Black ice causes problematic commute for Santa Rosa drivers

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- Rainy weather late into the night Tuesday evening, made for a slick commute for drivers in the North Bay Wednesday morning.

Santa Rosa Police warning about black ice causing multiple crashes around the area.

Neighbors in Santa Rosa waking up to frost covered rooftops and icy roads, with tow-trucks at the ready to catch accidents like this one.

MORE: Massive trees fall onto homes in North Bay

Black ice caused a pick-up truck to spin out and flip on its side near Highway 12 and Trinity Road.

"We've had a busy, really busy morning, a lot of icy conditions, and quite a few crashes, a lot of spin-out crashes," David deRutte, a spokesman for CHP Santa Rosa said.

CHP Santa Rosa responding to at least 13 crashes Wednesday morning alone, although no serious injuries were reported.

VIDEO: Avalanche in Olympic Valley forces evacuations of Tahoe-area apartment building

The avalanche was 200 yards wide and 25 feet deep, engulfing the bottom two stories of the four-story building.

"The tough thing with the ice is you don't always see it but if you are driving along and it's very cold out, and if you do see any moisture, to slow down because that moisture might be icy and very slick," deRutte said.

This comes after a mixture of gusty winds and rain forced massive trees to fall across the North Bay Tuesday night.

A massive tree fell onto a house in Santa Rosa and another one came down on home in the Forestville area, forcing the family inside to hook up a generator just to call 911 for help.

"It's not just the rain, and the winds that can be the problem, but also the freezing conditions," Paul Lowenthal, the Santa Rosa Fire Division Chief and Fire Marshall said.

VIDEO: Palisades Tahoe reaches 500 inches of snow this season as resorts close for blizzard conditions

500 inches is 41.5 feet of snow, which is more than 100 inches than the resort receives for the entire season on average.

Santa Rosa Fire officials say, Tuesday's moisture led to Wednesday's freeze.

"We wouldn't have had these conditions this morning if we wouldn't have had the rain late into yesterday but once those clouds cleared out, the temperatures were able to drop as low as they did, these are the conditions we're now faced with," Lowenthal said.

If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live