01/21/2010 - Icy roadways create slick commute for motorists
By Kevin Barlow and Michele Steinbacher, Bloomington Pantagraph
BLOOMINGTON — Freezing rain caused slippery and sometimes dangerous conditions Wednesday in Central Illinois, but precipitation is expected to take a far different form on Saturday.
“It looks like we’re going to have some thunderstorms,” National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Jankowski said Wednesday night, disbelief evident in her voice. “Can you believe that?”
Most of Central Illinois saw ice accumulation of 0.10 of an inch to 0.25 of an inch by Wednesday night, Jankowski said. Unlike the Jan. 6-7 heavy snowfall and subsequent arctic temperatures, both of which caused headaches for days, the worst of the ice should fade soon, she said.
While a 70 percent chance of rain is in today’s forecast for the Twin Cities, the temperatures are expected to range from a daytime high of 35 degrees to a low of about 32 degrees. That should limit the chance for ice accumulation.
“One thing people are still going to have to watch out for is slippery conditions at night and early in the morning after the temperatures dip below freezing for the overnights,” Jankowski said. “But as far as the daytime, we should get up to the middle 30s and approaching the mid 40s by the weekend.”
Friday is expected to be dry and slightly warmer. Saturday and Sunday should be rainy but with highs in the low 40s.
Wednesday’s freezing rain generally followed the Interstate 74 corridor Wednesday night, which was expected to remain under a freezing-rain advisory until 6 a.m. today. Fog was an issue for areas to the south of that line, according to the weather service.
Police agencies reported several accidents and vehicles in ditches earlier in the day Wednesday. A driver was killed about 7:30 a.m. when a pickup truck slid into a semitrailer truck on Illinois 29 south of Pekin, officials said, but police in The Pantagraph area reported no other accidents with serious injuries.
A plane slid off the apron/taxiway at Peoria’s General Wayne A. Downing Airport on Wednesday morning, but Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington reported no flight delays.
Concerns about travel, especially after dark, prompted cancellations and closures ranging from church services to Heartland Community College evening classes. An open house at Pontiac Township High School about a proposed property tax referendum was rescheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 27 at the school.
About 10,000 Ameren customers statewide were without power late Wednesday night, according to the utility’s Web site. The outages were concentrated in a band reaching from Washington and Metamora northwest to the Mississippi River south of the Quad Cities and in the Ottawa area.
Goodfield reported about 100 customers without power.
At 10 a.m., the McLean Fire Department reported a semitrailer truck had crashed into a Cook County police squad car. An hour earlier, northbound Interstate 55 motorists were detoured near Shirley after a jackknifed semi blocked traffic lanes.
The rain reached western McLean County by 7:20 a.m. Within 20 minutes, a snowplow had rolled over along old Route 66 north of McLean.
Slips, falls and crashes on ice sent dozens to their closest emergency departments and urgent care clinics in Central Illinois, but hospital officials said the injuries were minor. Most injuries were bruises, fractures and back and wrist injuries, hospital officials said.
Jankowski said there is still plenty of snow cover throughout the area, but we shouldn’t expect any problems with flooding even if the temperatures hit 40 or above.
“It will be a slow melt, but the good news is that we don’t foresee any major winter storms on the way,” she said. “There is a system in Texas which is working its way toward us, but it will be too warm to snow and that’s where we could expect some thunderstorms on Saturday.”
Scott Richardson, Paul Swiech, Roger Miller and WEEK-TV contributed to this report.
Storm Reference: 20100121AIU
