Tonight, Erie drivers are dealing with a dangerous glaze of ice across much of the region.

Some areas are under a winter weather advisory, while others face a full storm warning.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) said crews have been out since early this morning, but temperatures hovering right around freezing are making every decision critical.

With the weather system moving through on Friday, residents of Erie County probably noticed their cars with frozen windshields and slippery roads.

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Friday was forecasted for some icy conditions, which means PennDOT was in full swing to try and get out in front of it.

“It’s always based on the forecast and what’s already down on the roadways, so sometimes there’s a lot of material left over from the last time we were out there, so that’ll help us get a head start,” said Jill Harry, press officer for PennDOT. “Other times, the rain has come through and washed a lot of it away, so we assess the conditions of the roads and the forecast as it’s moving into the area.”

“So, the worst of it is definitely east of the I-79 corridor, south of I-90,” said Jet 24 meteorologist Craig Flint. “Because I think the freezing rain and sleet are gonna linger the longest there. Near the lakeshores and north of I-90, the lake actually helps a little bit.”

The best thing drivers can do in this situation is drive slowly, and if you don’t have to, you should not drive at all.

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To help enforce this, PennDOT put restrictions in place at 10:00 a.m. on Friday to lower speed limits on the highways.

“At 10:00, we put restrictions into place on all of the interstates,” Harry said. “So, especially up here in the northwest corner of the state, where we’re predicted to get the weather in some of the earliest parts of the storm as it moves in, so, at 10:00, there was what we call a tier 3 restriction on all the interstates.”

For those who were checking the weather earlier today, it said it was actually supposed to be above freezing. However, the ice is still sticking, and that’s because, as Flint said, the higher temperature is staying up there in the sky compared to down here, where it’s really cool.

“So, it’s above freezing upstairs in the atmosphere, but down here at the surface, it’s right around 32, and that’s the conundrum that we face this afternoon,” Flint said.

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PennDOT’s message is simple: keep your speed down and check conditions before you go.

And if you see those orange lights, give crews the room they need to work. PennDOT says they’ll be treating roads continuously through the evening and night.

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