February 11 to February 12 Ice Storm

Snow/Ice

The freezing rain caused widespread issues across the forecast area. Below is a summary of impacts:

• Numerous slide-offs and minor accidents occurred in every county of the IWX Forecast area. No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported
• Schools across the area were closed on Feb 12th with some businesses also closed. City and county services either were closed for the day or operating on reduced hours.
• Fallen tree branches were reported across the forecast area, with many onto roads and power lines as well as some homes during the event.
• Over 30,000 households were without power, mainly from trees or tree limbs falling onto power lines
• Strong winds occurred after the freezing rain stopped during the evening hours of Feb 12th into the overnight hours of the 13th, hampering repairs and causing some additional power outages and tree branch damage

Photos & Video

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The scene in Goshen, IN where ice encased the trees and lined the streets. (Deb Mann)	Measuring the thickness of ice that accreted in Goshen, IN (GHS Weather)	The scene in South Bend, IN where ice accreted on trees and lined the tops of fences. (Tiffany Salameh)	The scene in Hicksville, OH where ice lined trees and many limbs were lost in the area (Aleisha Delagrange)

Trees being weighed down in Kendalville, IN. (Adam Solarczyk)	Ice accretion in Columbia City, IN (Rick Hyndman)	Tree limbs fell down in Hicksville, OH (Neil Byers)	Ice lined tree bends from the weight of the ice in Hicksville, OH (Aleisha Delagrange)

Radar

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Radar loop for the event

Storm Reports

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
504 PM EST TUE FEB 12 2019

...ICE ACCUMULATION REPORTS FROM TODAY...

LOCATION                     AMOUNT    TIME/DATE       LAT/LON              

...INDIANA...

...ALLEN COUNTY...
2 E NINE MILE                0.20 IN   0206 AM 02/12   40.98N/85.19W        

...CASS COUNTY...
LOGANSPORT                   0.10 IN   0330 AM 02/12   40.76N/86.37W        

...ELKHART COUNTY...
3 W GOSHEN                   0.20 IN   0830 AM 02/12   41.58N/85.89W        

...KOSCIUSKO COUNTY...
2 N NORTH WEBSTER            0.20 IN   0800 AM 02/12   41.36N/85.70W        
1 SSE MONOQUET               0.20 IN   0900 AM 02/12   41.28N/85.86W        
1 ENE WINONA LAKE            0.10 IN   0100 AM 02/12   41.22N/85.80W        

...LAGRANGE COUNTY...
1 ENE LAGRANGE               0.20 IN   0824 AM 02/12   41.65N/85.40W        
2 N HOWE                     0.10 IN   0417 AM 02/12   41.75N/85.42W        

...OHIO...

...HENRY COUNTY...
NAPOLEON                     0.20 IN   0500 AM 02/12   41.40N/84.13W        

...VAN WERT COUNTY...
VAN WERT                     0.15 IN   1154 AM 02/12   40.86N/84.58W        

...WILLIAMS COUNTY...
BRYAN                        0.20 IN   0540 AM 02/12   41.47N/84.55W        

OBSERVATIONS ARE COLLECTED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES WITH VARYING
EQUIPMENT AND EXPOSURES. WE THANK ALL VOLUNTEER WEATHER OBSERVERS 
FOR THEIR DEDICATION. NOT ALL DATA LISTED ARE CONSIDERED OFFICIAL.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
504 PM EST TUE FEB 12 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 AM     ICE STORM        MILLERSBURG             41.52N 85.70W
02/12/2019                   ELKHART            IN   NWS EMPLOYEE     

            0.3 INCHES OF ICE ACCRETION. 

0615 AM     ICE STORM        2 ENE SALEM CENTER      41.60N 85.11W
02/12/2019                   STEUBEN            IN   COCORAHS         

            MEASURED 0.3 INCHES OF ICE ACCRETION. 

0621 AM     ICE STORM        MONTPELIER              41.59N 84.60W
02/12/2019                   WILLIAMS           OH   EMERGENCY MNGR   

            REPORTS OF TREES AND UTILITY POLES DOWN DUE 
            TO ICE ACCRETION. MULTIPLE SLIDE OFFS AND 
            CRASHES ACROSS THE COUNTY. 

0700 AM     ICE STORM        DIXON                   40.95N 84.80W
02/12/2019                   ALLEN              IN   TRAINED SPOTTER  

            MEASURED 0.25 INCHES OF ICE ACCRETION. 
            SEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN IN THE AREA. 

0830 AM     ICE STORM        NAPOLEON                41.40N 84.13W
02/12/2019                   HENRY              OH   EMERGENCY MNGR   

Environment

A strong high pressure system came in from Canada and, combined with a remnant snow pack, helped to provide a cold layer that rain was able to freeze to. A warm nose poked into the region allowing precipitation initially falling as snow in the upper atmosphere to melt before refreezing on surfaces on the ground.

Here are some images that describe the why when it comes to freezing rain.

Figure 1: The atmospheric sounding that the University of Valporaiso sent up at 2AM ET. Notice the cold air at the surface and the warm air aloft. This allows snow to melt in the warm layer and then refreeze at the surface as it falls, thus creating freezing rain.	Figure 2: Animation of the surface features as freezing rain changed to rain and then to snow. Notice the strong high pressure to the northeast. This provided plenty of cold air at the surface. The sounding at left shows warm air streaming into the warm nose, which helped to create the icing. (SPC)	Figure 3: Diagram showing the area where warm air is being inserted into the low levels above the surface at 11pm. (SPC)

Figure 4: Image showing the surface temperatures at 11pm. Notice the areas remaining below freezing (north of the purple line) allowing for more accretion of ice from freezing rain. (SPC)	Figure 5: This shows how freezing rain forms in a graphical format.