January 2, 2007: Nebraska ice storm
 

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm1.jpg

Currently being Farked (and thus, not loading at all) is this remarkable set of images of freezing rain in Nebraska.

For those of you who live in warmer climates, you might know that huge snow storms can create weather disasters... but you might not know that freezing rain can create a storm of ice that can be even more destructive. Think about it; if two inches of ice can form around a tiny tree branch...

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm3.jpg

What happens when it forms around every single wire and every single support on every pole, for miles and miles? It's a total disaster for the infrastructure.

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm5.jpg

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm4.jpg

It's also remarkably beautiful. Can you imagine being there and seeing every single exposed surface coated with ice?

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm6.jpg

The cattle can. The ice has taken down their wired fencing and the only thing keeping them from romping around the countryside is the slippery surfaces they now have to manage. They must have cold headaches as they find something to graze on.

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm2.jpg

There'll be no violators today.

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm7.jpg

A single blade of grass.

'tis the season to be freezin'. I guess the rumors about global warming were exagerated.

Well, freezing ice storms happen at temperatures below 0 at the grow and higher in the atmosphere. What happens is this:
Global temperatures rise, atmosphere temperature rises
More evaporation occur in the large bodies of water (hence places where they get more snow)

Since the atmosphere temperature rises, two things can then happen:
It'll rain, and the rain will freeze because of clouds (remember the evaporation)
-or-
if no clouds form, temperature at surface will be equal to the one in the atmosphere (hence warmer)

It depends where you are located.
Normally, where I live, winter with snow starts around November 15th and ends around February 15th. This year, there wasn't any snow until December 25th. And it melted. So winter hasn't officially started yet for me :(

And YET - in my old city, winter started 2 months early, and the temperatures are WELL below season normals.

So yeah, global warming doesn't necessarily mean warmer seasons :)

there's something disturbing about the picture of the guy's hand around that piece of ice

It was 87F here, Saturday. Eighty-seven. This is Florida and all, but almost hitting 90F in December feels really, really weird.

So I guess that ice shelf didn't actually separate from the north of Canada last week, and the polar bears are not losing their habitat. It's all an exaggeration ... NOT. :thepain:

frank I noticed that... figured I would leave it in anyway. The guy wanted to give a sense of scale to how much ice was there; wasn't the sense of scale he intended. And I guess a sense of scale is different to every yanker out there...

I can hear my kids now: sword fighting with grass-cicles!!!!

I've already lived through this in 1998. Most of northern New York State (yes, there is a state above Syracuse) and alot of southern Ontario and Quebec Canada got a huge ice storm. We were under a state of emergency - no power for at least two-three weeks unless you had a generator, no phones for over a month. Every pole was down between Clayton, NY and Watertown, NY (a 20mile stretch of road) plus many more all around the county. It was destructive, but oddly beautiful. I still have pictures somewhere.

Yep. We had a minor version of it here in 1994. It killed trees. The worst, though, was when it melted. Instead of soaking into the ground, all that water traveled over top the ice... flooding anything in its tracks... including most of my first floor.

That's just a trial separation. They really want to work things out. :D

And the Polar Bears were never really happy there. They really WANT to live in warmer climates and drown trying to get there. Ask anyone in the Bush admin. They'll confirm it.

Nature and the climate change constantly. The Polar Bears are going through a transitional stage, where there is a shortage of food because the ice for hunting on is diminishing. But, as the ice melts the area becomes warmer and more hospitable to humans.
Then when humans migrate to this newly hospitable area, the bears will have plenty of food.... especially if it's fat Americans. :yum:


Oh, it was pretty in Kansas too.

My posting here a couple of years back, with some crappy pics. Not as impressive as the Fark shots, but still pretty.

http://cellar.org/2006/nebicestorm6.jpg

"The cattle can. The ice has taken down their wired fencing and the only thing keeping them from romping around the countryside is the slippery surfaces they now have to manage. They must have cold headaches as they find something to graze on."

Uh-oh! Grain freeze!

charmzny: Ah yes, Ice Storm '98. Montreal, where I live, got hit pretty hard, but was a high priority for repairs and we only lost power for a few days. Wikipedia and Google turned up a few nice shots...

http://www.verglas.netc.net/photo-serie1.html
http://www.verglas.netc.net/photo-serie-5.html
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/ice/
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/ice/durham/index.shtm

Looks like there was way more ice buildup from this Nebraska storm, though... Yikes.

Wiki says... That got me wondering about weight on wires.

