Major Ice Storm To Unfold... But How Major?

UPDATE: While I was waiting to get my computer back from being cleaned for viruses, the situation has changed; the maps mentioned below are no longer accurate. Remember to always check the time on my blog and check the Weather Headlines at right for updates. What I wrote this morning was based on this map; as noted above, maps do change and the newer one does take Winston-Salem and Richmond out. Again, check the Headlines at right for even more updates.

ORIGINAL POST:

Today a major ice storm is unfolding across the nation, with heavy ice expected today and tomorrow. I ask myself, as I always do, what population will be affected by this storm. I am wondering if we will be seeing scenes of downed power lines on TV this week and if more than 100,000 people will lose power (which I would consider to be a "major" ice storm). Comparing the Census Population Map to the map below, I see these areas will get a lot of ice (population shown in parentheses):

Tulsa, OK (385,000) Springfield, MO (150,000) Lexington, KY (280,000)

And if you project into the East using our snow/ice accumulation map in our Weather Headlines (PREMIUM | PRO) you could potentially add to that list:

Winston-Salem, NC (215,000) Richmond, VA (200,000)

Altogether, city population only, that's more than 1.2 million people under the threat of heavy freezing rain, so I'd say that we do have the potential here for a major ice storm.