EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — Snowy weather left roads wet and slick, and with temperatures dropping Monday, drivers need to be extra cautious because black ice can be very dangerous.
It's invisible, it's sneaky, and it can make even the safest driver lose control in an instant
"The reason they call it 'black ice' is because it's usually clear, so it looks like the road surface may just be wet and you don't realize that it's actually ice, where you know, snow and those kind of things are more opaque, and you realize you're driving on a slick surface," said National Weather Service (NWS) Binghamton Lead Meteorologist Michael Kistner.
After a snowfall like Sunday night, the wet roads from cars and the sun, plus plummeting temperatures, make it the perfect environment for black ice to form.
"So you get that sun that can heat up those black surfaces just enough for maybe, to melt the snow, or make that water liquid during the day, and once those temperatures plummet at night, that's when you get those refreezings," Kistner continued.
It's common to find the invisible ice in places exposed to the cold air like overpasses and bridges, but also be cautious of areas where cars are usually stopped for a period of time, such as a stoplight.
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"You know one of the compounds that come out of exhausts is water vapor, so you can get moisture that builds up on those road surfaces that are well below freezing. That's why like stop lights and those places where vehicles sit for a long period of time, can be places where they are more susceptible to having black ice," Kistner added.
If you begin to skid on black ice while driving, avoid moving your steering wheel too much. Do not slam on your breaks, instead tap them.
"You wanna just put, like basically, a gentle, but firm, sort of like pressure down on the brakes. You don't wanna slam them," Kistner explained.
Letting go of the gas is another way to slow your car down.
"Just letting off the gas if you have time for that if you don't have a lot of vehicles in front of you and letting your vehicle kind of downshift on its own and decelerate," said Kistner.
Plus, having specific tires for the winter can help in the long run.
"You wanna have a good all-season tire or a good winter tire, you know a winter tire will definitely work better this time of year because of the compound of the tire than your all-season," said Larry Kelleher with Kelleher Tire.
If your car slides on black ice and goes off the road, you should move as far away from your vehicle as possible because other drivers could lose control on the same patch of ice and veer off the road in the same direction.
