Ice Storm Cometh

[Tri Girl]

The ice is from freezing rain and sleet. It's rained and sleeted for the last day, but the temps are below freezing so it accumulates on things and makes a pretty layer.
The news man said that 5,000 feet up, the air temp is about 60 degrees F. When the rain falls and passes through the air that's closer to the ground in the 20's, it freezes and then forms sleet or freezing rain. As it falls it freezes. I don't know why it does it in some places and not in others. In states north of us, they get pummeled with snow, but not the ice. I guess where it's warmer up higher in the atmosphere, there is more a chance for freezing rain? I suppose your air is cold all the way up, so it just snows? I wish I was a meteorologist so I could say this with any certainty.

As I'm writing this I'm looking outside at our power line precariously sitting right below a rather large branch with almost an inch coating of ice. I fear it will break from the tree and take the power line with it. Say a little prayer that it doesn't, please.

[singletrackmind]

Surreal is standing (in an open area) outside at 4 am completely blanketed in quiet but for the constant cracks and crashes of tree limbs all around.

Here's to not having another of last year's episode. We were one of the lucky few that kept power though 90% of our neighbors did not. The two limbs that landed on our lines didn't break them, none of our trees gave up anything major. Our neighbor's elm was leaning heavily over our lines and our roof....it was kind of scary being up there sawing the branches off bit by bit until we got enough weight off the tree it was no longer a danger. Beforehand, the other side of it broke off and landed on our neighbor's house, cutting his power prompting our rooftop ice skating session.

[Tuckervill]

On Feb 9, 1994, a serious ice storm hit a large portion of the southeast when we lived in Memphis (I remember the date distinctly, because it was the day my hub got his vasectomy ).

I remember the limbs cracking, as you described, but I also remember the sound of several transformers in our neighborhood exploding, one after another. That's a sound you don't often forget. With every explosion, we expected the power to go out in our house, but it didn't go until about the 6th or 7th. Fortunately, we lived in a part of Memphis that had all the power lines underground, but the rest of Memphis was not so lucky.

I have a feeling Missouri and Oklahoma, at least, are going to have that kind of devastation this time.

Karen

[bike4ever]

This time last year we had a doozy of a storm. I was home with the boys - husband stuck in Texas unable to make it back. My eldest and I were out back getting more wood for the fire. We both saw the brilliant light from an exploding transformer then heard the sound. It definitely made us jump. I ran as fast as possible back inside knowing the the immediate darkness would scare my youngest.

Once I got the house some candles and flashlights, I promptly called our electric company. I was fast on that call. Even though I was quick to notify them of our outage, our street was one of the last to regain power for that storm. 5 days - house got down to 38 degrees inside.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We had plenty of ice last night too. I spent a good part of the morning salting the driveway and chipping my car out from its ice layers.

[jusdooit]

Sorry you guys in the middle of the country are going through this. I fear the unseasonably warm temps here now will set us up for the same destiny in a couple of months.

And yes Karen I remember that day in '94. I walked outside just in time to hear a loud crack and watch a tree fall on a neighbor's house. Power went off in the middle of the night, and we had to move to in front of the fireplacr to keep warm.

Good luck middle America...............I'll be thinking about you!!!

[Tuckervill]

Mississippi was hit pretty hard that time!

Somebody ripped the fireplace out of this 110 yo house and turned the chimney into a skylight long ago. We have a kerosene heater in case the power goes out, and the workshop has a wood burning furnace (we've got plenty of wood split from all the treefall) but it's not insulated. I dread the idea of losing power in this house!

Karen

[lph]

erk... sounds scary!