WINTER STORM NOW 12/08-11/2007: KS, OK, NE, MO, IA, CO, among others

[Mike Umscheid]

Welp, I'm NOT going to like this drive in to work in about an hour. There has been persistent, light freezing drizzle falling here in Dodge city since about mid-evening yesterday. The temperature has slowly fallen from 30 degrees at the onset of the event to the current temperature (as of 6am) of 26F. Everything is ice... even my residential street out in front... Ice rink. Might as well break out the ice skates if I had them, and just skate in to work. it's amazing how much of a mess persistent -6 dBZ radar returns can cause. This is likely to continue all day... and Wow... how about Monday night!! I'm blogging about all of this at http://www.underthemeso.com/blog

[Jonathan Behle]

Yeah I agree about Monday Night through early Wendesday for Northern OK, Southern and Eastern Kansas and into Missouri on the potential for a major and crippling ice storm. We could easily have 1-2" of accumulating freezing rain with that part of these storm systems, and this does NOT include what is happening Saturday and Sunday in these areas

[Mikey Gribble]

I really haven't done much forecasting yet on this. I've been out of commission with strep throat for a few days. We are well below freezing in Wichita and have been getting drizzle all morning, but so far there isn't really anything freezing on the pavement. I went to the grocery store earlier and as I was walking out I stepped on the top of one of those parking place stop block things and damn near body slammed my groceries. That thing was definitely covered in ice, so I imagine the elevated roadways are starting to freeze around Wichita now.
I'm just getting into my forecasting now, but from the little I've looked at I was thinking this would be more of a sleet event for Wichita.

[Michael O'Keeffe]

We have a thin coating of ice south of KC here. There have been numerous accidents this morning as we have a thin, but very slick sheet of ice on the roadways. The rain is tapering off, but it will redevelop and intensify late in the evening which should persist through the afternoon on Sunday. I expect for us here around .25" of ice accumulation.

Also, I agree as well that we very well may see a crippling ice storm next week. I am hoping that school gets canceled so I can cover that event, but that's for another thread.

[Dan Robinson]

Curiuos why some of the obs in KS are showing freezing rain when there is no precip on radar - not even the slightest echo. Particularly at ICT. Freezing drizzle I could believe, but not rain. Are the sensors stuck maybe?

[Mike Umscheid]

Curiuos why some of the obs in KS are showing freezing rain when there is no precip on radar - not even the slightest echo. Particularly at ICT. Freezing drizzle I could believe, but not rain. Are the sensors stuck maybe?

KICT is indeed reporting -FZDZ, they actually have a human taking obs at that airport (-FZDZ in the metar for a number of hours now). Otherwise, freezing drizzle usually goes undetected by ASOS unless it's heavy enough. The freezing drizzle in ICT at this time is very light, only detectable as -5 dBZ or so within about 20 to 30 miles from the 88D site.

Edit: I might add, that when ASOS does detect freezing drizzle, it is reported as -FZRA. ASOS does not report Drizzle. AWOS sites do, though. This might be the source of your confusion perhaps.

[Mike Peregrine]

Yeah, it isn't showing up on radar, but my driveway says otherwise. There's been a fine mist freezing out there all morning. I wonder if it's better to wait to apply salt, or to do it in stages during something like this -

[Dan Robinson]

OK - I see it now. The symbol on the map at:

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/surface/sfc_ict.gif

Looked like a dot rather than an apostrophe. Kind of hard to tell sometimes on those images.

Speaking of KC, they have a good network of traffic cameras to watch this event at:

http://www.kcscout.net/

[Tim Stoecklein]

Those are some interesting observations on the lack echos versus surface conditions. This would be very useful information for those people who check the radars before traveling.

Here in Colorado Springs we've seen the whole gamet(sp) of winter precip in the past 24 hours. We started yesterday morning with thick fog creeping down Pikes Peak and eventually blanketing us completely. From there we had freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet, and eventually snowfall. We are getting minimal impact compared to higher elevations, but it has been a fun experience, this storm.

This weekend has been almost identical to last weekend, with a one-two punch. The mid-week storm has been a shot from the NW followed by the weekends getting ample moisture from the SW flow thanks to the low camping out near Baja and points NW.

Oh, how I'd love to be in the mountains with skis on :)

[Mike Peregrine]

Here are Missouri Road Conditions (http://maps.modot.mo.gov/travelerinformation/TravelerInformation.aspx). Can easily see the path through the state that is currently being affected. Lots of accidents (http://www.kansascity.com/) across the area -

[Dan Robinson]

St. Louis getting hit also.

http://www.gatewayguide.com/atis/index.html

One accident visible on the cameras at the 70-270 interchange.

[Mark Farnik]

Out here in northeastern Colorado we've also had the full gamet of winter weather over the last 48 hours. When I went to bed Thursday night, it had just barely started to very lightly snow. I woke up Friday morning and was surprised to see over 3 inches of snow on the ground. The drive into Fort Morgan was TERRIBLE, Colorado 52 is always a major b***h to drive in snowy/icy conditions because of all the hills/canyons the road winds over and through, but this was the worst I'd ever seen in it. They hadn't plowed the road when I went in, which made it that much worse. My normally 20 minute commute took almost 45 minutes, and every second I was gripping the steering fiercely, trying to keep my mom's VW Passat from spinning off the road, and thankfully I made it without any major incident. It continued snowing most of the day in Fort Morgan, but by the time I got out of school the temperatures had warmed above freezing and the snow had turned into a light freezing drizzle/sleet mix. I had to spend ten minutes chipping a quarter inch of ice off of the car with a borrowed scraper before I could even get in because the doors were frozen shut. :mad:
Thankfully the drive home was much less hairy than the drive in, they had plowed the roads and put gravel down, and as such the roads were just slushy with occasional icy patches. Woke up this morning to freezing fog, which turned to light snow by 11 a.m., and then after lunch it really picked up in intensity with an average rate of 1/2" per hour with bursts approaching 1" an hour. Last time I measured, we we're sitting at 8 inches of snow since Thursday night, and we're supposed to pick up another 2 to 5 overnight, so we'll wind up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-13 inches of snow. Which is fine with me, because we've been terribly dry since about late September, it's about time we got some moisture. :)
Thanks to the freezing drizzle yesterday, all the paved and gravel roads are coated in black ice, and with the snow on top of that, driving conditions are going to be postively beastly this evening and into tomorrow morning. I'm very glad I don't have to go anywhere, so I can just curl up by the fireplace and sip a mug of hot cocoa while watching the snowflakes fly past the living room window...

[Dustin Wilcox]

Its interesting, check out the Div II football game in Marysville MO on ESPN and note the weather, then check the radar for that area.

Looks as though it could get pretty nasty come next Monday/Tuesday, interesting to see high prob of >.25 of frz rain 3 days out. I haven't been monitoring this system very much but it seems as though things have trended further North the last couple of runs.

[Chris Hayes]

It's weird seeing an ice storm warnings up, and very little on the national radar. We're under a winter weather advisory for ice accumulation through tommorow, and there's more precip in Ohio through Illinois than there is in the ice storm warning area.

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Chris this is because the bulk of that precip won't fall until late tonight into much of the day tomorrow.

[Kevin Crawmer]

I am in Troy, MO (NW of STL) and we have had freezing rain off and on all day and it has not been impressive on radar at all. What is somewhat encouraging is that temps have risen 2 degrees to 32 over the past couple of hours. Just 30 or so miles north in Pittsfield, IL it is 23. Precip is starting to develop to the SW, so the temps can keep rising as far as I am concerned. I LOVE ELECTRICITY!

As previously mentioned, the worst is probably yet to come.

[Mike Peregrine]

Freezing drizzle here with snow mixed in. Enough to re-coat the ground and the snow that fell earlier in the week. It's a nice night to be inside -

[Joey Ketcham]

My weather station is reporting 28 degrees here in Pittsburg, KS.

Rain is starting to develop all around us, and some areas are starting to get slick from rain/drizzle that had already fallen. It should start getting fun tonight.

[Mike Hollingshead]

I was sitting here thinking, damn it is cold here for 11 pm, at 10 degrees. Then I looked north! It's -17 in Grand Forks ND and -24 in nw MN! Sucks to be you Aaron!

[Jeff Piotrowski]

The temp 29 in Owasso with thunder storm in progress with heavy freezing rain.
http://www.mesonet.org/public/current.html (http://www.mesonet.org/public/current.html).

:eek:

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=SGF&product=NCR&overlay=11111111&loop=yes

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/surface/sfc_ict.gif


That there is a bit nuts.

MD out for OK.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md2190.html

[Dustin Wilcox]

Thats pretty hefty convection lighting up all over OK and SW MO, looks as though the convection over Tulsa or just to the NW of Tulsa is nicely oreiented SW-NE and training over the same area, no doubt those who end up under that training convection will see rapid accumalations of ice.


For fun loop Tulsa's Composite Radar :eek:

[Steve Miller OK]

Moore, OK: 32-degrees, moderate rain, pea-size hail covering the ground, lightning.
This is December!

[Mike Hollingshead]

That small area in se KS is screwed! Jesus. I wonder what kind of warming, this area about to get nailed, will recieve the next few days before the main onslaught. I imagine those nailed tonight will warm and miss the next couple bouts.

[Joey Ketcham]

Getting light freezing rain at the moment, temp at 28 degrees here in Pittsburg, KS (Crawford County). My steps are completely iced over now.

I would not be surprised if we start seeing power outages as early as later tonight...

Edited to add: as Jeff said in his post below.. we have some pretty good lightning and thunder. Was outside a bit ago and it was lightning and thundering pretty good.

[Jeff Piotrowski]

Storms with 50 DBZ core passed over my house ice is now glazing everything.
Based on convective trends lightning rapidly increasing from Lawton to Joplin. The INX-TLX radar in the last hour shows rain totals .25-.50 in the last hour. ICE STORM WARNING? :eek::eek::eek:

[Jeff Piotrowski]

NWS has iussed ICE STORM WARNING FOR TULSA AREA.

IN OKLAHOMA...
OSAGE...WASHINGTON...NOWATA...PAWNEE...TULSA...ROG ERS...CREEK...
OKFUSKEE...OKMULGEE...WAGONER...MUSKOGEE.

NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED
ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44 CORRIDOR THIS EVENING...
AND THIS AREA OF PRECIPITATION EXTENDS SOUTHWESTWARD INTO
SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA. TEMPERATURES HAVE CONTINUED TO FALL
WITH THE FREEZING LINE MAKING STEADY PROGRESS SOUTHWARD...
AND AS THIS OCCURS...FREEZING RAIN HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS
PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA.

ICE ACCUMULATION TOTALS WILL LIKELY VARY WIDELY...HOWEVER
ACCUMULATIONS UP TO ONE HALF INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE ON
ELEVATED SURFACES. AS TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO COOL THROUGH
SUNDAY MORNING...ROADWAYS WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY LIKELY
TO MAINTAIN AN ICE COATING. UTILITY OPERATIONS ARE EXPECTED
TO BECOME INCREASINGLY STRESSED AS ICE LOADS ON POWER LINES.:eek:

[David Poch]

Moore, OK: 32-degrees, moderate rain, pea-size hail covering the ground, lightning.
This is December!
Thunder and cold rain here in South OKC. It started about 5 minutes ago. No hail here just north of Moore.

David

[Dustin Wilcox]

Per RUC Mesoanalysis the warm air advection over an extremely cold surface is quite impressive. Its got 850-700mb warmed to above freezing as far North as the Topeka and KC Metro area where surface temps are in the teens, definitely going to be a rough ride for many in E KS & W MO tonight, as Mike hints at, those who manage to get in on tonight’s action w/o warming before the next round on Mon/Tues will really be in trouble.

Storm estimated Totals already pushing 1" in that Narrow band just west of Tulsa extending SW-NE near the Nowata area, with a lot more precip still on the way

[Doug Lee]

Had some rain here in Kiefer earlier, nothing frozen.

Oklahoma Mesonet data shows the freezing line through here, and running from Lawton to south of Joplin. Soil temps still in the upper 40's, so I don't expect to see much icing on the ground around here for a while.

