Meteorologist Tony Zaleski details freezing rain engulfing the southern third of Minnesota, making for treacherous commutes. The National Weather Service predicts significant amounts of ice forming, an uncommon occurrence in Minnesota. Zaleski explains how an ice storm happens…even when it’s below freezing.
SPEAKER 1: The storm itself is continuing to move through Iowa. It's moving to the northeast at approximately 20 miles per hour. But the precip is being thrown up towards s north ahead of it. And right now, across the Southern third of the state, most of that area is experiencing anywhere between light to moderate freezing rain.
SPEAKER 2: How much ice will some areas receive?
SPEAKER 1: We're looking at ice accumulations that are going to range between a quarter of an inch to maybe as much as an inch to a quarter and some of the far Southern portion of Minnesota.
SPEAKER 2: Can you put that in context for me? When's the last time that you've seen anything like that in Minnesota?
SPEAKER 1: Well, I've only been here for two years, so I've never seen an ice storm in Minnesota. However, some of the old timers are telling me an ice storm scenario like this usually occurs in March. And it's been a number of years, probably five to six years since we've seen an ice storm.
SPEAKER 2: How is this freezing rain forming, given the fact that the air temperature is below 32 degrees in many areas? So you'd think it would be snow.
SPEAKER 1: Well, that's the whole thing about freezing rain, why it actually occurs. The precip actually starts off as rain in the mid-levels, because it falls through a warm layer of air. And that warm layer of air usually has to be anywhere between 700 to possibly as much as 1,200 feet thick.
And once it falls through that, it actually could start off as snow fall through that turn into rain. And then, of course, once it goes through that and hits the ground, as it's coming down, it gets super cold. And once it touches the ground, it just instantly freezes.
SPEAKER 2: So when will this storm hit the Twin Cities metro area?
SPEAKER 1: Well, it's actually hitting us right now. We've been seeing freezing rain at the airports since about five after 4:00. And it's going to continue well into the evening hours.
SPEAKER 2: How quickly will the road conditions deteriorate?
SPEAKER 1: Road conditions-- with the rush hour right now, I would say that road conditions initially are going It'll be OK because of the amount of traffic on the road, heat being generated by the cars themselves. But once we get into, I say, the evening hours, and it's going to start getting more and more treacherous. We've had reports down from Mankato right now that roads down there are pretty bad.
So I would say that within the next hour to hour and a half, it's going to start getting pretty dicey on the roads.
SPEAKER 2: How much snow are we expecting once this changes over?
SPEAKER 1: Once this gets through us, we're expecting the snow probably to start sometime overnight, late tonight, we're not looking at anywhere between one and possibly four inches for the metro area. And the most s will occur across the Southwest metro.
SPEAKER 2: And some of that will have ice underneath it, though.
SPEAKER 1: Every area will have ice underneath of it. It's going to be pretty sloppy for the next day or so.
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