Deadly Ice Storm Hits North America

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ice-storm,0,3227064.story

 

According to an article from Reuters news source written by Karen Brooks, a deadly ice storm has approached the midsection of United States. Hundreds and thousands are reported to be without power as ice and snow brought on by freezing temperatures has paralyzed the nation. The storm stretches from the Mexico border in Texas and progresses northeast into the Ohio valley. North of Ohio, in Illinois, Indiana and surrounding states, the winter weather advisory is still in place.

 By the end of the evening, Illinois will expect to receive an average of 5 – 11 inches of snow, with some areas receiving over a foot. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area of texas approximately 267,000 outages were reported. Over 1,900 flights have been cancelled. At least 3 deaths have been reported as a result of this storm, most are vehicular accidents and one was the result of a snow laden tree. Police and officials expect that the number may rise as the ice on the road increases, as well as the lack of heating as power outages continue.

The harsh weather is expected to continue into the weekend, with temperatures about 30 degrees lower than average.

A little repass into “Weather and society” class that I took in Spring 2013 allows me to analyze this storm. According to weather.com surface maps, there is currently a cold front that has emerged down from the north, from a polar air mass, that has affected the temperatures in Canada and United States. This cold front, using the Jetstream, has descended down into the lower states and will continue to move east. As you can see in the surface map, because the front has passed and the pressure has increased, we have several high pressure cells which will bring cool temperatures and clear days. The east coast will encounter some snow and rain with ice as a warm maritime air mass conflicts with the cool air mass.

This is significant because it shows to us that temperatures will be below normal for a few days, until another air mass arrives, hopefully bringing warmer temperatures.  Weather forecasting relates to the engineering as well as behavioral paradigm, which means it uses scientific forecasting to provide short and long term warning systems. Government officials can use this data to evaluate necessary steps to prevent secondary loss of life from storms such as weather driving conditions or loss of power. Officials can provide mitigation techniques through the use of warning systems that warn residents to stay inside, avoid driving, announcing closures, and also by increasing methods such as plowing and road de-icing.

The images below show the surface map from Weather.com as well as the corresponding jetstream which indicates the path of the storm.