Rough calculation gives me a 3/8 inch diameter wire in an 1.5 inch diameter sheath of ice would be 0.727 pounds per liner foot, just ice weight.

And a 3/8 inch diameter wire in a 4.5 inch diameter sheath of ice would be 6.255 pounds per linear foot, ice weight.

Add the weight of the wire and figure one to several hundred feet between supports(poles/towers), that's a hell of a strain.
Then, of course, the bigger the sheath of ice, the more resistance to wind force.
Damn, bury those babies.:unsure:

We had one of these in Boston about 10 years ago. We landed after a visit home to Florida to find the entire city covered in ice. Definite climate shock but it was amazingly beautiful. I felt lucky to have missed the actual event while still being able to enjoy the after effects.

And on the topic of scale: It's gotta be pretty cold so that's WITH shrinkage!?:eek2:

I saw one of those in Boston during the winter of '62/'63. In the middle of the night we walked fro The Fenway and Huntington, all the way to the Logan Airport, and watched them de-ice planes.
Right down the middle of the street... not a cab, not a cop, not a truck, not a vehicle, moving. It was glorious.:D

We lived in this area just before we moved back to Colorado just over a year ago. I hear they haven't had power for a week in the town we lived in. Check out the shot of the tower that collapsed. It just looks wicked.

That is very scary. Those power towers look so monstrous and impervious and this is what a little dose of Mother Nature does.

So much for the might of man . . .

Fuck. I hate the tropics. Its so damn hot in cambodia I can't even BREATHE, let alone sleep.

Yeah, Montreal would be considered priority. Tiny little towns like ours -- NOT! We were okay, though, we were lucky enough to get a generator before the price gouging started. I know we had a lot of ice build up. My poor maple tree looked like it got partially beheaded. It's just starting to look normal now. Let's hope this crazy weather doesn't land us with another ice storm, microburst or blizzard....:p

This kind of thing adds to the allure of plans to live off of the grids. (Warning: that's one ugly site.)

We had something similar happen to us a year or two ago (I can't remember for the life of me when exactly it was). I do know it was in January. It was very beautiful, but unfortunatly I didn't have a camera at the time so I don't have pictures. Maybe I can find some online...

Many were out of power for a couple weeks though. It was awful. I was one of the few lucky ones, but I was so scared to drive on the icy roads.

How come every time it happens to snow or freeze up somewhere, some clown comes out saying that global warming is a rumor? There's ice in my freezer...does that mean that the polar bears are not losing land to stand on?

Minor point, but they're not losing land to stand on, they're losing ice to hunt on. That's why they're hungry. ;)

The glaciers have been melting for the past 10,000 years or so. There are tropical plant fossils in Antarctica from before the last ice age.

Just because its new to you doesn't mean its new.

Antarctica moved. Google "Pangea."

"So I guess that ice shelf didn't actually separate from the north of Canada last week"

No, it happened 16 months ago. Wonder why the wait to tell the world?
"Ms Weir was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she noticed that the shelf had split and separated.
She notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice laboratory at the University of Ottawa, who initiated an effort to find out what happened.
Using US and Canadian satellite images, as well as data from seismic monitors, Professor Copland discovered that the ice shelf collapsed on the afternoon of August 13 2005."
See the Fri Dec 29 2006 article online at the Guardian Unlimited website

Google Chicken Little.

Welcome to the Cellar, vidacita. :D
I think it was last week they noticed the broken shelf had moved, and might become a shipping hazard.

Chicken Little thought the sky was falling, but was mistaken.

Scientists agree that the Earth is warming. They are almost certainly right.

Are you living in Cambodia now, Ibby?

My point is that the earth has been warming for tens of thousands of years and that there is no need to panic.

And I was making a less obvious critique of the selective use of "evidence" proferred by the "sky is falling" crowd. If its too warm, its global warming. If its too cold, its global warming.

To pick up on HM's point, the earth used to be one continent. Now, its several continents. The earth used to be an ice cube. Now its not. We could shove a cork up every tailpipe, exhaust pipe, bovine butt and industrial smokestack on planet earth and the earth would still be getting warmer. Just like it has been for a long, long time.

Like they say, if you don't like the eco climate, just wait 50 thousand years.

closer to home time wise - they used to grow grapes in Greenland....

eyep.
We get ice storms in SC, but not as thick.
This was just over a year ago, and the power was out for over a week.
Makes the argument to bury power/utility line.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...12-15-5006.jpg

Welcome to the Cellar, hooligan. :D

'Preciate it, Bruce!

Have I told you lately that I love you?