[CHris Whitehead]

Ok when I post on here nowadays its something to take note of it....and this (event) is certainly something to take note of. Once again Oklahoma being Oklahoma and only in Oklahoma. Ive known about the Winter Storm Watch but with dead week and all Ive been out of the loop about the goings on specifically. So I went to Bricktown with some fraternity friends to see Christmas and whathaveya. We practically froze the entire time, it was windy too and misty. Anyways driving back around 11:45 in S. OKC on 35, I was like, was that lightning? then it happened again, and knowing the OAT, I immediately thought, this cant be good. And so driving thru Moore we encountered a near toad strangler.

SPC and NWS OUN are right on top of it. SPC has Mesoscale Winter Wx MD. Lightning at this temp almost always means seriously elevated goings on. So obviously warm air aloft and looking at 0Z OUN sounding thats certainly the case. OUN mentions possible ice storm and major travel impacts. And oh btw I have a 1:30 aviation final Monday at Norman airport which I have to drive to. So bring it on!!!!!!!


btw you know your a wx nut when your standing outside your apt (under shelter) when its 34ish windy to watch a thunderstorm (and post on ST). Its cold as ever but im lovin it.

[Angie Norris]

Interesting drive home from work in SW OKC . Came out to scrape ice off my car windows with frequent lightning. Just north of Moore about 12:15 ran into some heavy rain and gusty wind. Didn't see any hail, dang it, and thank goodness no freezing rain at that time. Definitely a freaky, wicked cool event!!

[Chris Vagasky]

If you're in Norman, anything that was wet is now a thin glaze of ice.

[Rocky Rascovich]

I too saw some lightning on the way home around 030cst.. was all IC stuff for the most part, Roads from the NW Expressway/Hwy 4 intersection on north to the house was starting to ice up. Current temps around 27F. We have parallel bands of moderate to locally heavy ZR stretching from south of OKC northeast thru TUL and the other band north of me thru PNC.. Just now as of 0208, possible cg within 5 miles of the farm and mod. ZR

I love winter... but not these debilitating ice storms that marr the landscape for years not to mention the power interuptions that can sometime last for weeks ( the Jan.'07 and Jan'02 icefalls are good examples) The trees are just getting back to looking normal after the '02 icestorms in Kingfisher... The price to live in weather paradise, eh? :p

[Andrew Francis]

Sitting here in Stillwater, Made the drive North from Edmond to Stillwater earlier tonight. Was very foggy and light mist/drizzle. Haven't seen any real heavy precip falling, but I just took a look - and the temp is 28 F. While typing this, I can hear some light precip battering against my window. I am going to go outside here in a minute and take a look @ slickness of the area.

The freezing line sure is trickling South tonight (along and past SE OKC and SE Tulsa). Wondering what this will mean for the major ice accumulations expected for late sunday night and monday into tuesday.

[Jeff Snyder]

I'm always fascinated to see moderate convection when surface temperatures are below freezing. A look at the Spencer, OK, mesonet meteogram (http://www.mesonet.org/data/public/mesonet/meteograms/SPEN.met.gif) (Spencer is just northeast of OKC), shows that it picked up 0.5" of rainfall in a 20 minutes time span near 1am. The temperature at the time was around 30F, and the temp has continue to fall to a current value of 28F. Not surprisingly, the anemometer appears to have been frozen, given that it's currently not reporting any winds. For ASOS/AWOS and mesonet sites, calm or missing winds are usually good ways to find where the precip has been falling as freezing rain (assuming ambient/environmental winds are >3 mph). A glance at surface obs on the OK mesonet show about half a dozen sites with missing winds (at a time when most wind obs in central and northern OK are 10-15 mph sustained).

FWIW, temperatures have also fallen into the teens in far northwestern OK, with 8-15 mph NNW winds likely continuing to bring in low-mid 20F temps closer to I40. These very shallow arctic fronts have a tendency to be underforecast by most models (both in intensity and speed), so this isn't too surprising.

07 UTC SPC/RUC mesoanalysis also continues to indicate >500 j/kg MUCAPE, supportive of a continued risk of thunderstorms and upright convection. The band of heaviest precip just N of I44 east of I35 in northeastern OK appears to be in an area of decent frontogenetical forcing (and the fun ageostrophic accelerations associated with such forcing). The 850mb cold front may be a good marker for the freezing rain - snow transition zone (or liquid - frozen transition zone).

The VWP from KTLX valid 0720 UTC suggests that the top of the cold layer is ~1800 ft AGL (I'm using the 2.5 degree base velocity data to pick that out easily; KINX / Tulsa / data suggests a similar depth). The cold air deepens to >3000 ft above the KVNX radar, pretty much in line with velocity data from KICT. Given this, I wouldn't be surprised to see some sleet mix in with the freezing rain closer to the OK/KS border west of I35. Well, maybe not, but perhaps close... Same mesoanalysis shows the 850mb front located near a line from Shamrock TX to Emporia KS to the NE MO / SE IA border area.

EDIT: It's important to note that, per OK Mesonet (see HERE (http://agweather.mesonet.org/soil/default.html)), current 2-in and 4-in bare soil temperatures are in the mid 30s in most of northern OK. As such, the precip is not likely to freeze upon impact of roads. Elevated surfaces that tend to cool to ambient temperature more quickly (e.g. powerlines, trees, bridges) are likely icing up rather rapidly right now N of I44. I imagine that it may take until tomorrow night for most areas to see ground temperatures (at least 2" or 4" below bare soil) reach the freezing mark.

EDIT 2: OGE System watch (http://oge.com/systemwatch/SystemWatch.Systemwide_1_content.html ) is showing >1000 customers w/o power in eastern OKC. Of course, in the scope of things, this isn't a large number. However, I think this is only a hint of what's likely to occur in N of Tulsa through the morning. Latest TLX data shows convection and showers are redeveloping in the quasi-stationary zone along I44, from near Chickashaw to Norman to Stroud and Bristow. My house in Arcadia is currently between this band to the south and the intermittent activity nearer Perry and Guthrie. *shrug*

[Mike Hollingshead]

That area sw-ne just north of I44 from just north of Tulsa towards just se of Coffeyville is going to be screeewed up. I wish I was closer to that area or could make the drive to it easier. Radar already estimating areas of 1.5 inches in there and it's still in the middle of some very heavy precip.

Edit: Ouch, hadn't looked at SGF's radar for a while. Hmmm, must drive down there.

SGF's latest winter weather message:

A MAJOR ICE STORM WAS DEVELOPING FROM SOUTHEAST KANSAS INTO CENTRAL
MISSOURI EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. MODERATE TO HEAVY FREEZING RAIN
ACCOMPANIED AT TIMES WITH LIGHTNING AND SLEET WILL FALL AT TIMES
FROM THE COLUMBUS AND PITTSBURG KANSAS AREAS NORTHEAST TO THE LAKE
OF THE OZARKS REGION WHERE POTENTIALLY DAMAGING ICE ACCUMULATIONS
WILL OCCUR. TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH WILL OCCUR
WITH LOCALIZED AMOUNTS UP TO ONE AND A HALF INCHES IN THIS AREA.


Yeah, I'd say that won't be hard to get at all.

[CHris Whitehead]

THIS IS SERIOUS

31* in Norman and a TOAD STRANGLER, Pouring RAIN,
...and.....just took a CG, under 1/2 a half mile, LOUD BANG!!!!!!
This lightning is vivid and deadly, also seeing reports of pea sized hail on this forum and elsewhere, not sleet or grupel, but hail (the 2 are often mistaken by the public)

strong to almost severe thunderstorms in 30-32deg is serious. Current obs here in Norman is 30deg

EDIT: rain has now switched to Freezing Rain, I can tell not only by the looks of it but by the sound, its hitting a lot harder then a mere splash. Prob mixed with sleet too.
Also looking out room window at cars in parking lot, windshields are all glazed.
DO NOT TRAVEL

did I mention im fresh out of food.

[Marcus Opitz]

gr level 3 showing smal hail and tops approaching 30k feet near SGF. As Jeff said earlier, most of the obs that are due north of SGF (Clinton, Mo, ect.) read zero wind....

[Darin Brunin]

OMFG not deadly lightning!

Freezing drizzle here. Did I meet the quota?

[Andrew Francis]

Just got out of the shower, opened my window to take a look out (its all condensated).... Immedeatly a gust of frigid wind came in and freezing rain started coming down fast. I can see it raining pretty decently now, my room overlooks a street light and I can see it nicely. Seems to be most of the convection is South and along the leading edge of the cold air.

Maybe the original line expected here in OK for the most accum. won't be frpom Lawton, to OKC, to Stillwater anymore. Hmmm...

[APritchard]

I'll add that the "end of the world" pouring rain probably isn't such a bad rain. A heavy downpour is not going to accumulate on icy surfaces nearly as fast as a drizzle will. So really, pouring rains at this temperature would be the better or the two.

Most of central Illinois has finally been upgraded to an ice storm warning tonight. Looks like areas right around Interstate 72 looks to get the brunt of it overnight and early tomorrow morning. Temperatures have been deadlocked at 30F for almost the entire past 24 hours here. Freezing rain earlier today didn't do much damage as far as roads are concerned, but cars that remained idle for the day developed quite a glaze. We'll see what the overnight brings.

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

Driving back into Norman at 3am from a little drive up to Moore, I was not sure if any of the lightning was striking the ground till I saw a transformer get struck about a mile from me. A nice 2-second powerflash followed. A powerflash was the last thing I thought I would see when I went out this evening considering it was 30 degrees. I was also greeted back to Norman with a slush storm (rain and sleet), and so as of now Norman has the slickest streets in the metro that I saw.

[Danny Neal]

I am right on the fringe of Ice and Sleet/Snow. Looks like a mainly 1-2 inch sleet event for me. No precip all day over here but we will see as things progress!

[Sam Sagnella]

A several-hour long heavy freezing rain event is slowing down a tad here in Norman. As of now there're about 1/2-2/3" icicles covering the trees and powerlines in my yard near Boyd and Jenkins, and thus I have no desire to go test the roads (which are notoriously bad anyway). As Wesley mentioned, the thunder and lightning were very intense for a while; we've had spring storms less intense than some of the ones we had earlier this morning. As I write this actually I can hear a few rumbles in vicinity. The NWS has also recently upgraded the OKC metro area to an ice storm warning effective through 6pm, as this has definitely become a very significant event for us here, with training thunderstorms in subfreezing temps. TGISunday.

[Jeff Piotrowski]

Thunder storms have already produced over a two inches of freezing rain about twenty miles north of the I-44 corridor.
The power is still on for now but HUGH big green power flashes out the window in Owasso.
:eek:

[Andrew Francis]

I saw that too, actual thunder and lightning in the Clinton area. Oh and did I mention they're reporting 22 degrees!!!!! Amazing

Looks to be as if the band of ice/sleet in western is building south to set up a large band running from Lawton to OKC to Ponca City areas...

Conditions outside now are freezing drizzle in Stillwater. I walked outside and the sidewalks have a thin glaze over them. Also everycar in the parking lot is iced shut.

It's only going to go downhill from here - I hope you all are warm and safe!

[Mike Hollingshead]

The storm total rainfall(which has all been below freezing) on SGF's radar is sick(2.5 inches +)....and it continues! There's a flood warning for nw of Joplin where it's probably below 30. Reading their AFD is a bit scary, as I simply can't begin to imagine how bad it can look come Wednesday if indeed that area nw of I44 manages to hold below freezing. They may have some luck in that not all that pouring sticks, but if they are below 30 I imagine it's freezing pretty darn quick anyway. I'm pondering driving down there if I can see a window to do so, but I'm not sure I see it. Nothing is less fun than driving a long way on crap road conditions. Should just wait till it's all over, even if Monday warms some. I just don't gather it's going to be repeated anywhere else like it already has in that area. That's an impressive stripe of persistent very heavy freezing rain.

Jeff, did you see 2 inches of ice on things, or just talking about the radar totals?

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KSGF/0712091415.nwus53.html

Updated list of ice reports from SGF. Already sounds really bad down there, as expected.

[Jeff Piotrowski]

The ice is from .25-.50 on trees power lines had some sleet mixed in with the thunderstorms. Trees limbs are breaking all over the city. The temp was 29 in Owasso during most of the heavy rain. I just returned from the store two miles north of my house the ice is thicker .50-.75" The electric is out to about a third of Owasso. The shopping centers on both sides of Hwy 169 have no power.
The new 12Z WRF/ETA/RUC has new convection this afternoon with additional QPF of .25-1.00 Inches over NE Oklahoma. It now seems likely that a very damaging ice storm is now starting in only going to get worse. I would expect the local or state to declare a state of emergency later today as more power grids come down.

