Warmer, wetter weather is on the way after slippery start to week

Monday morning's icy conditions backs traffic up for miles on Interstate 75 to the south of Alabama Highway following a pre-dawn pileup of 35-vehicles between exit 345 and 348. The cluster of wrecked vehicles were located just below the stair-stepped escarpment of Taylor's Ridge in Ringgold.

By Ben Benton January 9, 2018 4 min read

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Slipperly start to week but warmer, wetter weather on the way

Monday morning's icy conditions backs traffic up for miles to the south of Alabama Highway following a pre-dawn pileup of 35-vehicles between exit 345 and 348 on Interstate 75. The cluster of wrecked vehicles were located just below the stair-stepped escarpment of Taylor's Ridge in Ringgold.

A Lookout Mountain (Tenn) salt truck spreads a load in the 500 block of East Brow Road Monday morning late as a thin glaze of ice coats the asphalt and the trees.

Joseph Wingfield, center, walks north in the 500 block of East Brow Road, on Lookout Mountain Monday with his sons, Hank, 7, and Wilder, 9. A thin glaze of ice made their walk iffy.

UPDATE: The Hamilton County Highway Department reports Roberts Mill Road is now open.

ORIGINAL STORY: After a skidding, sliding start across the region early Monday with a 35-car pile-up near Ringgold, Ga., and crash backups at the Interstate 75/Interstate 24 split at the height of rush hour in Chattanooga, temperatures are expected to climb into the low 60s by Thursday.

But don’t get too comfortable.

Light flurries could return to the forecast Saturday night, although it’s a little early to say whether winter weather will be as much a problem for travelers as it was Monday, when icy roads contributed to road closures and numerous traffic accidents across Hamilton and surrounding counties.

With wintry conditions predicted, many area schools delayed or canceled classes late Sunday and into Monday, but few were prepared for frozen travel early Monday.