The biggest ice storm in years is beginning

Computer forecast models are predicting that one of the largest ice storms to hit the Central U.S. in years is taking shape today. Our news story says that hundreds of thousands could lose power for days. Here are the amounts we are forecasting (as of Friday morning):

AccuWeather

Let's zoom in on Kansas:

AccuWeather

One or two inches of ice (we're talking freezing rain here, not sleet!) are incredible, damaging and immobilizing amounts. Should that come true, power outages will be widespread and lengthy. It reminds me of the January 2009 ice storm (see news story and blog entry), which dropped amounts of at least two inches and knocked out power to over 600,000 customers in Kentucky alone! Here's one of the amazing photos from that storm:

Photo.AccuWeather.com