[Andrew Francis]

Here in Stillwater, a clap of thunder just vibrated the window. Following that was a downpour of rain. Straight rain - it was sleeting earlier, but now is pure rain. Looking out the window I can see the glaze on everything. The trees have ice accum. As well as the roads. Especially here on campus (OSU) - roads arent traveled much if at all on Sunday mornings. The rain is now constant. This is getting bad... 28F

[Brett Adair]

This looks quite bad for the SGF/TSA/OUN areas.....and it seems to be getting more serious a little earlier than they expected. I hope they have enough in the way of emergency services available to assist those in need down there. It looks like another round is about to get underway as increasing radar returns and lightning strikes indicate convection is definitely working with the elevated instability in place just north of this front. Major isentrophic ascent seems to be assisting in the development as the LLJ crosses the boundary. Hopefully these guys will get a break a little later today.

[Brett Adair]

Hmmm....the CHK (Chickasha, OK METAR) site is reporting Light Thundersnow 27/27. That has to be bogus with this warm air aloft. I don't even think the heavier precip with the could bring freezing temps down all the way through the column even briefly.

[Patrick Martin]

Presently 14 degrees with 6 inches of snow sitting on top of a thin layer of ice from yesterday morning's freezing drizzle. Sunshine is beginning to break through although light snow still falling. Secondary roads in our area north of Denver very slick.

[Mark Farnik]

Woke up this morning to find a veritable winter wonderland outside our house. The snow total over the last 48 hours is just under 10 inches, per the measurement on the picnic table on our patio. Thankfully the wind with this storm was relatively light, so only minor blowing/drifting occurred. We also had some freezing fog earlier this morning, so all the trees are coated in rime ice. It's really quite beautiful, I'll go out later and take some pictures and post them sometime this afternoon/evening. Underneath all this is a lovely coating of ice from our freezing drizzle episode overnight Friday. I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere today - travelling would be a nightmare!
Since low level inversions are going to keep eastern Colorado well below freezing, no melting is going to occur today, and I have a sneaking suspicion the same will be true tomorrow. Thus said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll cancel school tomorrow due to what will certainly be abysmal road conditions - not likely, but one can always hope!:D

[Andrew Francis]

Precip in OK starting to turn to sleet/frz rain mix

Any chance this will go back to freezing rain? Or has the cold air moved far enough south that it will not retreat?

[Rocky Rascovich]

As of 1200cst, most of the precip. here at the farm (5mi. NW of Piedmont, OK) has been predominantly sleet... it seems that once again, we're dodging the bullet at least here in Piedmont. However, just south and east of the metro OKC area, a different story is unfolding with power lines and trees under considerable ice accum.

I'll be looking close at the latest data to see if our artic airmass has become deep enough to possibly preclude an all ZR event for today anyway....

[Billy Griffin]

The "lull" that was anticipated in this event doesn't seem to be happening. Per radar, Southwest Oklahoma is now becoming inundated with more ZR and the I-44 corridor just seems to be a training target at this point. The precip continues to be of convective mode, or at least it appears that way... riding just north of the frontal boundary. Here on the SE side of Norman, we're having continuous CG with heavy FZR !!!

[Brandon Lawson]

For whatever reason, the ground refuses to freeze in Norman. I'm wondering if that will change later tonight.

[Billy Griffin]

Not sure if you're referring to when you say "ground," Brandon, but here on the east side of Norman, we've got about 1/2" of ice on everything. Albiet, the streets are very spotty with ice. The grass, trees, almost everything is coated in a solid sheet of ice.

[Andrew Ryan]

The sidewalks, streets, and even the grass are not freezing because the ground is way too warm. Also, they've done a pretty good job of salting everything.

[Brandon Lawson]

Yeah. I was thinking about the roads and sidewalks when I was referring to the ground. I went out earlier today, as well, and definitely saw the grass, the trees, and pretty much everything else had a nice coating of ice.

[Dan Dawson]

The roads are holding up surprisingly well, but pretty much everything else has a nice glaze on it. I imagine when the roads finally do cool down enough, they are going to ice over in a hurry.

[Rocky Rascovich]

ZR is picking up as of 1713cst here near Piedmont, OK. Trees are coated with about 1/3" on average, maybe a tad more. side streets are totally glazed over, not sure about more major throughfares.

A Loooong fetch of light to moderate ZR w/imbedded thunder extending from Stillwater, OK clear down to west of Abilene, TX. This doesn't look like its going to move anywhere quick soon as the imbedded cells are moving NE around 35kts, and the line itself moving very little. I'm square in the crosshairs of this line of ZR.

With the main vortmax ejecting out tomorrow afternoon/evening, its looking as though the fun and games have just begun. I'm not enthused.

Rocky&family

[Andrew Francis]

Steady flow into SW OK into central OK into NE OK.....

Seems as if it is not showing signs of letting up anytime soon.

28F Here in Stillwater. We got some waves of sleet earlier today. Seems as if everything is freezing up tonight...

Could be an epic ugly storm if the precip keeps up

[David Poch]

For whatever reason, the ground refuses to freeze in Norman. I'm wondering if that will change later tonight.

I was thinking the same thing a while ago when I went outside. The grass has a glaze of ice on it and everything else above the ground has ice, but my street, driveway and sidewalk are just wet. I didn't salt the drive or sidewalks, not sure if they did the street yet.

David

[CHris Whitehead]

I was thinking the same thing a while ago when I went outside. The grass has a glaze of ice on it and everything else above the ground has ice, but my street, driveway and sidewalk are just wet. I didn't salt the drive or sidewalks, not sure if they did the street yet.

David

A lot of that is due to the fact that before this event we were in the 40s and 50s last few days. Look at Mesonet, ground temps still in low 40s. And also must consider the forecast for us to go abover freezing late Monday. Therefore I really dont anticipate signifcant travel issues (unlike my post last night, I was expecting much worst).

I think for thus of us at OU with finals this week, my suggestion is to keep studying. I dont see final cancellations on this one. I mean even at 30deg is enough to keep ground warm. The only thing that would disrupt that is power disruptions, which is possible with the training thats currently taking place. Right now no major problems but check back at say 4 or 5am. Now another problem against that is OUs power as you know is underground so its last to go out, however, physical plant doesnt supply all OU's power only critical places like OMU, NWC, etc.. Also you have to consider the physical plants supply which is outside OU which might be a problem, so, theres still hope. Regardless im not in the mood to scrape my car, im taking the CART bus to the airport tomorrow. **** it.

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

I went walking on the street behind my apartment complex here near the OU campus and the streets are definitely beginning to freeze up. They are not super slick but my foot was sliding pretty easy. I went walking on campus today and noticed were some quite large branches came down (over 1 foot diameter branches). I expect a lot more trees to come down as the night goes on. Power outages are becoming quite common if oyu are watching OGE System Watch, over 20,000 in the OKC metro without power.

[Gabe Garfield]

A lot of that is due to the fact that before this event we were in the 40s and 50s last few days. Look at Mesonet, ground temps still in low 40s. And also must consider the forecast for us to go abover freezing late Monday. Therefore I really dont anticipate signifcant travel issues (unlike my post last night, I was expecting much worst).

I think for thus of us at OU with finals this week, my suggestion is to keep studying. I dont see final cancellations on this one. I mean even at 30deg is enough to keep ground warm.

I think the roadways will start to ice over once the temperature drops to ~25 F tonight and the traffic slows down. In general, freezing rain isn't as big a problem for traffic as it is for power concerns. But I agree, OU students should keep studying.

Otherwise, I noticed snowflakes falling about 30 minutes ago (in Norman)! It is quite surprising considering the "warm nose" that is present on the 00z OUN sounding. I think that, since the snowflakes were fairly small, the snow was generated very close to the surface (maybe frozen mist?).

Gabe

[Andrew Francis]

Here @ OSU studying is underway. Physical Plant is out all over the roads trying to keep up. Just from my form window overlooking a major road on campus I've seen cars and pedestrians sliding around... One guy fell pretty hard.

Physical Plant here is really determined to get finals in tomorow. Dang


UCO in Edmond has already cancelled classes tomorow and they're also on finals.



We'll see what happens, because in the past OSU always waits until about an hour to 45 min before class before they cancel

[Billy Griffin]

Anyone noticing a slow warming trend per the OUN mesonet? Watching the radar animation, coupled with refreshing the mesonet page over the past hour, looks like the radar echoes seem to be moving ever so slightly north, just a tad. Along with that, I note the temperature here in Norman now has risen to 30. Wonder as the next wave now kicks out, the stalled upper trough is beginning to slowly retreat North????? Just thinking out loud.

[Rocky Rascovich]

We're still sitting at 27F here at the farm. Moderate showers of ZR continue, ice getting thicker... we've had some power surges too.
Lets hope this ever so subtle shift to the north manifests itself more hastily tonight... Can't take much more ice before the lights go out.

[Billy Griffin]

Not sure if the anemometers are all froze up or if it's true data, but according to OK Mesonet, there's barely a breeze over most of the entire state. The temperatures just seem to be fluctuating a few degrees, as I guess is to be expected. Yeah, we've had a few power surges here on the east side of Norman as well. Hoping for the best regarding the electricity situation... even with gas heat, central air doesn't work very well without AC. :-)

Looks like a pretty solid area of FZR moving west of the OKC metro area to the ENE. Most of OUN should miss out on this if it continues its current path.

[CHris Whitehead]

FINALS MONDAY POSTPONED See OUMail for further details (for those that apply)

[Andrew Francis]

This freezing rain band setting up over Central OK seems as if it will never stop. In fact - models show that before it stops its just going to get worse when the low kicks out.

Here in Stillwater, the roads are ice. The sidwalks are basically impossible to walk on here on campus (I cant see them having class tomorow).

The main band of precip is pushing slightly North of OKC it seems. Stillwater is going to be getting another good layering of ice on top of the already frozen surface.

The sidewalks are the worst by far. The street is frozen as well. - Just a little broken up in spots due to cars and plows.


Gunna be a long night.

[Jeff Snyder]

I continue to see mixed freezing rain and sleet. Most of the day, I'd say the predominant precipitation type at my house (on Waterloo E of I35 along the Oklahoma / Logan county border) has been sleet (IP), though we did have heavy enough liquid precip about 30 minutes ago that it started overflowing the gutters (granted, they're clogged with leaves that I haven't had time to remove, but it's interesting nonetheless). I'd say there's ~0.4" of glaze on the grass and branches, but the solid surfaces (i.e. my concrete driveway) has a good deal of sleet on it, so walking isn't too bad (the sleet acts to bite into the glaze ice a bit, giving a little bit of traction).

The Missing or Calm wind obs on the Mesonet can most likely be attributed to frozen anemometers. I just took a stroll down the road, and I'd say sustained winds are 5-10 mph.

I'm quite fascinated by the persistance of the quasi-stationary band of precip that started about 24 hours ago along I44. Asphalt roads are still largely just wet, not surprising given 2" and 4" bare soil temps in the 34-36F range (see http://agweather.mesonet.org/soil/default.html ). The freezing of the roads will be slowed a bit as the freezing process itself, as I'm sure we all know, releases energy (i.e. latent heat of fusion slows the freezing process). I'm still looking to get out tomorrow morning to take some pictures. Some of my favorite winter landscape pics involve glaze ice.

FWIW, news is reporting 100 auto crashed since last night, with 8 fatalities (a count that doesn't include a multi-fatality collision in Okemah along I40 that closed that interstate). Enhanced rainrates expected given possibility of convection yet again tonight. The 00z OUN sounding (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/07121000_OBS/OUN.gif ) showed ~700 j/kg MUCAPE, with a very impressive warm nose (~10 C at 850mb... in December!). Interestingly, there's also ~45-50 kts of effective shear (~35kts at updraft base / 850mb / increasing to 85kts at the equilibrium level / ~300mb) which may promote a little organization to some of the storms.

EDIT: KTLX base velocity data indicate that the cold air is back down to near 2800-2900 feet in depth. If I recall correctly, the cold air deepened earlier this morning to near 4000 feet, so it's decreased in time lately. This is not surprising given the strength of warm air advection just above the cold dome. Eventually (most likely by tomorrow afternoon), the freezing line should move back northward. Of course, it's important to note that models have a strong tendency to underforecast the speed and intensity of these shallow arctic air intrusions, so I wouldn't be surprised to see subfreezing temps hold on a little longer than models forecast.

