Ice Storm - January 12th-14th, 2007

Historic Ice Storm of January 12-14, 2007

The Historic January 12-14 Ice Storm left over 200,000 southwest Missourians without power and a landscape resembling a war zone. While the region was still coping with the damage from the November 30-December 1, 2006 ice storm, the January 12-14 Ice Storm have not been experienced since the December 1987 Ice Storm, in terms of power outages.

Officially at the National Weather Service office in Springfield, one and a half inches of ice accumulation was received. Fourteen other counties along the I-44 corridor also reported at least an inch of ice. Communities across southeast Kansas into western Missouri also received 1 to 5 inches of a snow and sleet mixture.

The ice accumulations resulted in widepread downed trees and powerlines. Approximately 200,000 residences were without power and power will not be restored for days if not weeks for many. In addition, several structres collapsed due to the weight of ice and snow across southeast Kansas.

Much colder temperatures followed the ice storm with lows falling into the single digits Monday and Tuesday nights.

County Summary

County	Accumulations	Remarks
Bourbon	1/4 to 1/2" Ice	Several trees down and scattered power outages
Crawford	1/4 to 1/2" Ice	Scattered trees down and power outages
Cherokee	1/4 to 1/2" Ice 1 to 3" Snow	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Vernon	1/4 to 1/2" Ice ~ 1" of Sleet & Snow	Several trees down and scattered power outages
Barton	1/2 to 1/2" Ice 3 to 5" Sleet & Snow	Numerous downed trees and scattered power outages
Jasper	1/4 to 1/2" Ice 3 to 5" Sleet & Snow	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Newton	1" Ice 1 to 3" Sleet & Snow	Numerous downed trees and power outages
McDonald	1/4 to 1/2" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
St. Clair	1/4" Ice 2 to 5" Sleet & Snow	Scattered downed trees and power outages
Cedar	1/4 to 1/2" Ice 2 to 5" Sleet & Snow	Numerous trees down and power outages
Dade	1 to 1.5" Ice 1 to 4" Sleet & Snow	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Lawrence	1 to 1.5" Ice 1 to 2" Sleet & Snow	Widespread downed trees and power outages
Barry	1/2 to 1" Ice	Widespread downed trees and power outages
Benton	1/2 to 1" Ice	Scattered downed trees and power outages
Hickory	1/2 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Polk	1 to 1.5" Ice	Widespread downed trees and power outages
Greene	1 to 1.5 Ice	Widespread downed trees and power outages
Christian	1/2 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Taney	1/4" Ice
Morgan	1/4 to 1/2" Ice	Scattered trees down and power outages
Camden	1/2 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Dallas	1 to 2" Ice	Widespead downed trees and power outages
Laclede	1/2 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Webster	1/2 to 1.5" Ice	Widespread downed trees and power outages
Wright	1/4 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Douglas	1/8 to 1/2" Ice
Ozark		Minor Flooding
Miller	1/2 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Maries	1/4 to 1" Ice	Numerous downed trees and power outages
Pulaski	1/2 to 1.5" Ice	Widespread downed trees and power lines
Phelps	1/4 to 1" Ice
Dent	1/4" Ice
Texas	1/4 to 3/4" Ice
Shannon	Up to 1/4" Ice	Flooding
Howell		Flooding
Oregon		Flooding

What makes freezing rain

Freezing rain occurs when rain ralls into a layer of cold sub-freezing air near the earth's surface. Since this sub-freezing layer is shallow the rain falling into it has no time to refreeze into sleet or snow. However, the rain droplets freezing on contact with surfaces that are at freezing or below.