Will the Arctic Cold Front Cause Severe Weather and Damage to Crops?

In summary, the weather is gradually changing from cold to warmer temperatures. The forecast for tomorrow predicts that there will be winds between 20 and 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. This will create significant blowing and drifting of snow with near blizzard conditions possible at times. Visibilities will be reduced to below one half mile, making roads near impossible to travel on. The cold wind chill values will be widespread, ranging from 20 to 30 below zero. There is a potential for life-threatening situations due to the dangerously cold temperatures. Additionally, my aunt and uncle own a large strawberry farm and citrus orchard near Tampa, FL and stand to lose the entire crop due to the hard long freeze.
  • #386
Astronuc said:
Seems the system is now centered over the Ohio River Valley between Ky and In.
That's one mean looking storm. I'm located where the arrow is and the snow is starting to pill up.
 

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  • #387
Astronuc said:
It's rain (liquid) just above or at freezing but not frozen as in sleet or hail. It hits a cold surface (at or below freezing) and turns to ice. Surfaces get very icy/slippery.
And tree branches jacketed in solid ice get VERY heavy - a major cause of power outages when they take out utility lines.
 
  • #388
dlgoff said:
That's one mean looking storm. I'm located where the arrow is and the snow is starting to pill up.
And I'm just to the right of you. It's really coming down right now, I can't see the road now, so I can't tell if any stupid people are trying to drive in this, I'm sure they are.

I got caught in the car in a sudden whiteout in New York once, I could barely make out the snow fence along the roadside and just made sure I kept it in sight, going 10mph, I do not know how I made it home and didn't get stuck in snow.
 
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  • #389
nismaratwork said:
Great... another kind of lethal weather I get to experience here. I love this country, but you have ice that seems to WANT you dead! Freezing rain... sounds like a level of hell.
I suppose freezing rain could also be supercooled water droplets.

I've only experience supercooled water once. Somehow I had a bottle of water - can't remember if it was distilled - in the refrigerator. I went to retrieve it and as soon as I bumped it, it flashed to solid. Pretty amazing.


freezing rain—Rain that falls in liquid form but freezes upon impact to form a coating of glaze upon the ground and on exposed objects.
In aviation weather observations, this hydrometeor is encoded ZR. While the temperature of the ground surface and glazed objects is typically near or below freezing (0°C or 32°F), it is necessary that the water drops be supercooled before striking. Freezing rain can sometimes occur on surfaces exposed to the air (such as tree limbs) with air temperatures slightly above freezing in strong winds.
Source - http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse?s=f&p=39
 
  • #390
turbo-1 said:
And tree branches jacketed in solid ice get VERY heavy - a major cause of power outages when they take out utility lines.
Last winter (and one several years ago), we had many trees in our area just fall over from the ice and snow accumulation. We had one or two in our back yard, as well as braches just peel off some fir trees last winter.
 
  • #391
Astronuc said:
I suppose freezing rain could also be supercooled water droplets.

I've only experience supercooled water once. Somehow I had a bottle of water - can't remember if it was distilled - in the refrigerator. I went to retrieve it and as soon as I bumped it, it flashed to solid. Pretty amazing.


Source - http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse?s=f&p=39

I don't know... that beard... maybe you're a wizard? :wink:

I know that people like doing that trick with beer, but to hit the sweet spot with water? That's pretty impressive even if it is distilled to minimize nucleation.
 
  • #392
Astronuc said:
It's rain (liquid) just above or at freezing but not frozen as in sleet or hail. It hits a cold surface (at or below freezing) and turns to ice. Surfaces get very icy/slippery.

turbo-1 said:
And tree branches jacketed in solid ice get VERY heavy - a major cause of power outages when they take out utility lines.

And don't forget how it coats your car so it's covered in a solid, impenetrable shell of ice, as you look longingly inside the car window where your ice scraper lies on the back seat of your car. And how it freezes the door locks so you can't open the door even if you could get through the ice.

Except for the passenger side door. It seems like that door always opens no matter how bad the freezing rain has been. Of course, once you open it, it won't latch when you try to close it. It makes those left turns in busy intersections kind of exciting when the passenger side door swings open.

Geez, I miss Nebraska - NOT! At least we didn't have to worry about damage to tree branches - Nebraska doesn't have trees.
 
  • #393
BobG: I had so many responses, but I'm going with: wow.
 
  • #394
nismaratwork said:
BobG: I had so many responses, but I'm going with: wow.
Ice storms can be that bad or worse. People with remote car starters can at least warm up the interiors of their vehicles to loosen the grip of the ice, IF they remembered to set the heater temperature and functions when they parked their vehicle before the storm.
 
