Ice Storms
Ice Storms are a type of winter storm caused by freezing rain. As it falls, snow encounters a layer of warm air in the middle of atmosphere and it turns to rain. Right before the rain hits the surface, it enters a very shallow layer of cold air that causes the rain to freeze on contact with any surface. The rains from these storms tend to be gentle, known as a drizzle. The ice accumulates on trees, power lines, bridges, roadways and can cause significant damage to power grids and make for treacherous driving conditions. The National Weather Service defines an Ice Storm as a storm when damaging accumulations of at least 0.25 inches of ice are expected during freezing rain situations on exposed surfaces. Ice accumulations up to 2" have been observed during some of the most extreme ice storms.
