Ice Storm From Hell

[LowRyter]

We've had freezing rain for the last day now.  It's going to go on for another couple of days.  It's gotten as low as 28 degrees.  This time of year our leaves just start to change.  We don't get max color until first week of Nov.  Last Thursday it was 88 degrees here, my neighbors had their air conditioning on. 

The trees are heavy with leaves and ice and they are splitting all round me.  You can hear them break and the crashing sounds woke me up last night.   I just saw a 25ft tall section break off the neighbors' tree behind me.  The Crape Myrtles are split to the ground like flower petals.  Big trees have branches that are bent to the ground.   My elm is bent to the point of blocking my driveway. 

The rain continues and it's 32 with snow in the forecast.  It should blow out by midweek and make the mid 60s by the weekend. 

We get ice storms but this early with so much foliage is truly bizarre and dangerous.   

[Chuck in Indiana]

Good luck, John. We haven't had a *bad* one for several years. <crossing fingers>

[JJ]

What part of the country are you in? 

We had a "FREAK" snow storm the end of February 2019...which did a lot of tree damage like you described.   

We called it..."SNOWMAGEDDAN"




photo cloud generator

[LowRyter]

Thanks Chuck.

Okla City, JJ.

[blackcat]

I'll take 2' of snow and only day than an ice storm. Good luck, hopefully you won't lose power

[n3303j]

I'll take 2' of snow and only day than an ice storm. Good luck, hopefully you won't lose power

Watch what you wish for. Had an early wet snowstorm (MA, CT) fall on fully leaved trees a few years back. Took some people 3 weeks to get power returned. Power lines were broken between each pole by fallen tree branches. All those leaves held snow well. Line crew would fix a wire and two or three houses came on line. Move the truck 200 feet and repeat.
Broken branches were piled up 8 foot high along the roadside for stretches multiple miles long while waiting for the chipper crews.

[LowRyter]

[Wildroamer]

Damn that sucks.

[JJ]

Thanks Chuck.

Okla City, JJ.

OK - Thanks LowRyter!  Take care and BE SAFE!!

[Darren Williams]

I live about 5 miles East of John. Our power has been out for 22 hours now. Generator roaring along, so all is well in that regard.

Supposed to warm up this weekend, so the chain saws will get a workout and I'll have plenty of wood for the fire pit. Had to trim trees just to get in and out of the driveway today. But the real problem is I'm on day 4 since I've ridden a motorcycle!   

[Guzzistajohn]

Looks about like our ice storm of OT-7, our power was off for 9DAYS!! I was working in home medical equipment and humping o2 tanks like a mad man. Did one delivery and the old lady said "my husband won't wake up and his fingernails are turning blue??" I hooked him up a fresh E tank and called 911. He did live THANK GOD!!

[Chuck in Indiana]

I've seen worse.    Lost everything in our freezer. After 10 days, drove to Indy and rented a roach motel so we could take a shower. Power came back on. Whew! Restocked our feeezer. Power went off again..
When we built the new house, one of my "demands" was an automatic generator. It's saved us a couple of times, but man.. is it expensive to run. (gas vs. electric bike thread). Electricity is *cheap.*

[LowRyter]

Heard a crash just now

earlier shot (I saw this one fall)



now (only heard it)



The good thing is these ornamental trees are 30+ years old and a nuisance.  The fellow living there didn't want to pay $$k+ to remove this one.  I should get more sun in my backyard when I plant my garden next year.

[fotoguzzi]

Ice storms worry me. I installed wiring so I can run my furnace off a generator if we loose power for days.

[John A]

I was up at 5am and saw that OKC and surrounding areas got hit with a nasty ice storm so I was hopeful you were all ok down there.  10F here this morning but dry.

[SmithSwede]

Weather is weird.   I’m in East Alabama at the moment.  I was swimming nekkid in a lake for several hours just this afternoon.  75 degrees.

Cooking up some steak on the barbie now. 

[Guzzistajohn]

Weather is weird.   I’m in East Alabama at the moment.  I was swimming nekkid in a lake for several hours just this afternoon.  75 degrees.

Cooking up some steak on the barbie now.

Without pictures it never happened Prescott 

[n3303j]

Without pictures it never happened Prescott 

Some things can't be unseen!

[jcctx]

And Charles (in Lake Charles) is about to get his THIRD hurricane!! Strange indeed???

[LowRyter]

Heard a crash just now

earlier shot (I saw this one fall)



now (only heard it)



The good thing is these ornamental trees are 30+ years old and a nuisance.  The fellow living there didn't want to pay $$k+ to remove this one.  I should get more sun in my backyard when I plant my garden next year.