  • #395
turbo-1 said:
Ice storms can be that bad or worse. People with remote car starters can at least warm up the interiors of their vehicles to loosen the grip of the ice, IF they remembered to set the heater temperature and functions when they parked their vehicle before the storm.

Whoa... sounds like one of these could paralyze a region for a long time!
 
  • #396
dlgoff said:
That's one mean looking storm. I'm located where the arrow is and the snow is starting to pill up.

Boy, that is one time you have to wish the, "you are here" arrow to be somewhere else! :wink:
 
  • #397
nismaratwork said:
Boy, that is one time you have to wish the, "you are here" arrow to be somewhere else! :wink:

Bora Bora!
 
  • #398
nismaratwork said:
Whoa... sounds like one of these could paralyze a region for a long time!
We had such a storm in 1988 that destroyed millions of trees and left many millions more damaged and susceptible to damage by disease and insects. Almost a million people were without power, many for weeks. Many gas stations had no back-up power and couldn't sell you fuel even if the roads were clear enough so that you could drive there. I was the network specialist for a large ophthalmic practice at the time. With no power in our offices, I was still busy, shuttling generators back and forth to various doctors' houses to run their furnaces in shifts so their plumbing wouldn't freeze. It was a mess. My wife and I were without power for almost a week, although we lived in a fully built-up subdivision. No power in January = bad news for many people.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...itle&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQsAQwAg&biw=944&bih=910
 
  • #399
turbo-1 said:
We had such a storm in 1988 that destroyed millions of trees and left many millions more damaged and susceptible to damage by disease and insects. Almost a million people were without power, many for weeks. Many gas stations had no back-up power and couldn't sell you fuel even if the roads were clear enough so that you could drive there. I was the network specialist for a large ophthalmic practice at the time. With no power in our offices, I was still busy, shuttling generators back and forth to various doctors' houses to run their furnaces in shifts so their plumbing wouldn't freeze. It was a mess. My wife and I were without power for almost a week, although we lived in a fully built-up subdivision. No power in January = bad news for many people.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...itle&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQsAQwAg&biw=944&bih=910

My reaction is not allowed on PF, but you can guess. Whoa.

Lisab: Sounds about right to me!
 
  • #400
Here's a recent ice storm here. There was a much worse one a few years before that I have pictures of somewhere, we had so many trees destroyed the entire area was claimed a national disaster, it was horrific.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8zMZkliIBM

I can't find a video of it, but the storm of 2002 was devastating.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/weather/winter/looking-back-on-the-ice-storm-of-2002-in-kansas-city,-could-it-happen-again%3F
 
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  • #401
In the aftermath of the 1988 storm, it was eerie. Due to the lack of power, and shortage of gasoline, etc, it was eerily quiet in many places. Then, you'd hear large "crack" noises followed by earth-shaking thuds as trees split and/or fell, unable to support the load of the ice. When we finally got power back at my house, and could run the furnace, the heat warmed up the metal roof and loosened the ice up there. When it let go off the back of the house, the ice destroyed my brick chimney and fireplace. The next morning, the ice on the front side of the house let go, ripping off the other chimney. Not fun! As you might imagine, it was not easy or cheap getting masons to rebuild the fireplace and chimney in the dead of winter.
 
  • #402
Here's a news preview of the storm. 81 days to recover from the storm. I remember Evo child and i rode around several days after the storm taking pictures, it was the most surreal thing we'd ever seen, 3 inches of ice. The sun came out and it was like you were on another planet.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZQppZ0sco4
 
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  • #403

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  • #404
My wife just called - she's now about 18 miles from home - I estimate another hour and 15 minutes. We have a little over 1" of ice on top of about 12" of snow in the yard. I just let the puppies out and had to go out and rescue the female. Her stomach was flat on the ice and apparently her feet didn't touch the ground? She was yipping.
 
  • #405
In 1988, I had a Nissan Pathfinder. I had to put my chainsaw, mixed gas and bar-oil in the back, along with tow chains and a choker-cable for moving large pieces of tree-trunk, to make sure that I could back home from work every day. It would not be unusual to wend your way through interconnecting roads that were open in the morning, only to find that your path was blocked by freshly-fallen trees on the way back home.

Lots of locals cleared fallen trees on roads near their homes so that the utility company trucks could get through more easily. If the power companies had to pay the cost for all the volunteer labor, it would have cost them millions more to restore power.
 
  • #406
WhoWee said:
My wife just called - she's now about 18 miles from home - I estimate another hour and 15 minutes. We have a little over 1" of ice on top of about 12" of snow in the yard. I just let the puppies out and had to go out and rescue the female. Her stomach was flat on the ice and apparently her feet didn't touch the ground? She was yipping.
Why is she out in the storm?