[Robert Rohloff]

My power at the house has been out since 0430 hours, inside temp is down to 52 degrees. I have heard trees snapping all day last couple of hours my back yard tree is not sounding good. Have some power poles bent or breaking just NE of Owasso.

Last check I have seen about 3/4 to 1 inch of ice on some areas. If I did not state it before I HATE ICE STORMS............

[CHris Whitehead]

Well this isnt 2002. Some limiting factors here, one which OUN pointed out on their evening update, is light winds. Its one thing to get trees and powerlines covered in ice but they need help in going all the way over and that just isnt there. ALSO something i noted earlier and Jeff just did as well is ground temps. Unfortunately there was no extended period of 35 or below air temps prior to the beginnings of this storm in central OK, which means the ground/soil/roads have been slow to cool. Roads are obviously beginning to ice up but ground is not cooperating as such. Also doesnt help that area is expected to actually warm over the next 24.
So not a major ice storm event that will be remembered but a winter storm that will be the most notable of the year I believe.

[Dan Dawson]

The warming trend is interesting, given that the winds are still light out of the north. Since temperatures drop off toward the north, there should still be some weak CAA. I imagine that both sensible heating from the warm raindrops and latent heating as they freeze on contact with the surface are contributing to the slight warmup.

[Dan Dawson]

I am seeing some very strange flashes going on to the south. It's greenish in color: not sure if it is lightning or power flashes, but it is nearly continuous.

EDIT: The flashes have stopped, but I saw a few more off to the NE. I'm pretty sure they are power flashes, probably from trees falling on power lines. It was just particularly long-lasting.

[CHris Whitehead]

I am seeing some very strange flashes going on to the south. It's greenish in color: not sure if it is lightning or power flashes, but it is nearly continuous.

Dan you had me running outside and upstairs.
You sure your not seeing the reflection off the cloud of the beacon from Goldsby airport?
I live on campus, not sure what part of Norman your in as far as looking south goes

EDIT: my apartment face east so I have no way of seeing this even if i knew about it, unless i walked out door.

[Brett Roberts]

I thought I saw some strange flashes outside my window about 10 minutes ago (~12:20 CST) as well.

[Billy Griffin]

Still hearing an occasional clap of thunder and seeing a distant flash or two of lightning over here in SE Norman, OK. Streets here in the neighborhood continue wet, ice-free! However, everything else has about 1/4 - 1/2" of ice and it's still raining! Had one power hit about 30 minutes ago that made us all think, "this is it," but power came right back on (15 seconds or less).

1:25 AM CST - We're sure flirting with that magic 32 degree mark! 30 here in Norman, but I see just down the road, Pauls Valley, OK reports 34 degrees.
Wonder how much longer we'll stay at or below freezing? Coming a downpour here at the house as I type, and radar looks to be filling in with pockets of moderate to heavy rain all over southwest and south-central Oklahoma...... W O W !!!!!

[Angie Norris]

So much fun...watched some power flashes while helping a friend chip through about 1/2" of ice on her car so we could get home from work, then saw a few more in the vicinity of NE Moore/SE OKC on the drive to Norman. Got in about 10 minutes ago, accompanied by some thunder and another round of light freezing rain. Like Billy said, streets are just wet, but the trees and everything else look like they're encased in crystal. Temperature is 29 (per mesonet data) and radar is lighting up.

[Joey Ketcham]

2:30AM.. on and off freezing rain, been watching branches falling as well as seeing some power flashes.. power blinked for a moment. Everything is literally covered in ice here in Pittsburg, KS.

[CHris Whitehead]

3:15am: Awaken by loud clap of thunder....look at radar shows things have taken turn for worst. Instead of widespread scattered cells, now its a constant line with no breaks and lots of convection....not good for power, this now is becoming serious in terms of power

EDIT: BANG!!!!!!!! CG

EDIT: EDIT: see http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md2200.html (SPC MD 2200)

[Ben Prusia]

Just got home from work and EAX/TWX WFOs just issued an ice storm warning for just about their entire CWA for ice accumulations possibly exceeding one inch! Both the NAM and GFS 0Z models are indicating QPF of near 2" in and near the KC Metro Area; I am hoping it is not 2002 all over again...

[Rob Satkus]

In Norman, about 4:30am, light to moderate freezing rain ongoing. Have been hearing branches snap and crash to the ground for about the last hour or so, sounding like a gunshot followed by the sound of shattering glass. Just had a very large branch snap and bounce of the roof, landing on the walkway just in front of the door. Good thing no one was stopping by...(not that anyone would at 4:30am) but this was a big enough branch to cause serious injury. Amazed the power is still on. A few flickers but thats it. Can only imagine what this would have been like if temps were colder than what they have been. Very surprised to see streets are pretty much just wet. Several close cg's very early Sunday morning and again early this morning...enough to set off car alarms and knock the cable out for a few minutes. Hope to get some pics later...maybe I'll finally figure out to how to get them on here...I am such a technological simpleton.

Rob

[Mike Peregrine]

1-2" of ice is definitely enough to be concerned about. I don't even want to think about this being anything like 2002, but it sure looks that way. Woke up worried about what's coming today and noticed the warnings. EAX has a new web briefing on the event here (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/?n=webbriefing). I was hoping to avoid this, but it looks like we're going to get nailed. Surface temps here have been in the low 20s for several days now, so when rain falls, there will be no wet pavement. It's pretty much going to freeze instantly. I doubt if many of us will be posting online after tonight. Bye bye electricity. It was nice having you -

[Anthony Silver]

1-2" of ice is definitely enough to be concerned about. I don't even want to think about this being anything like 2002, but it sure looks that way. Woke up worried about what's coming today and noticed the warnings. EAX has a new web briefing on the event here (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/?n=webbriefing). I was hoping to avoid this, but it looks like we're going to get nailed. Surface temps here have been in the low 20s for several days now, so when rain falls, there will be no wet pavement. It's pretty much going to freeze instantly. I doubt if many of us will be posting online after tonight. Bye bye electricity. It was nice having you -

Not looking good at all for the KC area!....from the latest EAX AFD:
A SIGNIFICANT AND POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINTER STORM APPEARS LIKELY (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=LIKELY) LATE TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY. AN UPPER LEVEL (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=UPPER LEVEL) LOW WAS NEARLY STATIONARY OVER THE BAJA OF CALIFORNIA WITH A WEDGE OF TROPICAL MOISTURE (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=MOISTURE) SURGING NE AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM. AT THE SFC (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=SFC)...THE COLD FRONT (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=FRONT) WAS ACTUALLY STILL PRESSING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST INTO EXTREME SRN (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=SRN) ARK AND SERN TX. THE BOUNDARY MOVEMENT AND THE AMOUNT OF WARM AIR THAT CAN RETREAT NORTH IS CRITICAL FOR DETERMINING ICE ACCUMULATIONS...ESPECIALLY FOR THE SRN (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=SRN) GRIDS. GIVEN THE DEPTH OF THE COLD AIR...AROUND 125MB..AND CURRENT PLACEMENT OF THE FRONT (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=FRONT)...MODELS APPEAR MUCH TOO EAGER TO WARM SFC (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=SFC) TEMPS THROUGH TUESDAY...ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE FACT THAT A REINFORCING SHOT OF COLDER AIR SPREADS SOUTHEAST DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY. THIS IN RESPONSE TO THE NORTHERN BRANCH SHORTWAVE (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/glossary.php?word=SHORTWAVE) OVER THE NRN PLAINS SHIFTING EAST.

Might as well call KCPL now and tell them my power is out, that way I'll have it back on by Friday and not have to wait 2 1/2 weeks like I did in '02! :D

[Mike Peregrine]

Might as well call KCPL now and tell them my power is out, that way I'll have it back on by Friday and not have to wait 2 1/2 weeks like I did in '02!LOL ... well that's an interesting idea.

'02 caused half a million people to lose power, some of whom lost it for weeks. There were some people who did not have power for TWO MONTHS. Yes, two months. I worked with some who were forced to move out of their homes for the winter and move in with relatives. I would do anything to avoid a replay of that. My folks lost power for three weeks in the '96 storm, and that was bad enough. Tornadoes actually seem tame compared with the destruction of some of these ice storms.

Day 1-2 Precip Outlook (http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/d12_fill.gif)

[Andrew Francis]

Last check was about 270k customers (not people, people = more) - in OK are without power.

The band of freezing rain in OK finally broke apart last night. Now it appears that with the storm system approaching from the west - that original band will lift North into W central and N central OK into Kansas.

Appears to be a good icing over western and northwestern-central OK into S Kansas is in store for tonight. I think a large band is going to set up over the west and north central part of OK for much of the evening and spread northward into Kansas. Places in KS have been below freezing for a while now.... could be pretty significant.

[Eric Flescher]

Here in Kansas city ice storm will start 6pm. It is just grey now but the prediction is at least 0.5 inch thick ice as well as possible thunderstorm ice storms which I am told increase the precipitation and ice. (I did not know that).

[Anthony Silver]

LOL ... well that's an interesting idea.
'02 caused half a million people to lose power, some of whom lost it for weeks. There were some people who did not have power for TWO MONTHS. Yes, two months. I worked with some who were forced to move out of their homes for the winter and move in with relatives. I would do anything to avoid a replay of that. My folks lost power for three weeks in the '96 storm, and that was bad enough. Tornadoes actually seem tame compared with the destruction of some of these ice storms.


Yep the ice storm of '02 was the worst I can remember-my power was gone for 2 1/2 weeks (like I said previously) and I had to move in with some relatives that I don't necessarily get along with (which was a HUGE nightmare), on top of that I wrapped my brand new car around a tree-so I'm crossing my fingers in hopes this storm isn't going to be as crazy as they're projecting.

QPF's paint a very ugly picture (http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/fill_9eewbg.gif)

NCEP Ice Accumulation Graphic (http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/day1_pice_gt_25.gif)

[Mike Peregrine]

I wonder about the reasoning behind channel 4 playing down the possibilities this morning? They are saying under an inch total, and not to worry about this approaching 2002 severity. Good gracious I hope they are right!!! But I am just not seeing it ... everywhere else I look still projects big precip out of this. Maybe it's going to warm up more than I'm thinking? The models haven't exactly been squared away on surface temps lately, so I was thinking that it would end up colder than their projections if anything -

[Maggie Kahman]

Here in Kansas city ice storm will start 6pm. It is just grey now but the prediction is at least 0.5 inch thick ice as well as possible thunderstorm ice storms which I am told increase the precipitation and ice. (I did not know that).

6PM is what i heard for us, too. .25" of ice, and 2-3 inches of snow. But the amount of snow depends on how early the precip (freezing ran, sleet) changes over to snow.

[Benjamin Smith]

I wonder about the reasoning behind channel 4 playing down the possibilities this morning? They are saying under an inch total, and not to worry about this approaching 2002 severity. Good gracious I hope they are right!!! But I am just not seeing it ... everywhere else I look still projects big precip out of this. Maybe it's going to warm up more than I'm thinking? The models haven't exactly been squared away on surface temps lately, so I was thinking that it would end up colder than their projections if anything -

I've been wondering this exact same thing myself. That is the only station saying that from what I've gathered. Maybe they are just doing it taking a gamble they will be the only ones right....though I would hope that is not the case. Either way driving downtown from Peculiar tomorrow morning may be troublesome!!

[Rhyuan Janssen]

Well here in Iowa I am still hoping that this talk that DSM, QCA, and Lacrosse is having about the qpf and track of the storm shifting further north comes true. Otherwise I am looking at a minimal event here. Several inches of sleet they are saying, which will be like last time. Lacrosse has said 3 times now that qpf fields and the track of the storm is shifting north... appears to me that latest GFS runs look similar to the NAM now with a bit of a more southern bias... but GFS has me in just as much precip now as my neighbors to the south, and with a watch ONE county to my east and ONE county to my south I cannot see where I would miss the entire thing but...weirder things have happened!
Here's to wishful thinking for a good ice storm where I live...

[Mike Peregrine]

Rhyuan, you'd be welcome to have it if I had my way. I live on a really steep hill :) . Benjamin, 71 highway will not be my idea of a party tomorrow by any means. Better pack some kitty litter and sand, buddy. Even on the low side of things, transportation will be hit hard, I'm thinking. Once my car gets in the garage tonight, it's going to stay there. I'm within walking distance of the Plaza and the art museum, so if we aren't working I'm planning on a photography hike.

