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Winter storm creating icy and dangerous road conditions

York County, Pa.—High winds mixed with sleet and ice created dangerous road conditions Saturday. Some stores in York Township closed early due to the weather an...

York County, Pa.—High winds mixed with sleet and ice created dangerous road conditions Saturday. Some stores in York Township closed early due to the weather and many drivers are taking it slow to make it home.

“It’s bad. You have to drive at 30 to 35 miles per hour,” DJ Will, of Camp Hill, told FOX43 News as he scraped ice off his car.

PennDOT is warning drivers to prepare for black ice. The department deployed 65 trucks around the state to battle a challenging winter storm.

“It’s just the fact of waiting for it to come in, then it stopped, then it started again,” said Gary Ishman, assistant county maintenance manager with PennDOT. “We just have to stay on it. We’ve got our guys out there and they’re taking care of it.”

PennDOT crews treated secondary and back roads with an anti-skid and salt mixture. Pure salt and salt brine is used on interstates and major routes. However, even treated roads can become extremely slick. Due to high winds and icy conditions, PennDOT enforced a 45-mile-per-hour speed restriction on several interstates including I-81, I-83, PA 581, U.S. Route 11, U.S. Route 15, U.S. Route 30, U.S. Route 22, and U.S. Route 322

“It’s terrible,” explained Cheila Huettner, of Lancaster. “It’s really slick and we’ve had to stop to just kind of scrap the ice off of our windshield wiper blades.”

Temperatures are only expected to get colder overnight, potentially creating a messy and dangerous morning commute. Some drivers heading home from work on Saturday urged others to avoid the roads, if possible.

“I came all the up way I-83 here for a few miles. Slow drive all the way. Don’t drive tonight. Stay where you are,” advised Carl, of York. “

PennDOT wants to remind drivers to give their plows room to work. Ishman said those plows will get you where you need to go, if you give them time.

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