What is an ice storm?
Ice storms can have a much more crippling effect than a snowstorm.
What is an ice storm?
Ice storms can have a much more crippling effect than a snowstorm.
When most people think of winter weather, they think of a blizzard or a mass amount of snow.
Ice storms often become forgotten because you rarely hear of them as blizzards overshadow them. But the problem is that ice storms can have a much more crippling effect than a snowstorm.
By definition, an ice storm is when there is damaging ice accretions during a freezing rain situation.
DRIVING ON THE ICE AND DRIVING IN THE SNOW
Freezing rain accumulation during the North American Ice Storm of December 2013: House Garden Fence Close to an Avenue.
(Getty Images)
Ice accretions are not the same as snow accumulations. Significant ice accretions are a quarter of an inch or greater, whereas, with snow, several inches to a foot could be considered significant.
Significant accretions of ice can pull down trees and utility lines, which can result in a loss of power. Even a small accretion of ice on roads or walkways is very dangerous and could potentially cause serious accidents.
Impacts from various thicknesses of ice accretion.
(FOX Weather)
What are some common hazards during ice storms?
Bridges and overpasses are often the first to freeze before other surfaces and can be particularly dangerous.
HOW MUCH ICE IS NEEDED TO KNOCK OUT POWER, DAMAGE TREES?
There is also a hazard of black ice after an ice storm.
Black ice is patchy ice on roadways that cannot be easily seen. Black ice often forms when either snow or ice melts during the day and refreezes when temperatures drop below freezing again.
Damage from an ice storm in Kentucky, USA.
(Getty Images)