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MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... December 5, 2013 December 5, 2013 December 5, 2013 December 5, 2013 Ice Storm 2013! http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-kingfisher-2002.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-kingfisher2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-kingfisher3.jpg That series of ice storm photos taken on Feb. 1, 2002, in Kingfisher by Oklahoma Mesonet Manager Dr. Chris Fiebrich provides a vivid example of the destructive power of ice. Unfortunately, parts of Oklahoma are facing that type of destruction in the next couple of days. No joking around here ... this is an extremely serious situation that's possibly going to occur down in southeastern Oklahoma. An "Ice Storm Warning" is now in effect for much of the southeastern one-third of the state. As much as an inch of ice is expected across that area. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/latest.oklahoma.snowice.gif http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/wfoTotalIce.png I was but a fledgling climatologist, barely a year into the job, when Oklahoma started getting all these catastrophic ice storms ... storms that used to come once a decade or longer were now showing up within 1-2 years of each other. Some really nasty ones too, which cumulatively left more than 1.5 million power utility CUSTOMERS (so that is multiplied by several when thinking of family members of those "customers") and more than $2 billion in damages to power industry infrastructure (power lines, power poles, etc.). http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/OK-ice-storms.png Those deaths are mostly associated with traffic accidents, but some are also due to things like slips and falls, and carbon monoxide poisoning (people get pretty desperate for heat when they've been without power for a few days and it's 20 degrees outside ... they do unfortunate things like bring gas heaters indoors and run them unventilated). Here are a few pics courtesy of Sid Sperry, Director - PR, Communications & Research at the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, that give you an idea of the power of ice. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-storm-2007.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/coke-can.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/icestorm-2010-1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/icestorm-2010-2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-storm-2010-3.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-storm-2010-4.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-storm-2010-5.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-storm-2010-6.jpg So those folks down in that area are under the gun. This is the type of ice accumulation, coupled with the wind, than can cripple the power utility's ability to deliver electricity for an extended period of time. Sid Sperry and Tulsa NWS chief Steve Piltz developed an ice index that combines ice accumulation and winds to categorize the damage potential of freezing rain. You can see here that with ice accumulations of an inch, coupled with winds expected to be gusting to as much as 25 mph on Friday, that they are in the Ice Damage Index 4-5 category. The damage and impact descriptions indicate prolonged and widespread utility disruptions, with outages lasting up to several weeks in some areas. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/ice-index.jpg With temperatures expected to drop into the single digits across the state by as early as Saturday morning, and wind chills even lower than that, this is a life threatening situation. You can learn more about the Sperry-Piltz Ice Accumulation Index here: http://www.spia-index.com/ And remember the rest of the state is under a winter storm watch and a winter weather advisory. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/latest.oklahoma.winter.gif The precipitation has already started, as has the power-freeze Mother Nature is providing. South central Oklahoma over into east central Oklahoma has already started to see freezing rain, and there is a lot of green stuff (falling as white stuff) off to out southwest headed this way. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/radar.png Temperatures are already down into the "your kidding, right" category, and wind chills are even worse ... below zero already in the Panhandle. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/current.TAIR.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/current-windchills.png The freezing line is still showing up in the state, at least, on the current air temperature map, but it won't be for long. Here are the local NWS office graphical depictions of the wintry wonderland (i.e., nightmare) to come. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-amarillo.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-norman1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-norman2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-norman3.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-norman4.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/nws-tulsa.png On top of all of that, we're definitely headed for some record low maximum temperatures today (and probably Friday, and Saturday, etc.) http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/today-forecast-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/today.record.lotmax.png Here are the forecast Saturday morning lows, just for another punch to the gut. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/saturday-morning-lows.png Some are saying the coldest December weather we've seen since the December deep freeze of 1983, but it might match up more closely with the December 1989 cold air outbreak. Whatever the case, this is an extremely serious situation, particularly for those folks down in southeastern Oklahoma. At this point, we have to pray for sleet and snow instead of freezing rain, although as Sid Sperry pointed out back last February, even just sleet and snow can wreak havoc on power lines. I'll leave you with some pictures from Cimarron Electric Cooperative where that exact thing occurred, with very unfortunate results. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/Feb-25-2013-snow-ice-storm.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/Feb-25-2013-icestorm1.jpeg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20131205/Feb-25-2013-icestorm-2.jpeg Gary McManus Associate State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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