Tag Archives: Ice

At least 10 dead following Winter Storm Cara, more extreme weather to come

The rain, snow and ice dumped by Winter Storm Cara caused multiple deaths throughout the country, according to media reports, and more extreme weather is forecast for the week ahead.

A USA Today report says at least six people died in ice-storm-related accidents in Oklahoma and Kansas. Flooding in North Texas claimed the lives of at least four more, according to Texas television station WFAA.

The complex and wide-reaching storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow in parts of Nevada, Oregon and California and 14 or more inches in Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado, according to The Weather Channel. An inch or more of ice accumulated on power lines in parts of Oklahoma.

USA Today reported Oklahoma’s governor, Mary Fallin, declared a statewide state of emergency and 100,000 customers did not have power Sunday afternoon. The Weather Channel reported those numbers were down to 58,000 by Monday morning, most of them near Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall in Texas helped Dallas break its annual record for precipitation.

USA Today reported Dallas has already received more than 4½ feet of rain this year. The annual total was just shy of 56 inches on Sunday, smashing the 53.54-inch record established in 1991.

WFAA reported “widespread flooding in several areas” of Texas. It said there were 446 car wrecks and 38 water rescue calls between Thanksgiving morning and Sunday evening.

As that storm dissipated, another one was brewing over the Northern Plains.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. Winter weather advisories were also in effect in parts of those states, plus North Dakota and Wisconsin on Monday morning.

CNN is reporting a foot of snow is expected in Minnesota, where the highest totals are forecast.

Winter Storm Cara brings more severe weather to central United States

More power outages and travel delays are being reported as Winter Storm Cara continues to pummel the central United States, and the threat of additional outages and disruption looms as the powerful storm is predicted to generate additional ice and snow throughout the weekend.

Parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas were under ice storm warnings from the National Weather Service on Friday. Flood warnings were in effect in portions of Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Numerous other advisories and warnings had been issued.

The Weather Channel predicts that 21 states will be subjected to snow, sleet or freezing rain by the time Cara dissipates. Cara is moving slower than usual because of a pattern in the jet stream.

The storm began dropping snow on the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday. The Weather Channel’s forecasts indicate Cara’s energy could linger over eastern states until the middle of next week, and caution that rainfall in warmer regions ahead of the snow could trigger flash flooding.

On Friday, meteorologists were concerned about an ice storm that was developing in a swath that stretched from eastern New Mexico into northern Texas, central Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. That’s where the icy precipitation was expected to accumulate the most and last the longest, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather.com.

They warned of a half inch of ice building up on certain exposed surfaces. AccuWeather’s senior vice president of enterprise solutions, Mike Smith, told the organization’s website that the storm could also cause “significant power failures” in certain parts of Oklahoma and Texas.

The Weather Channel reported a quarter of an inch had already built up in Woodward, Oklahoma, on Friday morning, and the entire town of Rockwell City, Iowa, was without power.

The snow has also led to travel delays and accidents throughout the country.

The Minnesota State Patrol had reported 139 crashes as of 9 p.m. Wednesday night, according to WCCO in Minneapolis. At least one of those accidents was fatal and 33 of them caused injuries.

Some motorists became trapped in the snow on roads in southern California, the California Highway Patrol told the Los Angeles Times. Officials in Idaho reported cars slid off roads there.

According to The Weather Channel, the heaviest snowfall was reported in Nevada, where an estimated 25 inches fell near Deeth. More than 20 inches of snow were reported in parts of California and Oregon, and 14 inches were reported Buhl, Idaho and Sinks Canyon, Wyoming.

It wasn’t just the snow that was accumulating, as an NBC News report indicated Dallas-Fort Worth broke its all-time rainfall record with Cara’s precipitation early Friday morning. More than 53 inches of rain have fallen there since the start of the year.

Winter Storm Cara poised to impact Thanksgiving travel

A powerful winter storm is disrupting Thanksgiving travel plans across the United States, bringing ice, snow and rain to those in its path.

Winter Storm Cara pummeled the Pacific Northwest with more than a foot of snow and knocked out power to thousands of people on Tuesday, and the storm appears to be only getting started.

The National Weather Service has issued numerous weather advisories and warnings across the country, ranging from hard freeze and winter storm warnings in Oregon to winter weather and flood watches in Oklahoma. Parts of Wyoming are under a blizzard warning on Wednesday.

There are more concerns of snow, black ice, fog and flooding as the storm continues to move east, according to forecasts from The Weather Channel and AccuWeather.

Those are expected to cause travel delays at airports and on highways from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes into Friday, meteorologist Dave Bowers told accuweather.com.

The latest Weather Channel forecasts call for Cara to dump a foot and a half of snow in parts of the country through Sunday, though most areas are projected to receive less than five inches.

AccuWeather meteorologists also warn of the potential impact of other forms of precipitation.

While they don’t expect freezing rain will be a major issue for most of the country, there is the chance for enough accumulation to bring down power lines and trees in the Great Plains.

They also noted that some areas could experience flash flooding as rain is expected to fall across the Great Plains on Thursday and Friday. The storm is expected to continue east Saturday.

The Weather Channel also warned of the potential for flooding and flash flooding throughout the weekend, as conditions are ripe for torrential rainfall in the south central United States.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that parts of Washington had already been without power for nearly a week after a deadly windstorm knocked out the electrical grid in Spokane. Cara’s winds then knocked out power to more than 40,000 Washington residents, KIRO reported.

Hidden Volcanoes Threatening Major Antarctic Glaciers

Scientists investigating the rapid increase in movement of Antarctic glaciers have found that underwater volcanoes are heating water and increasing ice melt.

The segment of ice in danger has six major glaciers that are facing major collapse.  If the area completely melts, the entire global sea level will rise at least four feet.  (A collapse is considered the point when a glacier starts an unstoppable retreat that would drop millions of tons of ice into the sea.)

Dustin Schroeder of the University of Texas at Austin says that volcanoes and “other geothermal hotspots” are driving the melting of the glaciers and recent studies are showing there is no way to stop the eventual collapse of the glaciers.  The challenge to scientists is to accurately estimate if it will take hundreds of years or thousands for the glaciers to be completely destroyed.

The problem with predicting the outcome is that computer models cannot accurate anticipate the volcanic activity taking place under the ice sheet.  Much of the area is unexplored and unmapped, as a new under-ice volcano was discovered in 2013.

One of the hottest points is around Mount Takahe, a volcano that actually has broken through the ice sheet.  There are smaller volcanoes and vents that increase the temperature of the water as much as three times the level of sea water under other parts of the continent.

Schroeder said the scientists believe the extra melt from the volcanoes lubricates the ice sheets from beneath and accelerates their slide toward the open water.