Woke up to this, same tree (to the south of me)



And on my east side

[Lannis]

Our last big ice storm was The Great Ice Storm of 1994.

We're surrounded by 500 acres of woods, and it sounded like volleys of gunfire as tens of thousands of trees (probably 50 per minute at the peak) snapped in two.   It makes some NOISE when a 15" pine just snaps.

When it was done, we had over a hundred trees down in our driveway.   We tried clearing them while the ice was still on them, and stopped because someone was going to get killed by an exploding tree, besides which you couldn't haul the pieces off the road, they were too heavy.

Power was off for 10 days.   Our lesson wasn't to get a generator; ours was to make sure we could live comfortably without electricity, grid OR local - that way you don't have to worry about how long the gasoline or propane will last.   We cooked up all the food in the freezer - took us weeks to finish it!   Plenty of ice, though.

Carrying and heating water was the big issue.   But EVERYONE who lived where I live carried and heated their own water up until the 1930s ... it's not like it's impossible.

Lannis

[LowRyter]

I've always thought this tree to the west of me was a nuisance.  It's been shading my Juniper and the never been trimmed well.




And my neighbors two doors to the east.  Some very nice Elms.

[PJPR01]

Looks about like our ice storm of OT-7, our power was off for 9DAYS!! I was working in home medical equipment and humping o2 tanks like a mad man. Did one delivery and the old lady said "my husband won't wake up and his fingernails are turning blue??" I hooked him up a fresh E tank and called 911. He did live THANK GOD!!

That's heartwarming!   Good on you!

[LowRyter]

I drove around and my goodness, it will take months to clean this up.  I'm pretty lucky compared to everyone else.  Also lucky I had the neighbor's tree across the street trimmed when my crew was here, otherwise the road would be closed now.   

But if we have are usual grassfires in January it might be pretty bad.

No chainsaws or generators at Lowes and Ace.  No surprise.  I think we'll have to pitch in and help some of the neighbors clean up. 

[balvenie]

After looking at these pictures and reading these stories I can only think how harsh a country the USA is. Good luck you blokes

[LowRyter]

After looking at these pictures and reading these stories I can only think how harsh a country the USA is. Good luck you blokes

Well, it's a harsh country from our own making.  Heck, for being the most prosperous country in the world, we also lead in areas for the most misery too. 


USA!   USA!   USA!

We're #1!

[Lannis]

After looking at these pictures and reading these stories I can only think how harsh a country the USA is. Good luck you blokes

Harsh?   From someone in the land where everything that moves can poison, sting, eat, or kill you?   Massive saltwater crocodiles, jellyfish that kill you at a touch, killer textile cone snails with their own harpoons, cassowaries that can stomp you to death, stonefish whose sting puts people in agony, fanged funnel-web spiders, blue-ringed octopi with enough venom to kill 10 people and there's no cure, great white sharks, deadly brown snakes ... Half the country is a huge desert nobody but aborigines can live in ...   

I'll take our "harsh" any day!       At least I can clean up afterward with a chainsaw!   

Lannis

[balvenie]

Harsh?   From someone in the land where everything that moves can poison, sting, eat, or kill you?   Massive saltwater crocodiles, jellyfish that kill you at a touch, killer textile cone snails with their own harpoons, cassowaries that can stomp you to death, stonefish whose sting puts people in agony, fanged funnel-web spiders, blue-ringed octopi with enough venom to kill 10 people and there's no cure, great white sharks, deadly brown snakes ... Half the country is a huge desert nobody but aborigines can live in ...   

I'll take our "harsh" any day!       At least I can clean up afterward with a chainsaw!   

Lannis

Glad you're OK Lannis but the very idea of Cold that splits trees terrifies me  ................... ................... ................... ..

[balvenie]

Well, it's a harsh country from our own making.  Heck, for being the most prosperous country in the world, we also lead in areas for the most misery too. 


USA!   USA!   USA!

We're #1!

It is my understanding that that does apply in some quarters, LowRyter and I speak not of acts perpetrated by Nature. However and unfortunately, that is a subject for another place, as defined by the WildGuzzi rules.

[LowRyter]

It is my understanding that that does apply in some quarters, LowRyter and I speak not of acts perpetrated by Nature. However and unfortunately, that is a subject for another place, as defined by the WildGuzzi rules.

Well I must admit that I did delete a sentence in my reply to you (largely in agreement) that might have caused Dusty to pop an artery.