Ice Storm Blankets Many Parts of the North-Central United States! (credit: AMS Amarillo, Texas)

DISCUSSION: As the latest winter storm continues to rage on across many parts of the central and south-central United States, hundreds of thousands of people have already experienced the natural power and the brute force of this ongoing/long-duration ice storm.  As you can clearly see for yourself in the image attached above (as shared by the National Weather Service office located in Amarillo, Texas), many trees such as this one (located just outside of the NWS Amarillo office) have been weighted down tremendously by the weight of the ice glaze which has enveloped much of the foliage across these parts of the nation.  The bright light in all of this is that as the center of the associated low pressure system gradually lifts off to the north with time, warmer air which is currently situated much further south will also lift north. As this warmer air moves northward with time, the associated water vapor overhead will be released as rainfall.  Therefore, this will help to substantially melt away much of the current freezing rain accumulated across many parts of the central and south-central states.  

Nonetheless, travel (both by foot and/or automobile) continues to remain very hazardous across these areas and it has been strongly recommended to avoid and or all travel through or near these areas so as to avoid putting yourself in harms way. Remember, as with many ice storm events, venturing out just steps away from home can potentially become life-threatening due to falling and/or downed power lines.  In addition, you also can run the risk of encountering falling tree limbs unexpectedly due to them giving way to the natural weight and pressure imposed by the associated ice accumulation.  The message behind all of this is stay home as much as possible until it is communicated to you that it is sufficiently safe to go out and about.

To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across North America, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz