Our Icy World

Rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. We had them all in the Cincinnati area over the last couple of days. With the temperature hovering around the freezing point for most of the day Tuesday, we saw a messy mix of precipitation. Fortunately, both Dianne and I were able to work from home on Tuesday so we didn’t have to worry about the roads.

The worst part was the freezing rain that started Tuesday afternoon and lasted well into the evening. Everything outside was covered with ice. There was about 3/8 to ½ an inch of ice on everything in our area. The trees got very heavy with the weight of the ice and were bending. There were many news reports of tree limbs falling and power lines down. We lost our power for about 7 hours Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. However, we were lucky as there were still many people without power Wednesday morning. The local news mentioned at one point there were more than 140,000 people without power.

On Wednesday morning, it was cold but the sky was partly sunny after the storm. The sunlight reflecting off the ice covered world was a pretty site. It was like sunlight shining through a giant crystal chandelier. It was hard to capture the beauty in a picture (I need to investigate the high dynamic range photos). Although pretty, you had to be very careful walking and driving. It’ll be several days before the temperatures get warm enough to melt the ice off the trees. On the way to work I saw many broken limbs on trees lining the highway.

I took a several photos during the day on Tuesday and a some on Wednesday that shows the ice buildup. You can see the entire set of photos here – click on the thumbnails to see larger images. Some of the photos like the maple tree branch, this shrub, and the tree branches at sunset give a feel for how thick the ice layer is.