You may have heard talk about a flash freeze possible on Friday morning. But what does that mean?

Starting with the setup, we have a lot of warm air on Thursday with highs well into the 40s and near 50, allowing rain showers through the afternoon and evening hours.

This rain will continue to melt snowfall along with the warmth, leaving roads wet, especially residential roads.

Strong winds are also likely throughout the day on Thursday and will continue into Thursday night and Friday morning

Winds will gust in the 30-40 mph range. This wind is important not just because of its strength, but because it can create a blow-dryer effect on roads, thus helping to dry them out before they freeze.

Here's the deal: cold air rushes in late at night into Friday morning, and anything wet will freeze. However, treated roads will be fine.

The issue is that not all roads will be treated right away because crews cannot salt or brine until the rain ends, most likely after midnight. Therefore, some residential and rural roads that can remain wet will be icy.

We're tracking how quickly the rain ends, how fast the wind can dry off roads, and whether the falling temperatures keep pace or fall behind the trend.

So what about schools?

Honestly, I'd expect most Metro area schools to be fine, but my concern is for more rural districts, or especially those with a lot of dirt roads on the bus routes. While I do think some school closings are possible, it will mainly be for those where roads can't be treated, involving those bus routes.

We'll keep an eye on conditions, but the bottom line is this isn't a big ice storm or even a winter storm. It's much colder air arriving at a bad time, right after everything is wet.

Stay with the NEXT Weather Team for updates as we get closer.

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