Freezing rain is in the forecast for portions of Central Indiana Wednesday evening.
This comes just days after setting a daily high-temperature record of 68º on Monday.
There are layers of air in the atmosphere, and they exist at different temperatures.
At the level where clouds are, the air is cold. This means any precipitation that forms starts as snowflakes.
As the snow falls today, it will fall through a warmer layer of air. All the snow melts and turns into raindrops.
As the raindrops continue to fall to the ground, they might pass through another cooler layer of air near the surface.
Even just a few degrees difference can make a big impact on the type of precipitation we receive. The northern portions of Central Indiana have a higher chance of freezing rain. The southern portions of Central Indiana are slightly warmer, and they are more likely to see rain.
In the areas likely to see freezing rain, the falling raindrops will cool again, but they don't have time to refreeze before reaching the ground. Instead, the raindrops freeze on contact with the ground, forming ice.
This thin layer of ice can be very slippery. Fortunately, we are not anticipating high accumulations of ice on Wednesday evening.
Because the ground is still warm, ice will likely form on cars, bridges, and tree branches. Ice may have a more difficult time forming on roads. You should still be cautious as you are driving Wednesday evening into early Thursday.
Temperatures warm Wednesday overnight, meaning any precipitation that continues to fall will turn from freezing rain into normal rain. Any ice that accumulates likely melt Thursday morning.
