Dry Ice: The MOST Hidden Danger of Winter

 Dry ice - we are all familiar with it.  Typically we see it at 80's tribute band concerts and high school plays.

When dry ice is indoors, it's controlled...and safe

However, that's not the dry ice gaining attention this winter season.  Like it's cousin, black ice, dry ice is difficult to spot.  Black ice appears as slick wet pavement, but is in fact a thin layer of frozen horror.

Dry ice is even more difficult to see.  It appears as a completely dry road surface.  The only thing that makes it noticeable at all is the extreme caution drivers use when going over it.  So the next time you are caught in slow moving winter traffic, and there seems to be no apparent reason for it, don't get angry.

Some communities now use farm vehicles or even horse and buggy to lead the way in the crusade against dry ice.

 Instead, be grateful that someone up ahead discovered the dry ice and slowed to a safe speed, ensuring you and other motorists don't slide wildly off the side off what appears to be a completely dry and normal road surface.

Have you encountered any dry ice?  Let us know and we will tweet out warnings.  Remember, we are all in this together.

As always, the Chester County Weather Insider is ahead of the curve, bringing cutting edge coverage of stories that matter.  

Helena Arrives With Little Warning, and Even Less Impact

Helena arrived in Chester County with very little fanfare on Thursday evening, and after a few hours we kind of saw why.  This event was really only significant for a handful of reasons:

1. It was the first snow of 2017
2. It was the first system responsible for a delay at AGSD
3. It allowed CCWI to implement new FB Technology and begin true Go-Cam Live Footage and narratives (for better or worse.)

Helena managed only a 1.2 on the WAIF

"The system was relatively weak as it approached on Thursday, and limped along in a predictable fashion allowing us to get the roads treated before she arrived," said  Tim Grabowski, at ChesDOT.  "After about 4 hours of continuous snow, the NWS was still only predicting snow at an 80% likelihood, which is a good indication of what little power this system packed.  Like when we were kids, and our little brother was hitting us and we pretended not to notice..."

Snow covered the ground and the NWS still only gave Helena an 80% chance of amounting to anything. #itsamansworld

However, by time the storm was over, she had left her mark.  A tricky dusting of flakes and spots of ice in corn fields and on ponds had local schools taking no risks, delaying the start of classes for 2 hours.  

We sent our West Grove Correspondent out this morning, during the morning rush, and while the roads were clear and safe, the same could not be said of social media, where he was shamed for not thoroughly cleaning snow off his hood and windshield.  

The Insider takes aim at social media shamers.

Investigations later revealed that the snow amounts on the hood of the car were exaggerated by the camera angle and proximity in the windshield mount, and a reckless situation had not taken place.  Despite that, we are told our correspondent went to Lowe's immediately after work to invest in a high tech snow and ice scraper for future events.