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Article snippet: What two words can inspire more fear in drivers in wintertime than “mixed precipitation”? Perhaps “black ice,” the slick patches that can form unpredictably and almost invisibly because they blend in with the asphalt. Adrianne Reilly of Wallkill, N.Y., recalled an encounter with black ice while driving on I-79 near Erie, Pa., in 1989, in an episode that left her and her husband unhurt but badly shaken. “The car did two 360-degree turns before screeching to a halt on the side of the road,” she wrote on Facebook. Her husband, David, who had been reading in the passenger seat, repeated: “‘We’re all right! We’re all right!’” Ms. Reilly wrote. “‘No, we’re not!’ I screamed back at him.” Here’s how to avoid moments of white-knuckle panic like that one. It forms during rain when the air temperature is at or below 32 degrees at the surface of the road. It can also form when the temperature of the pavement or a bridge deck is the same as the dew point, said Jennifer Post, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Transportation. “At freezing temperatures, dew will freeze, causing black ice,” she wrote in an email. “This can happen any time, but seems to be more prevalent at night, when there’s no solar heating.” Pavement with black ice will be slightly darker and duller than the rest of the road surface. If the road is glistening and the tires of the car in front of you are spraying water, you have little to fear, but if the road looks wet and there’s no spray, be... Link to the full article to read more