RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on Jan 30, 2005 1:00:02 GMT -5
Hi all,
I got chased out of Arkansas on Friday by the threat of freezing rain. When I got into the office on Friday morning, everyone kept asking me when I was leaving. I sort of felt like I was being a pain. Anyhoo, I said I was sort of planning on hitting the road at 2:30 to catch a 5PM flight. I had a 80 mile drive to the airport.
They said that the sooner that I left the better because the forecast was for freezing rain. And, probably figuring that I was from California that I wouldn't know how to drive in freezing rain. Which, of course, they were correct. Luckily, we left at noon and had no problem getting to the airport or home.
I asked what is "freezing rain", is that your term for snow, thinking they were pulling my leg. One person said that it is rain, but freezes when it hits the ground. Another said, that it is more like sleet or hail.
I saw on the new that Atlanta got an ice storm.
So.. please explain to a "weather challenged" California - what is freezing rain or an ice storm?
Cal P.S trying to catch up on all the posts.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Jan 30, 2005 1:14:04 GMT -5
OK, it goes like this: Freezing rain occurs when the precipatation initially falls as snow in the upper atmosphere (say, 10,000 ft). then it encounters a mass of warmer air at, say, 7000 feet and thaws. There is a lower mass of air at 2-3000 feet that is below freezing. Therefor the cooled parcipitation refreezes upon impact, though it falls as rain. The result is icing on trees, roadways and power lines. The roads are extremely slick and sushy, the trees are weighed down by the ice on the limbs and often break, and the weight of the ice build up on power lines causes them to snap. That's why an ice storm can be more debilitating than a snow storm in some cercumstances. We got lucky here, so far we haven't lost power. We will see what tommorrow brings.
cookie
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RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on Jan 30, 2005 1:33:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation Cookie, much appreciated. All I can say is YUCK!
I am not sure if Arkansas got any freezing rain, but I am glad that I left before it started! Just what I wanted to do.. spend the weekend (and maybe longer) on the road after spending the week traveling.
A couple of years ago, about 3" of snow fell; and, they closed the highway over the mountains to my work. The idiot drivers on the road just kept driving like it was a regular sunny day. I called in and said I couldn't come in because of the snow! My wife HAD to go into the office because her boss was flying in, she had to drive 70 miles out of the way to get into work. I believe that I went back to bed! LOL
Cal
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jan 30, 2005 10:01:48 GMT -5
I have one better - I have pictures, This is what we got in 1998 here in Canada (probably some northern part of the US too) It's the site is in french but from the images you get the picture. *whistles Winter Wonderland* verglas.fdworld.net/Glace.shtml
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JKowalski33
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 451
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Post by JKowalski33 on Jan 30, 2005 12:30:51 GMT -5
not this winter, but last, we had an awesome freezing rain incidence. It was the last week of christmas break, and it snowed that week, a total of about 6 inches (which is unusual for my area). Then after the snowing, it began to do freezing rain about the time we were supposed to go back to school. All the snow got covered with about an inch layer of ice and everything was slick and frosted. I thought it was pretty cool, I had never seen weather like this before, and also we got to miss more days of school
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RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on Jan 30, 2005 12:40:41 GMT -5
Hi Sweetiepy,
Thanks for the link, the pictures does make it look like a Winterwander Land as I comfortably in a nice warm office looking out on a sunny day.
We get a thrill when we see frost on the deck - about the closest thing we see as a winterwander land! LOL.
Cal
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jan 30, 2005 13:00:50 GMT -5
Hey RedwoodRocks,
I like how you misspelled my name, on purpose or by mistake, but you can call me that anytime! ;D
We got a few days off work cuz almost everyone was without power, everything was frozen & nothing worked. My mom had a wood stove and that kept the house warm & food cooking dor the 2-3 weeks, but it wasn't something I'd like to have repeated although it was really beautiful to see all the tree & stuff. My car antenae was at least 2 inches thick with ice.
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Post by docone31 on Jan 30, 2005 20:10:22 GMT -5
Cookie did real well on explaining what ice storm, and freezing rain is. There is also sleet. Ice storm. That is when there is a real storm. It can be either snow falling, melting on the way, gathering friends on the way down, and hitting the ground mushy, icey, or water that turns to ice. The real difference between snow, and ice/sleet/freezing rain is the weight. Ice storms break things with the weight. Roofs collapse, branches break off, power lines snap. With an ice storm, or freezing rain, there is usually ice on the roads. More with freezing rain than ice storm. Remelt snow/sleet is usually warmer than total freeze. You get more slush with an ice storm than freezing rain. Freezing rain is rain that freezes most of the way down to the ground. It hits and freezes solid. The freezing forces the temperature on the affected item to go below freezing and keep the rain frozen. Sleet is frozen ice crystals that really hurt when they hit you at speed. The left coast has dry snow. Even in the Pacific Northwest where it rains and snows, it is dry and much fluffier than on the east, and east of the Mississippi. Our snow is much denser in crystal form, and the crystals of snow and ice, differ from the west and the east. An ice storm, or freezing rain is like driving on a sheet of ice. Walking is pretty difficult, and it gets worse the more you are out there. Black ice is kinda like it except the slush produced from both types of storms can be driven safely for the most part, and they can beat you in an heartbeat. Walking can be an experience. With the limits of your experience in this kind of weather, you did real well by doing what you did.
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