[Anthony Silver]

I've found that Channel 4 tends to downplay everything. Doesn't matter if it's winter weather or severe t-storms..9 times out of 10 they end up being wrong, but I certainly hope they're right on this one! They seem to think the warm front that's positioned across AR will retreat back into the area overnight, but in reality I don't see it making it this far north with all of the thick cold air we have lingering around. It could make it's way back into the SGF area thereabouts, but I don't see it coming any farther north than that. Channel 5 was going overboard with their forecast at 6AM, which didn't surprise me, and Channel 41 was acting as if they were undecided. Guess I'll stick with the NWS info for now, then wait and see what happens later.

[Mike Peregrine]

I think a lot of it will depend on the interaction between the two boundaries tomorrow and the timing as the warm front retreats and the cold front advances. That cold air is going to reinforce things tomorrow at some point - to me, it's a gamble to say with any certainty how far north the warm air will get versus how quickly the cold front arrives. I think we'll have a much better idea later this afternoon what to expect out of this tomorrow -

[Zac Flamig]

The tree damage in Norman is extensive. A lot of trees are basically disintegrating under the ice. With brief periods of having rain continuing off and on the ice is adding up on the trees and grass around the city. Sidewalks and roadways remain largely unfrozen.

[Rocky Rascovich]

We still have power as of 0945cst.. just had a downpour of heavy freezing rain... temp. aprox. 27F. An average of 3/4 to 1" of ice accumulation. My maple in my front yard is starting to get really weighted down... most other trees look pretty coated as well, but I haven't any broken branches. As I said, we still have power as do the rest of Piedmont.

Going through some of the data initially, it looks like once we can get past midnight tonight, that is when we should rise above freezing and melting can commence. Between now and then, I'm expecting another 2/3 of an inch of ice ontil this band of precip. can move to the north.

I just talked to my sister who lives 8mi. NE of Owasso, OK. she said its devastating up there, large branches down, a couple unfortunately on her car. She has a VERY LARGE cottonwood that I have pleaded with her to have removed because its very close to the west side of the house, it too has lost several branches but thankfully has missed her roof. They have been without power since 0100.

No use in me complaining anymore about this storm... nothing I can do about it, except get out the camera and take a few pictures. Attitude is 90% on how you deal with what life dishes out... I think my good attitude is around here somewhere.

Rocky&family

[Mike Hollingshead]

I'm pondering making the drive down to St Joe soon and shooting the event from there. I just hate the worry the night or two in a motel will be a waste if that location gets only enough ice to make the roads un-driveable(not hard in that hilly terrain I don't imagine). Then I'd have to wait till they got better to drive into the worst areas anyway. I also don't want to wait till it is over and not be able to get to the ice soon enough thanks to warming temps or crap roads between here and there. Hmmmm. Will most likely head on down today.

I am also concerned on the stupid models warming things like they do. I did not believe them last time and I found myself being very wrong, lol. There's a couple big differences this time around though. One, the air is colder this time and two, the biggest factor, the low level warm advection will want to be weaker(no 70
+ knot llj this time) and also be veering as it goes, and not plowing straight north. So again, though a bit more warranted this time, I don't think warming will be quite as strong as the models want(which even if they were right, there's still a small strip in nw MO/ne KS that stay near/sub freezing most of this). GFS has KC at/near 35 during the heaviest precip. NAM is actually pretty similar. Guess one just has to go and find out.

[Jeff Smith]

I lost power in Verdigris about 5:30am. Huge green flash from my back yard. I have approx. 50 trees on my 1 acre lot and as of daybreak it looks like most have sustained major damage. No damage to the house, though.....yet. I would say that we have 1" of ice buildup on trees & powerlines. Area bridges were very slick and catching motorists off guard on the way to work in Tulsa. I'm w/ Rocky, still trying to find my good attitude.....

[Mike Peregrine]

Well ... one thing I'm thinking about is the fact that we still have plenty of snow on the ground from last week's storm. None of it has melted. So even if the WF were able to get north enough for temps in KC to climb into the low 30s, I think the ground cover is going to slow the process quite a bit, and whatever falls from the sky is going to want to freeze. Just my totally unprofessional opinion -

[Andrew Geil]

Well, things are still calm here in Central Illinois. Wind is fairly calm, and there's no precip yet. There's a nice glaze over everything, but they're calling for another .1 to .2 inches of ice tonight. Here's hoping it holds off until after the rush hour commute!

[Jeff Piotrowski]

I lost power Sunday afternoon here in Owasso. I would say about 50% of all the trees are down or broke in Owasso. Ice is one thick on trees and power lines. The town of Collinsville has no power and heavy tree damage. I have my office for now inside my truck in the drive way with power inverter. The sky is now turning very dark SW of me at 10:51 am with heavy thunder rolling in now. If it stays below 32 here today were in big trouble.

The last word on power outages for Tulsa area 160K.
:eek:

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

I was without power when I woke up this morning, nice and cold. I was woke up by a loud crash as a tree outside was falling on someones car. Pretty much every tree has been shreded in Norman to some extent. I drove around Norman a little this morning and there are multipe streets that have just been closed off completely. Front-end loaders are driving around pushing trees of the streets. I can believe I got power back, I expect to lose it again at some point unless we get above freezing soon.

[Angie Norris]

31/30 according to the mesonet here in Norman with another round of freezing rain coming through. Power's blinked a couple of times here, but it's only been a monentary thing...very lucky! Most of the trees look to have about an inch of ice coating them, but amazingly the roads only look wet (but I'm not about to check them out). Going to grab a couple pics of some icicles before they start melting, got a pot of chili on the stove, and study more for finals.

[Kenny Drake]

Travel is very difficult in Norman right now not due to the roads but downed trees and power lines everywhere. I planned out my route to the main part of campus avoiding roads with overhanging trees and I got here. Power outages appear to be widespread with the only area completely unaffected (electricity-wise) being OU with the underground electricity. My apartment is cozy warm and so is work. :) This will be an extensive cleanup and the landscape in Norman will never be the same as it was last Friday. I'd say quite a few of the trees have been completely destroyed with 1ft+ diameter downed "branches" quite common. I still expect temperatures to get above freezing here during the afternoon. Melting is already underway with barely subfreezing temps combined with just enough energy from the sun. Local Mesonet reporting 31F with the freezing line rapidly approaching from the SE. I do not expect any more significant ice accumulation on the southeast sides of the OKC metro however the damage has already been done. I think the entire OKC area will be above freezing (or at the freezing mark) by 5pm.

[Karen Politte]

Until I started surfing this morning, I had no idea whatsoever of the carnage in OK that this system has been causing. It's amazing what a state or two of separation will do for you if you don't watch TWC! ;)

The front associated with this system has been crazy to watch. Zero snow or wintry precip. here, but we have been foggy and socked-in with drizzle for the past three days and counting. It's getting old. We have spent this whole time sitting up just north of the warm front. Yesterday afternoon the warm front was the sharpest I have ever seen. LZK was reporting 77oF. 20 miles north here in Cwy it was still in the 40s - and you know what, that front never did make it to us.

For all of the excitement, though, I'll gladly take drizzle over an ice storm. I'd LOVE to luck-out with a snowstorm, but I have grown very fond of the trees in our yard......it's scary to think that OUN won't looks the same for a long time when the tree cleanup is done. :(

KL

[Chris C Sanner]

I can concur with what Kenny is saying. Right now I would estimate (and this is no exaggeration) that at least 80% of the trees have lost some branches and there's a good percentage that are destroyed for good. A rather large tree on the outside of my apartment complex here on campus is completely down and there are a lot of streets that are not passable due to the trees being down across them. I should have some video within the hour of the damage in Norman. It's quite extensive to say the least...

Edit: Video is uploaded and should become available soon at:

http://www.vimeo.com/426822

[Andrew Francis]

Looks as if things are calming down in OK.

here in Stillwater, a dirty slushis present on the roads where tire ruts havent been made. It has slowly been melting off though. While typing this, the power is flickering a bit. Freezing drizzle is falling here in Stillwater.

Everyone is being rude ot me, because last week I was saying this could be an "epic ice storm"....

Now im eating my words.... *NOTE TO SELF - Dont tell ur uneducated-weather-idiot friends about hunches on forecasts...

*smacks self on forehead*

I hate stupid people

[Rhyuan Janssen]

Don't feel bad Andrew, remember a few weeks ago Quad Cities office said we could have an EPIC record breaking snowstorm and that did not happen either. :-)

[Brandon Lawson]

I find it humorous that the school has sent out an email to people saying that Tuesday finals at OU will still be taking place. What I find humorous is that it appears that 8 out of every 10 homes have no power. So who is getting these emails? LOL! I live in Norman, on the south side of E. Lindsey St. between Classen and 12th St. and it appears that my block is one of the few blocks with any power.

I even sent an email to President Boren and Dr. Carr of the Meteorology department asking about this. I'll probably get in trouble, but it really is something to consider. I'm okay with proceeding with finals. I just thought it was funny.

[Maggie Kahman]

I just got back from walking around town for about an hour taking pictures. Everything is very pretty. We go a bit of freezing mist this morning. I will post a few pictures once my camera warms up, its in the bag still.

[Robert Rohloff]

I am currenty working one of the command posts set up for police services. We have over 400,000 without power in Oklahoma at this time. Some estimates of 10 days for all power to be brought back on line.

About 80-90% of all trees damaged with many wiped out. Area will not ever look the same.......

[cstrunk]

The bad news for everyone who gets major ice accumulations, is that it is going to be over such a widespread area, that power utilities will not be able to get to everywhere to bring power back online for a very long time. 400,000 already in the dark in Oklahoma. I suspect that the number will approach one million+ storm-wide.

Here in Ames, they have added in a little bit of freezing rain accumulations for tonight, up to .1". When it switches over, we are looking to get 3-5" of sleet/snow. It will make travel hazardous, but will be nothing compared to what it will be like south of I-80. The forecast for my home in Shenandoah, IA is from .6-.8" freezing rain tonight, with .1-.3" freezing rain tomorrow before it switches to sleet/snow for an additional inch or two. An inch of ice? That will be nasty. I hope it clears up by the time I travel home by the end of the week. Deer hunting is going to be dangerous with all of the ice on the ground!!

[Mike Peregrine]

I don't know when they started this exactly, but I'm totally digging the web briefings (4:00 pm update here (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/?n=webbriefing)). It rocks to hear a forecaster and see some of their products/reasoning on an event like this. I'm totally glued to every update from EAX these days.

Oklahoma sounds like a war zone. I'm afraid that it's true ... this is such a widespread event over multiple days this time, there will be some real trouble restoring power. Usually with a bad ice storm, the surrounding states send teams into the hard hit areas to help the local power companies. This time, each surrounding state is getting its own emergency within a slightly different time frame. It is going to cause some major backups in getting power restored. Don't expect it anytime soon, that's all I can say ...

[Jeff Snyder]

Just to reiterate -- from my understanding, the "400,000" for outages in Oklahoma refers to the number of customers affected. Just to guess, consider that 75% of those are homes (apartments, etc; the remainder being businesses), and take an average of 3 people per household... That puts the total number of people w/o power in Oklahoma near 1 million. OGE SystemWatch (http://oge.com/systemwatch/SystemWatch.Systemwide_1_content.html) shows 226,176 customers without power in their area (central OK), and PS-AEP (http://www.psoklahoma.com/News/outages/viewstorm.asp?stormID=703) (which covers Tulsa) shows 200,000 customers w/o power in their area. I sure there are plenty more rural co-op electric services that are down, so the statewide "customers affected" number may be nearing 500,000. FWIW, the local TV media in OKC are saying that this is either the largest power outage event in Oklahoma history, or this is the largest power outage event in OG&E history.

The sheer amount of precipitation that has fallen in some areas amazes me. For example, KOKC (Oklahoma City airport) recorded 0.86" yesterday, and 2.39" from 06z-18z today. That's 3.25" liquid-equivalent precipitation in 36 hours, with the vast majority of that fell when the surface temperature was below freezing. Interestingly, KOKC recorded 1.99" of liquid precipitation between 6-12z today. Now, if only the OK Mesonet sites had heated rain gauges...

