In article .com,
says...


On Jan 13, 7:13 am, "Rich" wrote:
It seems the mid west is in the grip of an ice storm :-

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/01/1...x.html?eref=rs....

I recall a similar event in the UK when large icicles were dropping like
spears from buildings and powerlines. Anyone know how frequently this event
occurs in the UK ?

Richhttp://www.richdavies.com/weather.htm

There was freezing drizzle here on 30 Dec '95. Max temp
-0.8°. It was nearly impossible to walk on the pavement without going
a-over-t.
The conditions for freezing rain in Oklahoma at the moment are
perfect, with surface temps about -5° and an enormous inversion
between 2000 and 4000 feet, temps up to +9°. A marked wind shear at
the inversion as well. See:

http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/soun...312&STNM=72357

This is for Norman, OK, at 12Z, 13 Jan.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.



So far, almost all we've gotten in Norman has been 2-3 cm of ice pellets
since yesterday morning. Very little freezing rain here. We've got one
more round overnight and tomorrow. We should get about as much precip
out of this one as we've already had. It may turn into snow at the end.
I haven't been outside, except to pick up the newspaper and post, since
I got home from work and getting kids from school yesterday afternoon.
So far, it hasn't been as bad as it could have been locally, but
basically 95% of flights have been cancelled in to and out of the
Oklahoma City airport. I'm scheduled out on a flight at 10 AM Monday to
go to the American Meteorological Society annual meeting in San Antonio.
We'll see if that happens.

South and east of here, it's been freezing rain. Muskogee, in eastern
Oklahoma, had almost 5 cm of freezing rain. There are about 100,000
people out of power around the state.

Harold
--
Harold Brooks

Tudor Hughes wrote:

There was freezing drizzle here on 30 Dec '95. Max temp
-0.8°. It was nearly impossible to walk on the pavement without going
a-over-t.

We definately had freezing rain some time in the early 90s in Tamworth,
Staffordshire. It wouldn't have been 30 Dec 1995 because I remember it
through trying to walk to school, up a fairly steep hill.

The next worse that I remember was back in 2002 when I had to negotiate
re-frozen snowmelt in Lappland - that was just like walking on an ice rink.

--
Jonathan Stott
Canterbury Weather: http://www.canterburyweather.co.uk/
Reverse my e-mail address to reply by e-mail

"ucsdcpc" wrote in message
...
Was an ice storm the cause of the collapse of the Emley Moor TV mast
in 1969? I just about remember it happening and it was winter.


.... 19th March I believe - technically well into Spring but of course it
illustrates that the climatological divisions we use have to be regarded
as somewhat elastic!

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
Bracknell

In article ,
ucsdcpc writes:
Was an ice storm the cause of the collapse of the Emley Moor TV mast in
1969? I just about remember it happening and it was winter.

IIRC, the cloud-base was low and there was a breeze, which caused rime
from the cloud to build up on one side of the mast. There wasn't
actually any rain.
--
John Hall "He crams with cans of poisoned meat
The subjects of the King,
And when they die by thousands G.K.Chesterton:
Why, he laughs like anything." from "Song Against Grocers"

On Sat, 13 Jan 2007 07:13:54 -0000, "Rich" wrote:

I recall a similar event in the UK when large icicles were dropping like
spears from buildings and powerlines. Anyone know how frequently this event
occurs in the UK ?

The 1947 event, to which I referred yesterday, is illustrated in Manley,
'Climate and the British Scene' plate 13, with a description on the
opposite page 98. I remember a 5 millimetre thick plate of ice forming
on top of the lying snow. We took a great delight in breaking it up and
throwing it at one another in the school playground.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather
Some walks and treks:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/walks

"Alan White" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Jan 2007 07:13:54 -0000, "Rich" wrote:

I recall a similar event in the UK when large icicles were dropping like
spears from buildings and powerlines. Anyone know how frequently this
event
occurs in the UK ?

The 1947 event, to which I referred yesterday, is illustrated in Manley,
'Climate and the British Scene' plate 13, with a description on the
opposite page 98. I remember a 5 millimetre thick plate of ice forming
on top of the lying snow. We took a great delight in breaking it up and
throwing it at one another in the school playground.

Sounds like fun!
Imagine kids being allowed to do that now.....
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

Rich wrote:

It seems the mid west is in the grip of an ice storm :-


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/01/1...rss_topstories

I recall a similar event in the UK when large icicles were dropping like
spears from buildings and powerlines. Anyone know how frequently this
event occurs in the UK ?


"Twelve-inch posts snapped like twigs, or wires hung down like skipping
ropes between those posts left standing, with the weight of ice and snow."

This is a description of the "Great Blizzard of March 1916" in Rushden,
Northants. The wires and posts belonged to the main telegraph line to the
north of England, carrying over 60 lines. Royal Engineers were brought out
to clear wires and posts and lay temporary cables.

Judging from photographs, the snow-depth looks to be no more than two or
three inches for the most part. Telegraph poles have a couple of inches of
ice/snow coating one side and some walls are also coated up to the first
floor. I can't tell whether this event was just wet snow which froze or
involved some freezing rain.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

"John Hall" wrote in message
news
In article ,
ucsdcpc writes:
Was an ice storm the cause of the collapse of the Emley Moor TV mast
in
1969? I just about remember it happening and it was winter.

IIRC, the cloud-base was low and there was a breeze, which caused rime
from the cloud to build up on one side of the mast. There wasn't
actually any rain.


.... this reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emley_Moor

suggests that 'unusual oscillation' of the wires steadying the tower was
the cause - no doubt the uneven build-up of ice from whatever cause was
a contributory factor. Several of these very tall transmitter masts
regularly experienced ice build-up without mishap, so it was probably a
combination of several factors which produced the failure.

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
Bracknell

In article ,
Alan White writes:
The 1947 event, to which I referred yesterday, is illustrated in Manley,
'Climate and the British Scene' plate 13, with a description on the
opposite page 98.

Unfortunately in my edition (1962 edition, 5th (1972) impression), plate
XIII shows a Norwegian glacier in retreat (upper) and the Ben Nevis
Snowbed in Observatory Gully (lower). I've looked through all the
plates, and the one you describe is not included. The description may be
there somewhere, but on a different page. I looked in the index, put
couldn't find a mention of "freezing rain" or "glaze".
--
John Hall "He crams with cans of poisoned meat
The subjects of the King,
And when they die by thousands G.K.Chesterton:
Why, he laughs like anything." from "Song Against Grocers"

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:51:35 +0000, John Hall
wrote:

Unfortunately in my edition (1962 edition, 5th (1972) impression), plate
XIII shows a Norwegian glacier in retreat (upper) and the Ben Nevis
Snowbed in Observatory Gully (lower). I've looked through all the
plates, and the one you describe is not included. The description may be
there somewhere, but on a different page. I looked in the index, put
couldn't find a mention of "freezing rain" or "glaze".

Mine is a first edition, third impression, December, 1955.

That's a pity as the description isn't in the main text but is linked to
the plate.

Here it is:-

quote
PLATE 13
MARLEY COMMON, Surrey: birch trees after an ice-storm, March. Raindrops
from warmer air at a high level fell through a stratum below freezing
point, and froze on impact. The warmer air advancing from the south was
unable to displace the colder air and while rain fell heavily nearer the
Channel, north of the Thames there was very heavy snow.
/quote

Marley Common is in W.Sussex, SW of Haslemere.

My plate XIII shows belching chimneys (upper) and a wet Manchester
street scene (lower).

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather
Some walks and treks:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/walks