Ice Fog, a hidden danger causing slick roads.

Especially for those newbies who don’t know what to do.
Right now I’m sitting 6 miles from the Colorado border, in Kansas, on i70, at a rest stop. As soon as the sun went down last evening, fog started, heavy. It’s in the teens on temperature. I drove some, then stopped here. I’ve seen ice fog before. It’s nothing to fool around with. Makes roads slick. Apply brakes and you just keep going.
I’ve seen too many times. Drivers take chances with slick roads. They end up wrecking. Even if your dispatch demands you go. They can shove their job. You save yourself and your license. There’s plenty of jobs out there who want safe drivers. Don’t take the chance.
I woke up here. Its 1:20am. Here’s a pic of the ice frost on the trees so far tonight. It’s only going to get worse.
im not in too bad a spot for the fog. It comes through. Drove through worse spots earlier.

 

Same with icing fog here near Mitchell,SD
My truck cooling fan was coming on. It's only 9 degrees.
Stopped to see the entire grill was frosted, iced over. First time I've had that happen.

 

sometimes you're driving and you get caught in it. happened to me more than a few times....

many times, it's inevitable that you'll run into it.

when it happens, and you can safely do so? pull over, hopefully on an exit ramp/on ramp area if need be.

 

We called it "hoarfrost" in the Badger, and didn't always indicate a slippery road. Many times the trees would look like that, but the road was dry. Freezing fog, like what builds up on your wipers, was much more of a concern.

 

Fog, and then freezing fog is one of the few reasons I might actually cut a day short. Scary how fast it can get slick in cold temps

 

The difference between hoar frost and rime ice | weareiowa.com

 

We’ve been dealing with it for the last 3 weeks every, single, fricking, day. ( ND )

It sucks but you still have to keep on going and just drive slower and more careful.

 

Ugh... fog is bad enough, but factor in icy roads and the danger exponentially increases.

Xsetra, on a related note, I was riding out a blizzard in Depew (Buffalo), NY, after picking up a load of Reader's Digest Magazines bound for Texas... I asked the manager of that facility if I could park in the outer lot overnight to ride out the storm, and he agreed, no problem. The blizzard was just starting to howl, lake effect and all that $h!t, so it was the smart choice to shut down right there on the property. The manager told me to park over by a line of wagons, so I rolled over and backed into a slot.

Thing was, I had no "winterfront" over my grille, and that howling freezing wind was coming right through that grille... I watched in disbelief as the water temp gauge dropped to 150* F and lower, I could actually see the needle dropping, lol. So I pulled out and flipped a b!tch and nosed into the slot, putting the ### end of the trailer into the eye of the wind, and the temp gauge needle steadily rose back to its normal position... crazy, but that's what it means to have no winterfront for protection in Buffalo, NY, during a freakin' blizzard.

The good news was that I had all kinds of provisions aboard the truck, and gallons of drinking water as usual, plus there was a bar across the street, though I had to walk several hundred yards to the gate and then back to the bar, since the chain-link fence was at least 15' tall. I stepped down from the truck, turned into the wind, and that wind cut through me like a knife... I climbed back aboard, threw on some extra layers of clothing and a watch cap, then made my way to the bar, which was nice & warm. Left my truck on high idle with the heater on, and I drank enough "antifreeze" in the bar to make it back to the rig, no worries. Hell of a blizzard though...

 

Ice fog is a great reason to stop. It's very dangerous and since fog settles into low spots you can find yourself with good road one second and drop into a dip and be on black ice, in addition to having your windshield freeze over. If you try to run in ice fog your radar is going to ice over and you won't have cruise-control and some systems drop your speed on manual throttle.

 

My '23 Cascadia gives me the option to enable standard cruise control when the radar is not working.