Edit: climate summary for OKC gives daily precip of 1.18" today so far... So, that 1.99" between 6-12z must have been not passed the data quality check (not surprising, since I can't imagine 2" of rain fell in 6 hrs overnight, given the evolution of everything I watched on radar).

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.tornadovideos.net/

Since I don't see anyone posting pictures yet, and I just checked to see if any were on Reed's site.....for those not down there, check that out. Those last couple with the trees way down are sweet.

I'm currently in Mound City MO for the duration. RUC was already hinting at north with the precip track, so I just stopped here. That and if I remember right, the interstate becomes a lot hillier between here and St Joe anyway, and I'd rather have flat ground to tool around on. Looking at the radar loop now I feel a bit too far north, but I like the sfc temps here. They'd have to warm a ways to clear 32.

[Dustin Wilcox]

New MD out, that area of precip is expanding and racing North much quicker than any of the Models had picked up on, per RUC analysis I'd think some offices would consider replacing the winter storm warnings currently North of the Ice Warnings with ice storm warnings.

[Chris C Sanner]

Over 500,000 customers without power as of this evening in Oklahoma...OG&E is calling this their worst disaster ever in terms of sheer numbers. So far here around campus I haven't even so much as have had a power bump, so I'm definitely one of the lucky ones. I got some video (posted earlier) but it really doesn't do how extensive the damage is in some of the streets in residential Norman. Some were simply impassible due to trees being down. This place will for sure not look the same after this is done. Reed's pictures really show how it looks everywhere in Norman. It sounded like a war zone at times because of the cracks and pops of the trees falling.

[Ben Prusia]

It is now starting to rain here in the SW side of the KC Metro Area in Gardner, excellent job EAX for pinpointing the start time of advisory at 6PM.

[Angie Norris]

I rather agree that it is not a wise decision to go ahead with finals in the morning...but then I would rather not be standing at the bus stop in subfreezing temps at 7 in the morning (yep, one of the lucky souls with an 8am final), and walking around on icy sidewalks at school.Just got phone and cable back on in south Norman, was one of the lucky few to not lose power...yet. One of my friends came over to get cleaned up before work. She lives on West Robinson where they have been without power since 4am, which was about the time a tree fell on their house. She was the one who told me how bad the damage is arond Norman. We've lost many trees around my neighborhood, and a few neighbors now have their cars under what's left of some of the downed trees. War zone pretty much sums it up. The tree damage is incredible and heart breaking. There are very few trees intact around my apartment complex, and I've heard rumors that the campus is trashed.

[BrianBaker]

Yes the OU campus does not look good at all. A friend and I walked around about 4:30 and she took pictures. We heard limbs continuing to fall on campus. Many of the buildings on main campus have doors that are blocked by fallen limbs or trees. It really is a sad scene. Can't believe they are having finals in the morning after seeing this.

[Andrew Ryan]

Campus is totally trashed right now. It's actually on the dangerous side to be walking around. I will post pictures soon...

[Jordan Hartley]

Precip began falling here in Wichita at 145pm this afternoon and hasnt stopped since. We already have about 1/4 of an inch of ice accum on tress and vegetation. We have had numerous lightning flashes since it got dark and 4 louds claps of thunder which is always spoky to me during ice storms:eek: Not looking forward to driving to work tommorow or listening to shotguns going off(Branches snapping) all night. This is the only type of weather that I dislike and infact h8. Hope everyone stays safe and off the roads.

[Jon Person]

I just saw the videos of the damage, all those trees and power lines down is so awful! I hope everyone gets their power back quickly, and that your cars and houses are okay!

[Mike Hollingshead]

I wonder if this band in central to ne KS will want to stall anywhere, or just keep on moving by. If it stalls like that, someone is toast. It's somewhere between 24 and 27 here. Will be interesting to see how much if any sleet is in this. That MD is scary. .75 to 1.00 inch by 11pm....

It's really not advancing north as quicky as I was thinking it was going to. But, perhaps the low level jet will give it a nudge as it ramps up yet. Amazing what the 18z gfs puts through here tomorrow during the day, over 1 inch then. I can only imagine what would happen if it came out less sheared out Wednesday morning, like was indicated on one run of the GFS, where it gave another heavy shot of precip through KS in the early hours of Wednesday. That jet streak on the satellite loop earlier down the back side of the thing looked intense.

[Mike Peregrine]

It's pouring here - and the pavement just looks wet, but it's deceiving. My brakes locked up coming down the hill by my house and I slid about ten feet ... and it just started falling. Car thermometer was reading 31 degrees. Have a feeling this is going to be a long night -

[Mike Hollingshead]

A fair amount of sleet is already being reported from this. Wonder why none of the sfc obs state sleet.

Nevermind, all the new ones are freezing rain.

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KTOP/nwus53.chunk.html

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/s7/850mb.gif

That is some sick moisture for this time of year. Getting way above freezing at that level. Still only 40 knots.

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/model/ruc09hr_850_wnd.gif
21z ruc saying 50-60 by midnight. This area ought to be lit up like mad by then. I should stop jinxing things.

Edit: Oh and you were right about channel 4 Mike, lol. I got here, turned the tv on and was sort of listening. I was soon like, why am I even here, this dude is soooo down playing things. Then I remembered your post about that station.

[Mikel Shively]

Have a feeling this is going to be a long night -

Im currently at my home near Lancaster, near the IA/MO border. I start my 0100-0900 shift in the 911 Dispatch center in a few hours... When looking at the radar loop and combine that with our sfc temp of 22 degrees...It may be a long night for me as well :(

[Maggie Kahman]

The freezing rain has begun here, and ice is already beginning to accumulate (on our back porch, anyway). I just got an alert from my WeatherBug saying that we are in a winter storm warning:

Look For A Steady Freezing Rain Across The Area Through Midnight Tonight... Before Some Sleet And Snow Mixes In. Ice Accumulations Will Be Quick... And Substantial In Some Areas. Ice Accumulations From One Quarter To One Half Inch Are Likely By Dawn Tuesday. Such Ice Accumulations Will Cause Nearly Impossible Travel... And May Lead To Power Outages.

AND THEN, on top of that, when the rain finally changes over to snow, we could see about 3 inches.

[Rich Thompson]

Better late than never...

Here are a few images from around Norman. I didn't have any power until this evening, hence the delayed post:

http://www.chasetolive.com/gallery2/v/2007+Chases/10December2007/

Rich T.

[Jeremy Ludin]

A very light freezing drizzle last night has left a thin coating of ice on trees and power lines today. Power lines are only designed to take on 1/2" of ice, so it'll definitely be interesting to see how long I'll be w/o power. What a beast! GFS currently has us pegged at 1.15". It's a safe bet I'll have a short work day tomorrow.

[Brad Case]

OAX radar updating at http://w0tvs.net

[Mike Hollingshead]

Noticed Falls City NE jumped from 25 to 27 the last hour as this precip started. So I assume it's around 26 or so here and it is raining now. Interesting to note the snow obs in se NE. Doubt that lasts long.

[Jason Bolt]

Rain started here at 3:15, started as a steady rain not freezing. About 6 you could really see it sticking. Now we have est. 1/3" on power lines and trees already. So glad the first couple hours didn't stick. It looks like an inch is possible by midnight or so, not even ready to think about morning. The only good thing is its like the ice is "wet" so to speak vs. frozen solid. Roads aren't bad unless you get onto side streets. I feel bad for people in Eastern KS, NEO and SW MO. I think we are gonna get off easy out this way.

[Karen Politte]

Rich, nice to finally see some images out of the area. I'd been waiting for a peek but you're about the first to have them up online - or at least on ST. Probably because nobody has any power. The news stations have been as much use as an underwater candle all through today, unless you want to hear about reporters whining on their Blogs (http://blog.newsok.com/breakingnews/2007/12/10/wheres-the-power/) about why they are losing power and wondering what will happen when "the big one" finally comes. :rolleyes:

Looks like quite the horrific ice storm. I can't believe OUN finally got nailed. So much for the pit. Makes me kinda grateful for our three-day-long-and-counting severe drizzle event that we are in the middle of.

Your photos from the NWC make me wonder - I wonder how those big flags will react to the ice, or if they're even still there? One would think that, once turned stiff as a board, they'd be fairly susceptible to breakage.

Good luck with the thaw and cleanup.

KL

[Maggie Kahman]

Hey, I just put up new pics, link is in my sig.:)

[Bob Hall]

I live in the Maple Ridge subdivision of Tulsa. We have many mature 100 plus year old trees. We have extensive damage. This is my detached garage in the back yard. This pretty much the standard size trees down in this neighborhood. Power and Internet are fairly rare commodities in Tulsa this evening.

http://wisesky.com/linked/12-10-07/12-10-07-weba.JPG

http://wisesky.com/linked/12-10-07/12-10-07-webb.JPG

[AndrewLee]

I'm estimating about 0.25'' - 0.4'' of freezing rain just fell in midtown KC over the last hour. I'll echo Mike's sentiments about the roads being deceptive. It looks like their is standing water but it is all ice just below the surface.

I was personally forecasting about 1.0" for midtown KC through Wednesday morning but given the intensity of this initial round I might need to revise that forecast upwards.

Looks like EAX nailed it this morning with their concern overnight about extreme NE KS and NW MO. Echoes from Topeka to St. Joseph and northward are very impressive.

I'll be interested to see where the freezing line sets up tomorrow.

<sigh> I've been 'itching' to buy a new chainsaw anyway. Stay warm and stay safe.

_____________
Andrew Lee

[MClarkson]

Sweet... we had a plane divert to SLN and it didnt get out in time...

Its sure not going anywhere now. I think we will be lucky if its only trapped in an inch of ice.

[AndrewLee]

Just a quick update. Intermittent power failures here in midtown KC.


_________
Andrew Lee

[John Farley]

Here are a few pictures from the snowy side of the storm in northern New Mexico. The first two were taken Sunday during a break in the storm between the second and third (currently affecting NM weather) shortwaves associated with this system.

http://www.johnefarley.com/gorge-snow-c.JPG

Rio Grande Gorge with fresh snow



http://www.johnefarley.com/nm120907-1c.JPG

Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Taos and Red River


The next one was taken today, as the third shortwave, still affecting NM produced high elevation snow and valley rain:

http://www.johnefarley.com/nm121007-1c.JPG

Fresh snow near the 9500 foot level above Santa Fe


Each shortwave has been colder than the previous one. The first one produced mostly rain even up to 10,000 feet and above in NM, but heavy snow farther north in southern CO. The second one produced 20-30+ inches of snow in the mountains in far northern NM, around Taos and Red River, and about 4-5 inches in the town of Taos. Still mainly rain in Santa Fe, though, despite substantial snows generally above the 8500 foot level. The current, ongoing storm, has produced snow down to the 7000 foot level, including Santa Fe, though it did start out as rain at that level.

In southern CO, where it has been all snow in the higher elevations, the snow amouts have been stupendous. The Wolf Creek ski area got over 4 feet in the first wave of snow Thursday-Saturday morning, and another 5 feet since then in the two ensuing waves of snow.

[Brad Case]

Light Freezing Rain being reported now at Offutt AFB NE

[Alex Lamers]

We never had much in the way of ice storms where I hail from (SE WI) so this was by far the worst ice storm I've ever been a part of. Trees are down all over campus. Re: having exams tomorrow, I'm not quite sure how it will be done unless they are planning on sawing up a bunch of trees overnight. The entrances to Dale Hall are blocked by trees. In fact one that collapsed pushed one of those heavy OU trash cans in the middle of the main entrance path. Also, students who live off campus are looking for a way to stay warm, much less study, as many of them are without power.

Regarding the damage...most if not all trees around campus have some sort of damage. It looks like a war zone. Never seen anything quite like it to be honest. Many large limbs down, some through windshields or on cars. Rows of trees just bent over Asp Avenue. The flag on the North Oval was frozen stiff. A fair sized tree just barely missed my car. Tree limbs were breaking off as people were walking around today. I saw a girl almost get hit on the head by one that was ~1 foot in diameter. In fact they were still breaking as I was just driving about 15 minutes ago.

When I figure out a way to get up pictures, I will.

AJL

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Well the heavy rain is moving out of the KC metro we have .3" of rain here at my house. I expect most of the night to go with the more isolated convective thunderstorms similar to that of what happened in OK. I think we are no way out of the clear. By morning the rain will become steady again and we could see an additional .5" or so.

