Your Wednesday morning roads report

Greetings, and welcome to Round 2 of Storm Week in the winter of our discontent.

I just drove into the office and here's my report from the roads.

Round 2 of our expected three-part storm skipped the snow. It didn't snow at all in these parts overnight. That's the good news, and there's not a lot of it.

The bad news? It's really miserable out there, especially the farther west you go. A steady rain is coating everything in ice, starting with your sidewalk, walkways and driveways. Once you get to the car, you have to chip it out of the ice.

The big problem on the roads is not ice so much, but it's obvious that the weight of the ice is bringing down tree limbs as well as creating huge pools of standing water.

Those downed trees and power lines are taking a toll on power as well. PECO is reporting 50,000 people across the region without power, including 9,000 in Delco.

It looks like a lot of schools are going with a two-hour delay. Probably a good call.

The weirdest thing I saw on my commute. As I sloshed along West Chester Pike out in Newtown Square, off to the left the sky looked like something out of the Aurora Borealis. There was a consistent flashing red light lighting up the sky. I don't know if it was lightning, a fire, or maybe a transformer blowing somewhere.

I did see one power line down across Sproul Road in Broomall, where only one lane was getting by.

The biggest issue if you're about to get into your car easily is the amount of tree limbs down, and the huge pools of standing water.

I've always said it's one of the very few good things about working the hours that I do, there is next to no one out on the road when I'm driving. Obviously that will change as the morning goes on. And I would expect that conditions will get worse once more people get out on the roads.

Take it easy out there.

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