Devastating Ice Storm Compared to 2009

Today is the anniversary of a crippling ice storm that moved from northern Texas to Ohio, knocking out power for more than 1.4 million customers. Starting tomorrow, another strong winter storm will affect a similar area; here is a comparison of last year's storm to our current forecast:

You'll note that, while the ice will start in the same area, it will then move eastward instead of northeast. Still, some areas of Texas and Oklahoma that were devastated last year could see more damage and power outages tomorrow. Some forecast models are showing more than an inch of freezing rain for some locations in Oklahoma. Mike Smith, CEO of WeatherData, an AccuWeather company, said yesterday on his blog that some parts of the state "may experience power failures with the potential that some areas could lose power for days." This morning, he was even more worried after seeing new data from the NAM model which suggested a wide area of more than one inch of freezing rain with a pocket of over two inches! The NWS also used strong language in their forecast discussion yesterday and added that wind after the storm will exacerbate the problem:

"THE FOCUS AT THIS TIME SHOULD NOT BE ON THE EXACT ICE PLACEMENT BUT ON THE POTENTIAL...WHICH WHEN COUPLED WITH THE POST FRONTAL WIND SPEEDS WOULD LIKELY YIELD A CRIPPLING BLOW TO THE REGIONAL POWER GRIDS."

Another meteorologist who I spoke to this morning said that the areas receiving that much freezing rain will likely be very localized due to sleet mixing in, or temperatures so close to freezing that some of the rain runs off, but that won't matter to residents of those towns or cities who are hit hard. Because of all these variables, the forecast will be very challenging, and will change in the next day so please keep an eye on your AccuWeather.com forecast for our WeatherAlarms and AccuPOP which will show you how much snow, ice and rain will fall where you live (and when). Try our 4-day AccuPOP display on Premium today for free with no registration by clicking on the green bar on AccuWeather.com. A sample is shown below. It's fascinating to compare the times when rain, ice and snow will be most likely because they are always different, and this display is great for planning purposes.

In 2007, the NWS issues some extreme reports about 6 inches of sleet and 4 inches of freezing rain in this same area, but they were never verified, to my knowledge.