[Rhyuan Janssen]

I just heard up to .4 inches of ice in the last HOUR in Kansas City..wow... I am starting to hear whispers of this storm producing more QPF than they had expected...will be interesting to see what happens with morning update.. with the back of the precip shield almost to COLORADO I still wonder why no headlines for those further to the west?

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-10-9174.jpg

That's the street here at the motel in Mound City MO. It's really hard to even walk on. New heavy core heading here now. I'm still wondering if there will be an area that finally gets stuck in a heavy zone. Looks like maybe it's wanting to line up now sw-ne...maybe.

I'll try and put updates on my front page. http://www.extremeinstability.com

Just west of here has to be really screwed already.

Edit: Flat out pouring here now and it's 28.

[Mike Peregrine]

heh - H - that street you took a photo of has the retirement home where my great grandmother used to live when I was a kid (in Mound City) in the background. I know right where you are ... at least you can walk to McDonalds if you get hungry.

Here are a couple from my front porch right now -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/mikeperegrine/IMG_3521.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/mikeperegrine/IMG_3524.jpg

[Dustin Wilcox]

Here in Lincoln Moderate rain falling with surface Temps 27-28, trees are already coated, roads just slushy due to all of the salt from Weekends snow fall. If this keeps up (per radar obs it will) SE NE will be in pretty bad shape as well.

[Jeff Miller]

Amazing explosion of moisture in Nebraska spreading clear back to Colorado.

OAX has upped snowfall amounts from a trace to 3-6" in NE Nebraska. FSD has raised snowfall amounts from a 50% chance of snow with zero accumulation to 2"+ for KSUX - and looking at radar, thats an understatement to say the least.

The models absolutely did not see this one coming around these parts!! I'm absolutely excited to see what is going to happen around here.

[rdale]

I just heard up to .4 inches of ice in the last HOUR in Kansas City..

Doubtful. Official obs showing about 1/10" of an inch, and LSR + Spotternet reports giving storm totals about a quarter of an inch. How are you measuing that?

[Rhyuan Janssen]

rdale, TWC said it..as well as two of my local stations...I would assume it would be rather accurate if TWC said it... they could be wrong though...

[Chris Allington]

Moderate sleet has given way to light to moderate freezing rain here in West Omaha near my apartment. A nice coating of sleet is turning into glaze as the rain falls. I've only seen one plow salting in about 2 hours and havent had a chance to check the trees yet. Gonna head out and take some pics here in a bit. Probably a trace to 1/10th of an inch here so far.

[Chad Cowan]

Manhattan KS is reporting .5" of ice already. Judging by radar trends, I'd say they're in line to get another half inch with this first blob of precip. Just down I-70, Salina appears to have received the most rain thus far. There was 1/8" of ice reported 3 hours ago and they have remained in the convective band for most of that time.


rdale, TWC said it..as well as two of my local stations...I would assume it would be rather accurate if TWC said it... they could be wrong though...

They also show Dr. Grey's hurricane 'forecasts'... soooo... yeah.

[Mike Umscheid]

Attached are a couple photos from outside my front door. We have had about a half inch of freezing rain since this afternoon. There is a lull in the action, but round #2 is poised and ready to strike as it's really blossoming on AMA, LBB, FDX (clovis, NM) radars. Accumulation of ice on the trees averages about 1/3" or so.

http://www.underthemeso.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/Dec/20071211_0013.jpg

http://www.underthemeso.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/Dec/20071211_0015.jpg

[Mike Hollingshead]

Quite the training area of heavy freezing rain setting up. Falls City rose to 29, now back to 28. I'm now smack in the middle of this train. Power has already begun to flicker. Something in the back of my head is saying, "you're screwed here for a while". I certainly won't be surprised if this looks like how OKC looks by the time it is over. Oh yeah, there's been one obvious change recently. The south facing window here had been constantly covered in rain, now it stays dry as a bone. Wind has evidently turned a hair. Guessing this temp gradient down low and off the ground is starting to firm up and try to stay in mostly the same place. With a veering low level jet I would think it would.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-10-9189.jpg
Trying to capture the pouring rain in the puddles, but it made it look more solid/frozen.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-10-9182.jpg

[Jeff Miller]

11:58 PM:

Atmosphere saturated at KSUX/SSC and light snow is now starting to fall.

[cstrunk]

Just looked at the radar and returns started developing over Ames and I just went outside and it is RAINING! 22F and RAIN.

[Mike Hollingshead]

Storm totals on TOP radar already getting up there. 1.5 inches near here and I'm at the end of the train with all that to come yet and it's only midnight.

[cstrunk]

Also, that is quite the impressive new batch of precip forming down in New Mexico and the Texas panhandles. It looks like it is headed over the same areas as before. Time will tell.

[Ryan Pfannkuch]

Here in Hastings as of 1200 am I measured only 1/8th inch of actual ice glaze from freezing rain...with an additional 1/4 inch of sleet on top of it. Bottom line...its not too icy out there with the sleet putting a rough coating on the initial glaze. Based on 850mb temps from hourly RUC analysis am guessing we will start completing the "wintry trifecta" with a few inches of snow here starting over the next few hours as we completely lose any warm layer. Can't say I'm too disappointed to only be getting a taste of what is going on only 80-150 miles south and east of here where the 850 T is still holding strong in the +5 to +10 territory. Yikes.

[APritchard]

What was that about a Norman bubble? ;)

My band is supposed to be playing in Chicago tomorrow, and I'll be damned if we aren't going to make it. Looks like this initial band should stay pretty far NW in NW Illinois and eastern Iowa. Tomorrow afternoon and evening is when I'm most concerned about northern and possibly central Illinois getting into some problems. Luckily, it looks like we won't have as long term an event as they've been seeing out west. However, whatever does fall will be falling on top of the already 0.25" we already have, and won't be melting any time soon.

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

Here are the pictures I have teken over the past 2 days. Most are from on or around the OU campus. I havent really felt like venturing out much further, did not really need to with such extensive damage. I went to Pizza Hut a couple hours ago and there are 2 places in Norman with power: OU campus and 12th St (fast food places and Wal-mart). Everyone else is hiding in darkness, heavy fog, and a very thick coat of ice.

http://ou.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2181393&l=0cdac&id=9609344

[Dick McGowan]

Mike Hollingshead reports power is out in Mound City, MO for good as of 12:41 a.m. CDT.

[Mike Peregrine]

Kansas City is seriously lucky. The edge of the training storms goes from about Platte City up through St. Joseph and Holt/Atchison Counties in NW Missouri, and it is looking seriously rough up there. I can't imagine how much precip they are picking up out of this. St. Joe is looking completely toasted at this point. Here the streets are treated and I haven't heard a limb crack yet -

[Dick McGowan]

Streets are fine here in Olathe, I just drove around town, mainly just ice on the trees and power lines. There are a few patchy spots, and the side streets are a little slick, but everything is holding up okay so far. No tree damage, no power lines down. Maybe .1 - .2 inches of ice accumulation on those.

[Mike Peregrine]

Starting to worry about STJ now ... they've reported .25" in the past hour, and they continue to hover at 30 degrees. And there is no end in sight to this line of storms! I checked their temps for the next few days and this is looking grim. They won't be as fortunate as points south that will climb above freezing, so when they lose power (which most probably already have), it's going to be a very serious mess for a very long time. It's a good thing KC is getting spared for the most part because they are going to need all the help they can get up there.

EDIT - Just checked again and now they're at .34" in the past hour alone.

[Dick McGowan]

New RUC showing a lot more precip is expected for NE KS/NW MO and surrounding areas.... http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/model/displayMod.php?var=ruc_sfc_prcp&hours=hr06hr09hr12

I wonder how much of that will be freezing rain, and where.

A few pics from earlier:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/DickTwister/decemberice3web.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/DickTwister/decemberice2web.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/DickTwister/decemberice1web.jpg


Mike Hollingshead said power is out in the distance now too, and he is seeing lightning as well in Mound City, MO along I 29 in extreme NW MO.

[Mike Peregrine]

I can't believe I-29 is still open up there. MoDOT is showing it (and every other road in northern Missouri) covered, but still passable. I hope that Mike H is enjoying my hometown of Mound City, Missouri because he may be spending some time there.

Just checked the RUC after Dick's post, and this is starting to look like it has the potential to reach catastrophic levels. I'm not seeing much hope held out by the RUC at all. It's keeping forecast temps down and precip levels up through all of its runs.

[Joel Wright]

Well, just got home work. The freezing rain started here around 1am. Already .2" coating everything. Just the beginning here. Still another 14-16hrs worth of freezing rain to go...

[Dan Robinson]

Some of KC's roads look like solid sheets on the traffic cam network. Going after an event like this would be exactly like chasing a Cat 3 or 4 hurricane in terms of preparations and stranding potential, and from the looks of things tonight that may be exactly the way it turns out for some areas. At least 5 days of food and water, preps for going into self-sufficient survival mode, etc.

I was sitting here on Saturday getting ready to pack up the car and head west for the KC-SJT-TOP region, but decided against it. Would have been fun, but I figured it would cost me over $350 in gas and $200-$300 hotels if I got stuck there for several days. Too much for my winter chase budget!

[Andrew Francis]

Look at that squall line in TX pan handle approaching W OK....

Looks to be very heavy cold rain.

The NWstrn half of OK is right @ 32... However, i am guessing another degree or two of warmth just before the rain line comes in

[Joel Wright]

1/3" glaze down here already. Raining hard enough I can hear it on the roof at times. That's a bit disconcerting knowing that's all freezing on contact. Trees are already beginning to sag. Luckily the winds are dead calm. Much different than the last icestorm we had. That's one saving grace. Haven't seen a single sleet pellet. Temp's holding right at 30°. Radar shows moderate to heavy freezing rain centered from about the Quad Cities down towards Lamoni IA, and to just north of St. Joseph MO. Some of the radar estimates in northwest MO are astounding. I'm sure the rainfall rates may be exceeding the freezing rate, but even with that there's certainly gotta be a significant glaze building up.

[Mike Hollingshead]

What the hell! LOL. I'm shocked power is back here. I was thinking when it went out, and saw the power trucks right away, that maybe I was lucky that my area went out early and got the power guys first. For the last 2-3 hours I've tried to sleep, but it's been impossible in the dead silence.....broken over and over by large crashing tree sounds outside. Which has seemed somewhat odd because I never noticed there being many trees right around here. Power already flickered again since it just came back on.

Edit: TOP storm total radar is sick....3+ inches near here already. I can't see much outside yet as it is dark but it looks rather fubar'd.

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-10-9206.jpg

That's my only view at the moment, here in Mound City MO at 5:20 a.m.

Edit: Power just went out again but came right back on. Won't be long now and it'll be gone again....flicker flicker as I type. North winds will start and that will finish things off. Scary seeing the next long slug coming and seeing the n winds start up on the ruc through it. Should stay below 32 pretty easy. See ya later, probably Wednesday, lol. Sucks the cell phone data doesn't work when the power goes out here...for some reason. Phone was fine and said D for digital, but wouldn't connect.

Mental note...never ever again chase a winter storm without a battery radio(for noise if nothing else) or at least a 9 volt battery for the motel clock radio. Jeez I can't believe I did it again, something so simple like a 9 volt battery and I always forget or don't bother. Sooooo annoying to be stuck in complete dead silence.

[Mike Umscheid]

Nice account Mike H. Yeah, I think the corridor from Greensburg-Pratt northeast through Great Bend-Salina to Manhattan-Junction City to Falls City-Atchison-STJ area is the freezing rain winner (from meteorological standpoint!). Here in Dodge City, we were on the western fringe of the heavy precipitation. As of this hour, Dodge City ASOS has recorded 1.00" of precipitation, all in the form of freezing rain since late yesterday afternoon. I'll take my camera into work and get some photos from around the office. I think this equals or perhaps barely surpasses how much freezing rain we got from the Dec 30, 2006 ice storm (as that "core" of major ice storm damage was just west and northwest of Dodge City). Still not sure how much impact there is here in Dodge, I have power on the north side, but all the trees on the northside are new/young trees. I understand pretty much all of Pratt is without power... much can be said I guess of most of the smaller communities in the "swath" I mentioned previously.

