Crippling ice storm to encase 1,000-mile stretch of U.S. in ice
A severe ice storm threatens to plunge millions of Americans into darkness and paralyze travelers from Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. through the weekend. In some areas, at least an inch of ice could coat everything from tree limbs to roadways, downing power lines and causing surreal scenes of destruction.
The storm system responsible for the freezing rain, which is liquid precipitation that freezes upon contact with a surface, will vault copious amounts of moisture into a bitterly cold air mass already in place across much of the Central U.S., Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states.
This will set up heavy precipitation, with snow in areas that have the deepest layer of cold air, and sleet and freezing rain where the wedge of cold air is more shallow, with above freezing air temperatures aloft.
Freezing rain occurs when a layer of warm air comes between two layers of cold air, like an unwelcome third wheel on a date.
The warm air causes falling snow to turn to rain, and the shallow layer of cold air hugging the surface (cold air is denser than warm air) causes the rain to hit the ground and freeze almost instantly.
This ice storm will not be your ordinary, "Hey, look at those pretty, ice-covered trees" event. Instead, if current projections pan out, it will be a crippling event for millions, with power knocked out for days and travel all but impossible.
States of emergency are in effect for Oklahoma, Missouri and other areas as officials brace for the onslaught of winter weather.
The region that is expected to get the greatest ice accumulations, with widespread amounts of a half-inch or more, will span from northwestern Texas into western Oklahoma and northwestern Kansas. This is where the combination of moisture and low level cold air will be maximized.
The ice storm will hit cities including Topeka, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus, Pittsburgh and, eventually, Washington, D.C.
However, the ice accumulations in the Mid-Atlantic are not expected to be significant enough to cause major problems.
An event of this magnitude, across such a large area, is not a typical annual event. Instead, USA Today reported this may be on the order of a once-in-a-decade storm.
Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
