Arkansas was the hardest-hit by the ice storm with huge accumulation totals piling up. In addition to the ice, there was a flurry of lightning strikes -- and one photo captured how the ice was no match for a thunderbolt.
Published Feb. 24, 2022 12:34 PM EST | Updated Feb. 26, 2022 3:51 AM EST
Portions of the South Central states were blanketed in white this week, but it wasn't all snow covering the ground. A large winter storm unleashed a variety of precipitation across the region, leaving piles of sleet, ice-covered trees, which cause power outages, and dangerous driving conditions that left motorists stuck in major traffic jams.
Various points across Arkansas reported one-half inch to three-quarters of an inch of ice accretion. Brinkley, Arkansas was one of the areas that was hit hardest by freezing rain. Video from surrounding Monroe County showed trees that had fallen on homes, thick ice that accumulated on power lines, cellphone towers and trees, and power companies attempting to restore service.
More than 33,000 customers lost power on Thursday in Arkansas, with 28,000 still out as of Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. Part of I-40 westbound was closed near Widener, Arkansas, after multiple vehicle accidents. By Saturday morning, more than 12,000 residents were still without power across the state.
Ice weighs down power lines in Brinkley, Arkansas Feb. 24, 2022 (Brandon Clement)
By Friday morning, the National Weather Service had compiled more than 300 reports each for freezing rain and sleet, spanning from Texas to Long Island, New York.
Thundersnow, thunder with freezing rain, and thunder sleet, a rare combination of winter and severe weather, were widespread as more than 5,000 lightning strikes hit the ground in that swath of land Wednesday into Thursday, according to data from Vaisala, a lightning research firm based in Finland.
One of those lightning strikes during sleet sparked a house fire in Bella Vista, Arkansas Thursday morning. The local fire department said on Facebook, "We responded to this structure fire call this morning after lightning hit a nearby tree ... traveled along the ground to a gas line and then up to the deck, where a fire started. No one was injured."
Firefighters inspect a deck hit with lightning during sleet in Bella Vista, Arkansas Feb. 24, 2022 (Bella Vista Fire Department)
Unusually high accumulations of sleet were reported across Arkansas. Joy, Arkansas, a small town about 50 miles north of Little Rock, picked up the highest accumulation of sleet during the event, with 5 inches piling up as of 1 p.m. CST Thursday.
Nearby Bare Stone, London and Witts Springs each reported 4 inches. Some Arkansas locations such as Judsonia and Bradford reported half an inch of freezing rain in addition to 3 inches of sleet.
"It's not easy to record 4 inches of sleet or more ... but it happens every few years and Thursday seems to be the perfect sleet storm," AccuWeather Senior Weather Editor and Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell explained.
On Wednesday, Highway 67 near Bald Knob, Arkansas, was described as "an absolute nightmare" by Timmer, as traffic stood at a standstill and vehicles were stuck on the sides of the road due to the amount of sleet that had piled up on portions of the roadway.
Trees glistened in the background as Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer reported from Searcy, Arkansas, Wednesday night. Rain falling amid freezing temperatures created an icy glaze on tree limbs, power lines and road surfaces throughout the area, with sleet mixing with the freezing rain at times.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
"When you're driving down the road, there are these massive ruts within the sleet, and [if] you move out of those ruts…bam, it will spin your vehicle out of control and you'll find yourself in a ditch or even worse," Timmer said, urging people to stay off the roads.
Ice downs power lines and trees in Brinkley, Arkansas Feb. 25, 2022.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management posted pictures on Twitter Thursday morning showing a large chunk of a tree that had succumbed to the weight of the ice and snapped in half in West Memphis. Throughout the day on Wednesday, the division posted snapshots of roadways throughout the region showing how difficult and dangerous driving conditions were as the icy mess ensued.
A glaze of ice was reported as far south as Austin and San Antonio, Texas, late Wednesday into early Thursday morning. By Friday morning, the storm had moved east, coating ice onto roads and trees in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and southern New York state.
This week's ice storm coincided with the 100th anniversary of an infamous ice storm that blasted parts of Michigan in 1922. Exactly a century ago this week, as MLive.com reported, Michigan endured its worst ice and sleet storm in the state's history. Several inches of ice brought down as many as 20,000 power poles and untold numbers of trees on and around February 22, and made for photos that are still astonishing 100 years later.
More to see:
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment