Severe Weather Awareness Week- ICE

Today we need you to stop!  Collaborate and listen…because we’re talking about ICE!  And not everybody’s favorite 90’s rapper!  There’s nothing fun about the ice we’re talking about.  It’s the kind that makes roads slick, tree limbs break and power outages!  More specifically today we are talking about black ice.  It’s what happens when a thin glaze of ice freezes on road surfaces.  This ice can occur as the result of a brutal winter storm or mild precipitation on an exceptionally cold day!  It can cover an entire road surface, or just a small section.  Either way it often goes unseen leaving drivers unprepared and in danger!  Our guest blogger today is John Sheaffer, 9-1-1 Operations Manager Senior Manager.  John has been with DPS for 38 years and has seen a lot during his time!  We asked him to share a severe weather experience with us and here it is…

On Thanksgiving Day in 1996 we experienced a minor snow shower event in Cumberland County.  Just after lunch, the snow shower occurred and melted upon contact with the ground and roadways. Temperatures were hovering around freezing that day and with the mild nature of the snow shower, PennDOT and other road crews were not out at the time treating the roads.  A sudden change in temperature and wet roads became a dangerous combination as black ice formed on roadways all around Cumberland County. Theses icy conditions quickly triggered an influx of 9-1-1 calls to our Communications Center. We had approximately 200 9-1-1 calls in a 2 hour period.  This almost equaled the amount for a slow 24 hour period at the time. We had a staff of 8 on duty and we were completely inundated with calls reporting accidents all across the County.

We estimate that we had approximately 50+ automobile accidents of various degrees.  This number obviously does not count minor accidents that were not reported to us during this event.   Interstate 81 was littered with crashes between Carlisle and Shippensburg. The first call we received was just north of Route 233 for a car in a field. Remarkably, it was called in again approximately 45 minutes after the original call due to the Fire Department stopping at other crashes in the vicinity and never arriving at the scene of this initial crash.  At that point, we started taking vehicle descriptions from the callers to help coordinate responses as needed and make sure that units were finding the correct incident.  This event was probably one of the busiest in our history.

Don't forget to comment and share your severe weather experiences!