Roads in the Pittsburgh area are about to get icy.
The second of two clippers — storm fronts starting in Canada and sweeping past the Great Lakes into Western Pennsylvania this week — has led the National Weather Service to put Pittsburgh under a winter storm watch.
Up to a quarter-inch of ice is expected on area roads north and east of the city.
“Right now, the big story is this impending ice storm,” Andrew Kienzle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon, said Thursday. ““It looks like it’s going to be intense … It’s mainly north and east of Pittsburgh. But there could be a glaze on roads in and around Pittsburgh.”
Kienzle told TribLive that Friday’s temperatures, with lows in the 20s and highs in the upper 30s, will lead to freezing rain in the region.
Precipitation is expected to start in the Pittsburgh area between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., Kienzle said. It will hit areas north and east of the city between 10 a.m. and noon.
“How much ice we get in the city depends on how fast it warms up Friday,” Kienzle said.
The mercury is not expected to creep above the freezing mark until early Friday afternoon. Pennsylvania ridges and areas near Interstate 80 are places where ice on roadways could become particularly dangerous.
“And even a little ice can be impactful on what could be one of the busiest travel days of the year,” Kienzle said.
Interstate speed limits restricted Friday
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says some vehicles won’t even be allowed on many of Pennsylvania’s interstate highways — including those in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Restrictions will keep commercial vehicles like tractor-trailers off the road as well as school and commercial buses, motorcycles, RVs, motor coaches and passenger vehicles with trailers.
Loaded single trailers with chains or other approved traction devices will be allowed access to interstates, however.
The restrictions will go into effect at different times on Friday, according to PennDOT.
The first round of restrictions will begin at 10 a.m and affect every interstate in Western Pennsylvania.
The 10 a.m. restrictions impact roads including the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 70 and the turnpike’s Western Pennsylvania extensions.
At 2 p.m., the second round of restrictions will go into effect for those interstates east of I-81 and north of its intersection with I-83 near Harrisburg. Eastern Pennsylvania routes like Route 33, parts of Route 22 and eastern Pennsylvania turnpike extensions also would see restrictions.
Speed limits will also be restricted to 45 mph on affected routes.
Last winter in Pennsylvania, preliminary data shows that there were more than 8,300 crashes, 29 fatalities, and close to 3,000 injuries on snowy, slushy or ice-covered roadways.
Eleven of the people who died weren’t wearing a seat belt, and 17 of the fatalities were in crashes where a driver was going too fast for conditions and drove out of their lane.