time we turned for home enough ice had accumulated on the road to make it dangerously slick.

To me, freezing rain presents the worst weather conditions of all and, from the constant reports on the police radio for the past two hours, many others in the Greater Lowell region will concur. The number of accidents is easily in the hundreds, many of them serious with injuries. As emergency vehicles head towards an accident scene to which they’ve been dispatched, they are reporting other accidents along the way. It really seems like road crews were taken completely by surprise by this freezing rain because there was a significant delay in getting sand on these icy roads, not just in Lowell but in every community in the area.

The good news is that the temperature is rising towards 32 degrees. While the rain continues, the ice seems to be dissipating a bit. I just went out and checked our parked-in-the-driveway cars. An hour ago, they were encased in ice. Now it’s just slush that was easily removed with a scraper. Still, if you plan to head out soon – don’t. Roads are closed due to accidents all over the place. In a few hours, it still might be raining, but it should be safe to venture out.

7 Responses to Treacherous Roads This Morning

  1. Joan H says:

    The weather conditions this morning were predicted last night. The new DPW director was totally unprepared for the road conditions. As one police officer said to me- This never would have happened if TJ was still in charge.

  2. DickH says:

    The lack of preparedness was not limited to Lowell. The police radio this morning made it clear that every town in the region was caught unprepared by the ice storm. It’s not really a new phenomenon: the first winter storm of the year always yields plenty of accidents. It’s as if people completely forget that you have to slow down when it’s slippery.

  3. Lynne says:

    What Dick said…it’s like our whole region gets amnesia every year. It’s so weird…

    Hopefully Chris and I can get most of our errands this afternoon close to home. Then back for the game!

  4. John Quealey says:

    I left my home at 6:15 and the walking was fine until 7;15 then it became dangerous at 9:15 the ice was gone.

  5. Righty Bulger says:

    The teflon is coming off the city manager. He made a bad hire, who made a bad first impression.

  6. Snowman says:

    Fouty -two auto accidents in just one day in Lowell. It must be a record! The weather reports I saw two days ago said black ice from RT.495 and to the westof 495. The night before they said some pockets of black ice between RT.95 and RT.495. Not a good start.