EDIT: Where Mike H is, the radar is likely over-estimatin, since the beam is shooting so high... might be getting some bright-band contamination at the edges of radar domain. Nevertheless, STJ is almost up to two inches right now (6am). FNB (Falls City) observation recorded 0.89" so far where radar is showing about 2.5" Interesting to note that the TWX storm total precip is showing a 4" bullseye over Salina, but Salina ASOS showing 1.97" for a total at this point.

[Mike Peregrine]

My mom is without power in St. Joe as well. It looks similar to Mound City from what she is telling me. Someone is stopping at her house to shut her water off now. They managed to keep power until 4:00 am. She describes hearing the "shotgun crack" explosions of trees disintegrating all night long. Sounds like it's pretty much devastated up there.

[Jim Zandonai]

We have had Freezing rain all morning but the temps have crept up to 32..so unlike last time when temps were in the upper 20s this time the 32 mark is helping us out for now..So far no major problems to report.. we did have some build up of ice on trees ..seems like some melted off a little.
Radar shows a huge area still moving in this direction so while this isnt a photo opp scene yet at least it looks good for power staying on for now. If we get more ice build up will post again with some pics.

[Joel Wright]

Approaching 1/2" glaze now. A lot of it seems to be melting on the streets and sidewalks, but it's still freezing to the objects above ground like trees and powerlines etc. Right at 32°. Most trees are really beginning to look weighed down. Only a matter of time before the ice storm starts amputating large limbs.

[Mike Hollingshead]

It is a whole lot dangerous around here right now. Crap breaking left and right. Too many people out and about so I came back to the motel for a while. On the way in I smell smoke. Just before I got out I heard a big "errrr" sound and wondered where it was. Well I look south and a house is on fire and people are standing outside on road. I try to work around for a better view in the truck, while not getting in the way, and wound up down the loop at that old folks home. Trees on cars in there. I get under some of it and see the outlet part is blocked with trees. I back up park and get out to take some stills of the street and while doing so branch falls on the home next to me. I leave there, and look back at the house, which had quit smoking. The fire department shows up. They get out, fire truck running there with its lights on as the fireman goes in. Then crack branches falling on the fire truck. Still raining here.

I'm amazed the power went out again for 2 more hours, and they again got it restored.

LOL freaky! I get off here to get my cam, walk by the tv that's still not working. I mumble to myself, why don't you clean the damn dish off(yeah yeah so important, I know...but I'm sick of no sound....radio has serious issues here). At that exact moment the channels come back. That was strange.

[Mike Peregrine]

St. Joe is in the same boat. Mom says there is not a square inch not covered by downed trees. She doesn't dare step outside for fear something will come down on top of her. This is just a horrible mess -

[Maggie Kahman]

Well, Dont have to worry about anyone breaking in to my car....I got the best security system in the world....My car is completely iced over....

[Daniel Christianson]

My freind Ellie down in Falls City says there's some branches down and thye have had a few power flickers as well but still got power, well last time i heard from her. Mike H... you could always sing to yourself... Im stuck here in Mound City, In a Hotel Where Outside Its Icy lol..... better then nothing right?

[Joel Wright]

Well, looks like we've actually spiked above freezing now. Still raining moderately, and there may still be some slow ice accumulation on the trees, but for the most part I think it's just rain now. Really a saving grace. The models did not show this. We were forecasted by all the models to stay at least 30-50 miles north of the thaw line for the duration, yet it has creeped a bit north of Erie. This may make a disasterous icestorm more of just an average icestorm. Definitely good news for us as long as we can stay this warm.

Anyway, just stuck my head out the back door and snapped this pic. Not nearly as impressive as what some of you guys have posted (which btw, very impressive pics guys), but here it is. Right around 1/2" glaze still. Additional accumulations on hold until we (or if we) get back to freezing.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7599/icestorm1211070051vr6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Maggie Kahman]

Here's a thought to ponder: May 4th, 2007; a mile wide EF5 tornado plows through Greensburg, killing 9 people. This ice storm alone has already beed blamed for 22 deaths!! Makes the G-burg tornado look like a little dust devil...

[Jeff Snyder]

A power update from Oklahoma...

OG&E SystemWatch shows that power outages continue to rise throughout central and northcentral Oklahoma. In the OKC metro area alone, there are nearly 270,000 customers without power (116,000 customers without power in OKC limits), and outages beyond the metro are increasing as well. Through the OG&E area, total outages number nearly 295,000 customers. The latest numbers for northeastern OK (served by AEP-PSO) indicate 252,537 outages. So, for the two largest power companies that cover most of Oklahoma, current total outages combine to approx 547,000 customers.

OG&E estimates that each customer represents about 2.5 people. So, using that ratio, the PSO+OGE outage total of ~550,000 customers yields about 1,250,000 people in the state without power.

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-11-9224.jpg

This is what is happening to the trees now. Being reduced to a tall trunk with no branches.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-11-9238.jpg
There's one for an idea how this has accumulated here. Maybe 3/4 in around on the branch itself with lots of very long daggers hanging below that. Wonder what that would average out to if you could measure that surface area.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-11-9251.jpg
I almost missed the fireman going into the house all together.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-11-9235.jpg
That fell down as I stood near the tree in the street.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/stormpics/2007/07-12-11-9240.jpg
I really haven't explored too much yet. Some of the streets were really scaring me, as very large trees leaned out over them. I'd just rather not be squashed to death yet.

Precip appears done now, or mostly. Winds picking up, even a little, along with cooling temps, is going to surely lead to a lot more branch popping.

[Mike Peregrine]

Incredible to me the fine differences in temperature involved in this whole deal. Kansas City is currently sitting at 33 degrees (downtown airport), St. Joe is reporting 32, and Falls City is at 30. Colder air is forecast to begin filtering its way south this afternoon, which I assume is going to freeze the stuff that has been falling all morning (and falling and falling). I still cannot believe how fortunate KC has been so far. During the periods of heaviest precip, KC has so far managed to stay a degree or two above freezing. I think that will be changing this afternoon. But this storm was amazing in terms of constant precip shield over such a huge area, which also happened to be the area that was a degree or two below freezing. Just enough for the worst conditions imaginable over those spots. I'm still interested in seeing what the afternoon has in store for Kansas City ... but as for the rest of northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas, they are simply toasted. There is not a tree left standing up there from what I'm hearing. At least we'll all have firewood in time for any similar events next year. A bit concerned with the winds as they turn to northerly ... they are forecast to come up quite a bit, which will take down whatever is left standing.

EDIT - here is the current story from St. Joseph (http://www.sjnp.net/news/2007/dec/11/ice-storm-pounds-st-joseph-and-region/). They are reporting 43,000 in the city (out of 75,000) out of power for the time being, with 10,000 out from Mound City to Maryville.

[Ben Prusia]

I am also very amazed the dodging of the bullet that the Kansas City area has been experiencing, but it appears that we will finally get some ice accumulations as winds from the north increase. It is 33 here outside in Gardner and most of my driveway has turned from a glaze of ice to just plain wet. We will see what the rest of the day turns out to be.

[Anthony Silver]

Looks like we missed the worst part of the storm here in the KC Northland. Got only about 0.3 inches of ice accumulation at my place. The roads were a little slushy as I was traveling into work this morning, but nothing too major.

Here's a couple of pics I snapped earlier:

[Michael O'Keeffe]

As for me here in Olathe, at the airport just 200 yards from my house we have had 32F temps all day and current surface obs showing freezing rain is falling. I have a tree in my frontyard that has slowly started to till further and further to the ground. We have a few large tree branches down around the neighborhood, but I think we are not done yet. We will see filtering colder temps later in the day. With that precip shield not going anywhere fast, we could see a little bit more glaze, but the roads as of now are just soaking wet. I'm worried about the overnight temps dipping into the low 20s and freezing the roads completely over. Also the increase in winds are a concern especially in NW MO and NE KS we had a few strong wind gusts earlier and I heard a few loud pops in the distance from trees falling. I mean I could be wrong but seriously folks we should not let our guard down yet here in the KC metro area.

[cstrunk]

Here in Ames, IA I would guesstimate that we received about .1" of freezing rain overnight, followed by .25" of sleet, and then 2" of snow this morning. It looks like we are in the clear. I was honestly expecting more of the precipitation to continue surging farther northward with the way that the precip shield was moving last night, and that we would end up with more precip than expected. NWS must have thought so too, because they added .1" of ice (verified) and 2-4" of snow/sleet (nope) to fall overnight. We did pick up a couple of inches of snow today like expected.

None of this compares to what has happened/is happening about 50 miles south of here. Back home in Shenandoah, IA, my mom says everything is covered in about .5"-.75" of freezing rain with some sleet on top of it. They are lucky in that they still have power. She says a lot of branches are down in the yard. She was going to take some pictures, so maybe I'll get to see what I have to look forward to deer hunting in this Friday!

[Rick Smith]

According to the latest situation report from Oklahoma Emergency Management, more than 634,000 customers are without power statewide.

You can access these reports at http://www.ok.gov/OEM/Emergencies_&_Disasters/2007/Winter_Weather_Event_20071209_-_Master/

WFO Norman is also working on a web page devoted to the ice storm. You can see it here http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/20071208/

Rick

[Jeff Smith]

Amazing...I measured 2 inches of ice on this limb in Broken Arrow, Okla. yesterday afternoon. The "war zone" saying fits pretty well!

[Jim Zandonai]

With temps at 32-33 we have not had the devastating icing that some areas have had yet but if rain continues and temps fall later even a couple degrees today more icing could occur. Radar shows Precip ending west to east for now.
So far about 1/4" of ice has accumulated on trees..

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/galactus01/122_2206.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/galactus01/122_2205.jpg

[Mike Hollingshead]

I just toured around the east side of town here. It amazes me how many trees I've seen and heard fall today. Think they'd do it for my video camera, hell no. 3 in a row in different places so I'd be like fine, I'll try again. Then there would be none for a while. Trees have taken lots and lots of powerlines down with them in town. Yet I have power still(jinx).

I wonder what this place will look like after a while, which trees will be able to recover. A whole lot of tree areas are just toast...and that is before tonight's added wind and cold help them out.

Will post some more pics soon, if I keep power.

[Chad Cowan]

Nothing but liquid here in Chicago thus far. We have hovered above freezing since about 6am but temps are slowly creeping downward and, per RUC guidance, should break the 32 mark before the last blob of precip is over. A quick 1/4" of ice accum is not out of the question here in downtown if the precip band lines up like I think it will. The far NW burbs have been below the freezing line for most of the day and there could easily be some +.5" accums before all is said and done.

Some quick numbers on the storm:
23 deaths blamed on ice
900,000+ w/o power (CNN)
400 Flights canceled @ O'Hare
4th consecutive day Chicago has recieved FZ rain or drizzle, something that hasn't happened on record dating back to 1924 (WGN)

[Steve Miller OK]

Just had power restored in my neighborhood (5 east of Moore, OK) 2 hours ago. Temps are a couple degrees above freezing and rain is falling steadily.
Conditions have improved substantially in the past 4-5 hours as the rain and temps have combined to help thaw ice from trees and whatever else it has attached itself to. This is good as winds have increased a little and should get a little stronger throughout the rest of the afternoon.
Problem now is the rain. The ice has plugged up drainage pipes, street drainage systems, gutters and even the large output pipes on the pond behind my house.

I’m glad this is about over with. Now to clean it all up.

I have some aditional writings about all of this in my blog for anyone who cares to read along.

[Mike Hollingshead]

Here's a few more images at the bottom of this page:

http://www.extremeinstability.com/07-12-11.htm

[jladue]

Here are some shots I took from around the area. I found this storm quite the opposite of a normal winter storm. Normally, you have power and can't go anywhere. This one: no power but can go anywhere.

http://www.towerofstorms.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1992&g2_page=2

regards,

Jim

[Dick McGowan]

Couple of pics from "The Plaza" this morning in Downtown KC.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/DickTwister/plaza8web.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/DickTwister/plaza5cropweb.jpg

[Mike Peregrine]

Mike's photos are amazing. The absolutely crazy thing is that I recognize those houses from having grown up in that small town and can even tell you who lives in them. It's been the strangest feeling seeing it posted in here all day. Hope everyone up there recovers ok from all this.

[Charles Kuster]

Those are some amazing photos out of Mound City and Norman! Here in Lincoln, we did not receive a significant amount of ice. I would estimate between about a quarter to .3" accumulated on must surfaces. Then we had very little sleet and snow (~<.5") throughout the day. We still had classes today and really dodged this major storm. I hope everyone stays safe during the storm.