Washington Ice Storm
Ice Storm: Freezing Rain - December 2022
If you have never experienced an ice storm, I would say that you can consider yourself lucky. However, you are also missing out on some of nature’s most beautiful art masterpieces. Growing up on the west side of Washington state, I never worried about freezing rain (ice storms). Snow or ice melted during the warm temperatures of the day, then re-froze at night. Every night a new sheet of ice formed - and could be lurking under new snow. But that seemed . . . normal. Ice froze at night, and melted in the day.
Ice storms are a completely different kind of weather phenomenon. Temperatures at ground level can be freezing, and yet it is RAINING. Not snowing, but raining - in freezing temperatures. This does not seem normal, but there is an explanation.
When there are layers of air with widely differing temperatures, containing warm air layers at higher elevations and cold air along the ground, freezing rain can occur. The rain comes from the higher, warmer layer, or starts as snow but melts as it falls through a warm layer, and falls to the ground like regular rain. It quickly freezes as it hits the cold ground (ground is at or below freezing). It’s as if someone took a hose and squirted water over everything during freezing temperatures; everything is encased in “glass.” It can be quite pretty, but is also very dangerous. Power lines and tree limbs become heavy and can snap and fall to the ground, causing destruction and power outages. Walkways and roads become slick, and impossible to navigate safely.
Although we didn’t experience ice storms on the west side as I was growing up, climate has changed. Hopefully, this will not become a common occurrence.
My husband put salt on our walk this morning. The roads and our walk were fine when he left for work. Freezing rain started during the day. Ice piled up, and soon the porch was encased in ice. It looked as it it had been dipped in resin and the resin had hardened.
I could actually watch the icicles grow along the eves of the house. I saw a bird fall from the sky and land in our garden. I ran outside to check, thinking it might be covered in ice. It looked OK, but I wondered about the safety of the wildlife. Birds usually go into the shrubs and trees during the rain, but the trees offer little refuge during ice storms.
Nature is beautiful, but demands respect. I prefer snow. If it is 20 degrees out, it had better be snowing - NOT raining!
It’s a good thing that I didn’t procrastinate in getting ready for Christmas. All I had to do today was cook - no errands to run. We celebrate all day and evening Christmas eve, so timing was perfect. Temps are going up now - we should have rain tonight and tomorrow. The ice is quite thick, but hopefully it will melt by tomorrow.
We managed to venture out to snap some photos for you (by “we” I mean my daughter, Aleah). Enjoy - from the comfort of a warm place :-)