Poor puppies. I remember when we had ice once, I opened the back door and before I could stop him, my dog went charging out the door, hit the ice on the deck and went sailing off the other side. :(
 
  • #407
turbo-1 said:
In 1988, I had a Nissan Pathfinder. I had to put my chainsaw, mixed gas and bar-oil in the back, along with tow chains and a choker-cable for moving large pieces of tree-trunk, to make sure that I could back home from work every day. It would not be unusual to wend your way through interconnecting roads that were open in the morning, only to find that your path was blocked by freshly-fallen trees on the way back home.

Lots of locals cleared fallen trees on roads near their homes so that the utility company trucks could get through more easily. If the power companies had to pay the cost for all the volunteer labor, it would have cost them millions more to restore power.
I know you've had your share of terrible storms up there, but I think people there are better equipped to deal with it. Even a small amount of ice in Atlanta is devastating because they aren't able to handle it.
 
  • #408
Evo said:
Why is she out in the storm?

Poor puppies. I remember when we had ice once, I opened the back door and before I could stop him, my dog went charging out the door, hit the ice on the deck and went sailing off the other side. :(

Her late class didn't cancel because there was no precipitation at 3 PM. She called the department head and he said to come in (class at 6). When only a few students showed up (4 in her class), they closed campus at 7 - it's about 70 miles away and she didn't want to stay over. She figured classes would be canceled in the AM - if not she'll need to drive back for the 9 AM class.
 
  • #409
Any frozen cow footage yet?
 
  • #410
Math Is Hard said:
Any frozen cow footage yet?

I'll check with my son - sounds like something he might have available. They probably steam a good bit?
 
  • #411
Math Is Hard said:
Any frozen cow footage yet?
That last batch died due to moldy sweet potatoes. Small consolation, though.
 
  • #412
Evo said:
I know you've had your share of terrible storms up there, but I think people there are better equipped to deal with it. Even a small amount of ice in Atlanta is devastating because they aren't able to handle it.
True. We know how to drive in nasty, slippery conditions, and many people own generators, chain saws, etc. Atlanta? Not so much. Even in MD, when I was working for General Physics, a couple of inches of snow on the road would prompt mass call-ins due to the weather. I drove to work one day, to an almost-empty parking lot, and trudged upstairs to my division to find myself alone with my division's secretary. I asked her where everybody was, and she said "Snowed in." She grew up in Buffalo and I grew up in Maine, and even with my crappy Taurus rental with general-purpose tires, I had no problem getting to work. Apparently, that sort of behavior is tolerated near the Mason-Dixon line.
 
  • #413
Math Is Hard said:
Any frozen cow footage yet?

:frown:
 
  • #414
I thought we had escaped in Tucson with temps in the 60s and 70s the last few weeks, but it is even dropping around here now. This night we are expecting temps in the low 20s with a hard freeze warning. The mountain roads are closed also due to snow.

The warning even extends quite a way into northern Mexico. It is cold everywhere in North America north of the tropics.
 
  • #415
MathAmateur said:
I thought we had escaped in Tucson with temps in the 60s and 70s the last few weeks, but it is even dropping around here now. This night we are expecting temps in the low 20s with a hard freeze warning. The mountain roads are closed also due to snow.

The warning even extends quite a way into northern Mexico. It is cold everywhere in North America north of the tropics.
Wow, that's really bad.
 
  • #417
My wife finally made it home - took longer than I thought. She said the roads were very slick - lot's of branches hanging on wires.
 
  • #418
Glad she's OK. My wife has to go to work tomorrow, but she has a Subaru Legacy with AWD and studded snow-tires. Pretty routine commute for her. Glare ice would be a different story. I would insist that she stay home just to avoid all the idiots.
 
  • #419
turbo-1 said:
I would insist that she stay home just to avoid all the idiots.
That's what I keep telling the Evo Child. She says what a good driver she is in snow and I tell her it's not her I'm worried about, I'm worried about the other idiots crashing into her.
 
  • #420
Evo said:
That's what I keep telling the Evo Child. She says what a good driver she is in snow and I tell her it's not her I'm worried about, I'm worried about the other idiots crashing into her.
My wife's vehicle has symmetrical AWD with superb tires. No problem. The problem is every jerk who has a 4x4 and thinks that enables him or her to violate the laws of physics. Pickup trucks are very bad in real slippery conditions because their weight distribution (unloaded) is so off balance.

Edit: I should mention that I have owned traditional 4WD vehicles for over 30 years, and many of them were terrible in real slick road conditions. After driving my wife's Legacy in nasty conditions, I convinced my father to buy a Forester, then my wife drove his Forester through snow and insisted that I buy one for myself and save the old Nissan 4x4 for fishing in the summer and landfill runs the rest of the year. I don't have to make commutes to work, and so have just kept the all-weather radials on the Forester, and they are fine for driving on snowy roads, as long as you pay attention.
 
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