Originally Posted by
wphamilton
I don't think you need studs in these conditions. In my area, we get freezing rain like you'd get snow - you have to watch out for shadows, slick looking patches (that could be frozen), and take exaggerated care on any maneuvers, but at 31° the freezing rain is mostly liquid on the roads and probably melts off in the direct sunlight.
I would love to agree with you, but depending on where the OP is in Pennsylvania, freezing rain is a little different. Under some conditions, freezing rain falls as rain,washing away any residual salt on the tarmac, and then freezes into a sheet of extremely slick ice with a layer of water on top. This is a condition where you have difficulty standing up on. This typically only lasts a couple of hours before the surface temperature rises or the road crews spread some salt. This is common when the ground is frozen and a warm front causes the precipitation to be liquid. While this is likely the worst case scenario, it is not an anomaly.