An ice storm has hit across the Southern United States over the past few days. Cities affected include Dallas, Little Rock, and Memphis. Record breaking cold is coming to parts of the Upper Midwest and New England. Very crazy weather.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deadly-ice ... w-england/

As of Thursday night the ice in the Dallas area has already largely melted and the main streets and roads have been safely drivable since morning. I hear from a friend the same thing is true in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so presumably it’s the situation across a wide area.

Ice storms happen at least once every year or two in the South in the winter time, nothing crazy about it.

QF7 wrote:

As of Thursday night the ice in the Dallas area has already largely melted and the main streets and roads have been safely drivable since morning. I hear from a friend the same thing is true in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so presumably it’s the situation across a wide area.

Ice storms happen at least once every year or two in the South in the winter time, nothing crazy about it.

What was the ice in Dallas like Tuesday and Wednesday.

Once again, winter happens. It seems to happen every year around the same time.

The combo of low temps and wind will cause dangerous conditions in the upper Midwest and Northeastern states and parts of Ontario, Quebec and Maritime provinces of Canada.The risks include very short times to get frostbite, stress on electrical services, shut down some transportation including airlines, cars, trucks and trains, an uptick in deaths of the homeless, the poor who cannot afford to heat their homes, persons use unsafe heating equipment.Temps could get well below or equal records at 0 F/ -15 C still and with wind chills equal to -20-40 F / - 30-40 C. Best to 'bring in the brass monkey', stock up on hot chocolate and put on layers of clothes.

ltbewr wrote:

The combo of low temps and wind will cause dangerous conditions in the upper Midwest and Northeastern states and parts of Ontario, Quebec and Maritime provinces of Canada.The risks include very short times to get frostbite, stress on electrical services, shut down some transportation including airlines, cars, trucks and trains, an uptick in deaths of the homeless, the poor who cannot afford to heat their homes, persons use unsafe heating equipment.Temps could get well below or equal records at 0 F/ -15 C still and with wind chills equal to -20-40 F / - 30-40 C. Best to 'bring in the brass monkey', stock up on hot chocolate and put on layers of clothes.

I grew up in the South, and while I can say that half the problem is gross overreaction and brain freezing more than anything else, I understand that transportation infrastructure isn't designed for these weather events in terms of clearing roads. But usually in the South, we wait a day, gather round the fireplace, and celebrate not having to go to school. You put on your sweats (and if you lived in my house, your mother made you put socks on your hands to go outside for ten minutes because whatever pair of gloves you had you couldn't find). Now I live in the Great Lakes, and have for a combined total of almost ten years now. It's negative windchill where I live right now. For the third time this year we have had single/negative temperatures. While you aren't going to go sunbathing, it really isn't a big deal here. You put on your big coat, drive more carefully unless the roads aren't clear. If they aren't clear, you wait a little bit. Unless it's a once in a century snow event like they got in Buffalo a few weeks ago, the roads will be plowed salted in a matter of hours, and your life will go on. There's no need for all the alarm being spread with respect to winter in the North. It takes a lot of cold to cause a problem here -- namely it has to be minus 20/30 F, and that's mostly a problem because that's when salt stops working and equipment starts to freeze.

It’s a brief cold snap, a few days. We’ve had essentially no snow, mild winter in New England.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

QF7 wrote:

As of Thursday night the ice in the Dallas area has already largely melted and the main streets and roads have been safely drivable since morning. I hear from a friend the same thing is true in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so presumably it’s the situation across a wide area.

Ice storms happen at least once every year or two in the South in the winter time, nothing crazy about it.

What was the ice in Dallas like Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was cold and slippery both days.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the icy gusts on Mount Washington in New Hampshire on Friday produced a wind chill of -108F (-77C).

It is not surprising to see this extreme cold in New England after a winter filled with mild days and little snow. New England is dealing with the impacts of human caused climate change and weather extremes.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arc ... ge/672480/

Obviously caused by the boiling seas. Or it's February.

readytotaxi wrote:

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the icy gusts on Mount Washington in New Hampshire on Friday produced a wind chill of -108F (-77C).

It's cold up there in the middle of summer.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

QF7 wrote:

As of Thursday night the ice in the Dallas area has already largely melted and the main streets and roads have been safely drivable since morning. I hear from a friend the same thing is true in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so presumably it’s the situation across a wide area.

Ice storms happen at least once every year or two in the South in the winter time, nothing crazy about it.

What was the ice in Dallas like Tuesday and Wednesday.

South of Dallas (my daily commute is currently Mansfield to Midlothian) it was quite interesting on Tuesday. The rain/ice pellets combo froze onto the roads. That said, Tuesday evening it was still a bit slushy, so driving back to Mansfield was quite safe. Especially considering that there was very little traffic, I have a lot of experience with icy roads and I had my rental Wrangler in 4x4. Wednesday morning it was quite glassy so I had to drive really slowly. During the day however, the situation improved a bit on both US287 and US67. Thursday morning was not too bad and due to the whole day's rain, there was basically no ice on the road afternoon. Friday morning was icy again though, as the rain that was falling for most of Thursday froze. There were several accidents on the 287. The overpass at the US287 - US360 junction was closed due to an accident. The northbound overpass at the US287 - US87 was closed as well.