Icy conditions tonight through Tuesday

By DAN ROBINSON
Editor/Photographer

A potential for a significant icy road event exists on Monday and Tuesday, stretching from Oklahoma all the way to New York and Pennsylvania. An arctic cold front has brought frigid temperatures - in the single digits for some areas - all the way south of the Ohio Valley. As warm air and moisture returns northward overtop of that cold air, snow, sleet and freezing rain will begin falling across a broad swath from the Plains to the Northeast.

Since the ground will have had at least one full day of exposure to temperatures well below freezing, any frozen precipitation will have a good chance of quickly and efficiently sticking to the roads. In other words, for most areas it won't be a bridges-only hazard, it will be an all-roads hazard. This event will affect several major cities including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Springfield, St. Louis, Evansville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Lexington, Columbus, Charleston, Clarksburg, Morgantown, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Albany and Philadelphia. Unfortunately I expect to see reports of hundreds and even thousands of accidents across the country before this ends on Wednesday morning.

Since Charleston will be included in this event, I will be staying here for the duration. The biggest hazard for us begins after midnight tonight.