Plains ICE Disaster

[Mike Hollingshead]

I thought maybe this deserves its own topic now that it is evident just how severe this is. I guess since it has been mostly rural it's not going to get much attention in the news, though that could change yet.


Here is some of what I've found in southern NE the last 2 days. http://www.extremeinstability.com/06-12-31.htm Any on here have anything from this event? Reading some of MikeU's comments it sounds just as bad through KS and into TX. I'll try to keep updating images and add some text.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I guess since it has been mostly rural it's not going to get much attention in the news, though that could change yet.

Man amazing pictures I had no idea it was that bad; not even the media here in E NE has made it apparent how severe the damage is they only mention a few NPPD customers with out power.

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Impressive images. Reminds me of the ice storm we had down here Dec. 25-27, 2000 that was quite destructive.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Man amazing pictures I had no idea it was that bad; not even the media here in E NE has made it apparent how severe the damage is they only mention a few NPPD customers with out power.

Man, tell me about it. It'd been driving me nuts. I think it is because it is worth just south of Kearney and Grand Island, and it starts getting very bad just west of Hastings. From what I can tell the power companies in the area are maybe just now starting to get a grasp on how bad it is. I don't think anyone can till they see it for themselves and drive on and on and see how extensive it is.

 

[John Hudson]

Whoever thought that such destruction could be so beautiful? Those are great pics, Mike, but I sure feel for those people. The power grid probably won't be completely restored for many weeks, and the property damage totals will be over the moon.

I can still remember a similar storm up here in Quebec a few years ago. You guys sent ConEd up here to help rebuild hundreds of power pylons brought down by the ice. We'll never forget it.

John
www.skywatch7.com

 

[Dan Robinson]

Looks a lot like the January 1998 event in Canada. It takes a lot to bring down the steel truss high-tension line towers. The good news is that temps should get up into the 40s during the day for a while, allowing some of this to melt and make it bearable for people without heat.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Whoever thought that such destruction could be so beautiful? Those are great pics, Mike, but I sure feel for those people. The power grid probably won't be completely restored for many weeks, and the property damage totals will be over the moon.

I can still remember a similar storm up here in Quebec a few years ago. You guys sent ConEd up here to help rebuild hundreds of power pylons brought down by the ice. We'll never forget it.

John
www.skywatch7.com

I thought a lot about the beauty of such destructive forces(not all different from tornadoes). It's an odd contrast that is for sure. I wondered why couldn't ice be green and slimy, something not beautiful like crystal. Why can't tornadoes just be beautiful without the destruction. It was pretty at first, but by the end of today it was getting depressing, for the people that will have to deal with it. Like Dan mentions, at least it will warm. That area could easily have 0 for a high this time of year. One other thing I thought a lot about were the lineman. That must take a special breed. To me that would be extremely depressing to look at. Like where does one even start.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Stunning imagery Mike...it does seem that some of the most amazing and beautiful sights to behold in nature are also the most destructive...I suppose that may be due to them also being things you don't see every day.

We have not had an ice storm like that in the UK for many, many years, although we do get some mildly disruptive freezing rain every so often.

Having chased around the areas in your pics, it seems very odd to me that they are so icy, etc! I am only used to seeing them when it's fairly hot!

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Doh! Looks like Drummond's server is begging for mercy. Either that or you've asploded your bandwidth cap or something. I dunno, but that isn't exactly a compelling Dryline Hosting advert, if you know what I mean.

Those pics ARE freakin' incredible. The bowed tranmission towers are just eerie. Too bad nobody can see them because your host pulled the plug when you needed it most.

 

[Marc Austin]

I guess since it has been mostly rural it's not going to get much attention in the news, though that could change yet.http://

Yeah, I read some of the MD's about it when it was happening in Southern NE, but I didn't realize how horrible it was until I heard something about it on local radio today and saw your awesome pictures! It's beautiful, but bad news for both farming and just for the people who live out there. I can imagine it will be several weeks, possibly months before everything is up and running again. Thanks again for posting those great pics Mike!

 

[David Drummond]

Doh! Looks like Drummond's server is begging for mercy. Either that or you've asploded your bandwidth cap or something.

Those pics ARE freakin' incredible. The bowed tranmission towers are just eerie.

Yeah, Mike got Farked, torrented and a few other things all in one day. We're trying to get him a work around right now. He'll be back up.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Yeah my site is down. I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to get it back up. Here are some files I attached to st's server.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49&stc=1&d=1167774268
This was nw of Minden, south of Kearney NE. Guess you'll have to click this one to see those mangled transmission lines.


http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=50&stc=1&d=1167774268
Somewhere east of Holdredge.


http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=51&stc=1&d=1167774268
This is what the grass stems looked like, lol.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=52&stc=1&d=1167777442
This was south of Kearney about 4 miles. I'll try and add a few more here.

 

[Darren Addy]

Just a quick report from Kearney. I live about 8 blocks from the center of town (2 blocks from the university campus). As I write this my neighborhood has been without power for about 70 hours. Saturday night, after the power went out, the scene was quite surreal. This storm was at least three times worse than the one we had a week ago. That one took out all the weak branches. This one took down strong living branches. The greater thickness of ice was assisted by pretty high winds. The sound (about one a minute) of branches breaking and falling to the ground along with hundreds of pounds of thick ice was like nothing I've ever heard. The evening was punctuated with blue and green flashes of false "lightning" as transformers blew and wires sparked. It looked like something from "War of the Worlds". I haven't seen Mike's pics yet (site is redirecting to a dummy page) and I haven 't been out of Kearney yet but the city looks like a war zone. Even last night (long after the storm was over) the north side of city light poles had literally 3" of ice on them. Lawns look like they are made of glass marbles - each blade of grass making up a bubble 3/4" in diameter.

This is the latest from NPPD: http://www.nppd.com/Newsroom/NewsRelease.asp?NewsReleaseID=231

It may be worth reviewing some tips in case this happens to you:
http://www.nppd.com/winter_safetytips.asp

I'm quite glad that we have a gas stove (that requires no electricity). We're keeping a turkey fryer kettle of water on low heat which provides humidity and heat. Each morning finds the house a little colder (mine's an 80-year-old brick 1-1/2 story). Cooking/baking warms the house (the kitchen is downright hot). A front (north) coat closet provides a nice "refrigerator" and outdoors is our freezer. Daughter's apartments have electricity so we can take showers as needed. The worst part is being without computer/internet - i'm writing this from the university server room, which is running off of a diesel generator.

Sounds as if campus will be closed tomorrow (not official yet) and depending upon power may be closed even longer. This is one for the books!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Some of these are extremely compressed to fit the size limit on here(and some are resaved JPGs to do so...also doesn't help quality).

 

[Joel Wright]

Very incredible pictures indeed.

Was there any ice left from the first storm, or was this all "new" ice from this storm system? Are there any radar estimates from this area to give us an idea how much actually fell?