Navigating treacherous travel conditions

AccuWeather

Heavy rain and wind from D.C. to New England are on the way. AccuWeather's Ali Reid is with AAA in Philadelphia where driving conditions will worsen throughout the day.

Transcript

00:00All right, let's talk about our top story this morning. It's a rapid storm that's moving between

00:04Interstate 81 and Interstate 95 across the northeast and mid-Atlantic. It's going to pack

00:11heavy rain. Boy, there's going to be a damaging wind event as well this afternoon from the Jersey

00:15shore all the way up into New England and travel disruptions, you betcha, from D.C. all the way

00:21in toward New England. The storm will also impact the southeast with heavy rain and strong storms.

00:26We'll be monitoring power outages along the east coast. All right, meanwhile, joining us right now

00:32is AccuWeather's Allie Reed. She is live in Philadelphia. You know, the big story so far

00:37hasn't been the rain yet in Philadelphia. It's coming, Allie, but explain to our viewers just how

00:43I think the best way to describe this, it's balmy this morning in Philadelphia.

00:47Does my hair explain it enough? Okay, 60 degrees in December is wild, okay, for this time of year.

00:58And by the, by the way, tomorrow is supposed to be back to cold temperatures again.

01:02It is certainly all over the place. And yes, that has been a talker this morning. We also have

01:08someone joined with us. We've got Triple A, Jayna Tidwell, with us this morning. How are you?

01:12Fine thanks, Allie. How are you? You know, you showed up this morning. Bernie just mentioned,

01:16obviously, the humidity. You showed up in flip-flops. Yeah, I did. I did. It's 60 degrees

01:22in December. It'll be below freezing tomorrow. Go figure. Yeah, that's Philadelphia for you,

01:27really kind of the east coast in general. But we were talking about the weather, what that

01:32could come into play later on this afternoon or for the later part of the morning commute. We're

01:37talking rain and wind. And with those two factors in the Philly area, what does that mean for

01:42drivers? For drivers, it's going to mean it compromises the roadways and it makes it very

01:48different. Slippery, slick. You need to slow down. It also impairs your visibility. Those are the

01:55biggest challenges. It's harder to drive and it's harder to see. Now with that visibility,

02:01we were talking yesterday, right? That fog, that was the talker yesterday morning in Philly.

02:07So really between yesterday and this morning, the fog yesterday kind of bogging down the

02:11visibility and the rain and wind, that'll be the factor for visibility today. You said slow down,

02:18maybe keep a larger distance for maybe someone in front of you, especially on a major roadway

02:24like I-95, which we have behind us here. I-95 will be difficult once the heavier rains start

02:30and those gusty winds start. So drivers definitely need to slow down. Reason being,

02:36you need to maintain control of your vehicle or as much control as you can. So slowing down and

02:42increasing your following distance. Reason being, if you have to make a move, if you have to change

02:47lanes, if you have to exit the roadway, you need to understand what's all around you. We were

02:53talking about that transition from fall into winter. There's leaves on the ground right now

02:59adding into that slippery effect. And if we see significant rainfall here, we know there are

03:05plenty of parts of Philadelphia that flood very easily. Mix that into all of this, water is going

03:11to be a big topic of concern potentially later today. All the drought or the dry spell that we

03:17have, we're getting a boatload of rain now. Thank goodness for that. Yes, and we're grateful for it.

03:22However, all of the oils and chemicals that are on the roadways that, you know, that drip from the cars,

03:27that's coming up now. That causes a slick roadway condition. The leaves are still here. Some storm

03:33drains are covered and filled with leaves. We saw crews out yesterday cleaning out the storm drains

03:38so that all of this intense rain that's going to come quickly has a place to go. But the challenge

03:43for drivers will be if we get a lot of rain really quick, it's not going to have a place to go and

03:49we're going to see standing water. And that's the most important thing. If you see any standing water,

03:54do not attempt to drive through it. Now, I think people in Philly, they can breathe a sigh of

03:59relief. I don't think we're going to get icy conditions here, right? Not right now. Let's hope

04:04not. And Jada's a flip-flops, okay, this morning. But again, for those that may be up north,

04:10could be a different scenario. Maybe as you get further into Pennsylvania, Northern New York,

04:16or even New England, might get those icier conditions this evening. So for those people in

04:21that area, take it slower. The same rules apply. Give yourself plenty of extra time, take it slow,

04:27increase your following distance. Be especially careful on those on-ramps and off-ramps,

04:32because if there is precipitation there and the temperatures drop below freezing,

04:36those will freeze first. Will you hang with me for another hour or so? Of course, it's balmy here.

04:41Yeah, Jada's going to be hanging around for a little while longer. We've got plenty to talk

04:45about. She's got a lot to say this morning for those that are going to be out on their morning

04:49commutes. Bernie Ari will send it back to you. Thankfully, hey, I don't mind it, no rain right

04:54now. We'll see what happens over the next couple of hours. It sounds like it may only be some time

05:01until the rain comes our way. So we'll check in with you in a bit. It's like tax day. You can't

05:06put it off. The rain's coming. It's just going to be a couple of hours.

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