The child’s mother, who was carrying her, had been caught in the storm and was running to seek cover. A crippling, devastating ice storm hit portions of upstate New York, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire, much of Maine and southeast Canada. I’ve been in two large hail storms in my life in Connecticut, where I live. At least 30,000 power poles were downed or snapped in Arkansas. The ice storm resulted in 65 fatalities nationwide, of which 35 occurred in Kentucky. Of all the states affected, Mississippi Tennessee and Alabama saw the worst impacts. Freezing rain falls disguised as normal rain—but when a layer of cold air above the ground super-cools water droplets, rain forms ice over the surface and can quickly accumulate and add weight over the roads, roofs, trees, and power lines they fall on. Incidentally, one somewhat common ice storm corridor is along the Columbia River, where subfreezing air spilling over the Continental Divide can sometimes remain trapped ahead of a wet Pacific storm. The area hit by the ice included eastern New York State, parts of Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, coastal and south-central Maine, the Pocono Mountains region in Pennsylvania, northwestern Connecticut, and southern Vermont. This devastating storm caused 30 deaths and weeks of power outages to millions of Canadians. Over 1 inch of accumulated ice in many locations from northeast Texas into southeast Oklahoma, Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Updrafts within the storm system can force raindrops up into these higher regions, causing them to freeze into ice crystals. To establish the most destructive winter storms of the decade, Stacker consulted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Events database from 2010 up to September 2019. Adjusted for inflation, this storm today would've caused over a quarter million dollars in 2013. More than 150,000 auto insurance claims and more than 50,000 homeowners insurance claims were filed. But it’s not just New England and Canada that are prone to freezing rain storms. Although the database is comprehensive, damage reports often come from local sources and may, therefore, be incomplete. - Dates where damage occurred: April 29, 2012 - States affected heaviest: Oregon, Michigan. », Full Moon Calendar – Dates, Times and Names. The heavy ice coatings caused widespread damage to trees, power lines and power poles. Ice accumulations of up to two inches reported on power lines and tree limbs. - Total damage: $19.45 million Not a Member? South Asia had a particularly devastating decade of floods from 1987-1997, with billions in damage. After about a day of snow, the system moved north into Pennsylvania. You may also like: Average temperature change in every state over the past 100 years. This cold spell interrupted what had been a warmer-than-average month for the upper Midwest. No snow or ice fell during this "storm," but a devastating cold spell enveloped the Ohio Valley on April 29, 2012. Hailstones form inside massive thunderhead clouds that can tower at heights of up to 50,000 feet. Over 16,000 members of the Canadian Forces were deployed to help manage the situation, making it the largest deployment of Canadian military personnel since the Korean War. Tore up my flowers and my garden. WebEcoist | Strange Nature, Rare Animals & Weird World Wonders, 6 Chilling Ice Storms, Tsunamis and Floods, Part One: 8 Devastating Earth and Land Disasters, Part Three: 6 Scorching Heat and Fire Disasters, Part Four: 10 Sweeping Wind and Sky Disasters, 15 Epic Water and Ice Formations and Phenomena, 25 Chilling HDR Water, Snow and Ice Photos, Scent Season: 10 More Pumpkin Spice Foods, Snacks & Drinks, Crunch Time: 10 ‘Do Not Feed The Animals’ Zoo Signs, Fruitless: 10 Scents-sational ‘No Durian’ Signs, Lost Gasp: An Environmental Plague Of Trashed Face Masks. In some places, wind gusts downed power lines. - Dates where damage occurred: Jan. 24-25, 2010 Beshear called in National Guard troops to help clear roads and go door to door to check on families in the western part of the state (the worst-hit area). After forming in Iowa and moving north, this winter storm brought between one and two feet of snow to Minnesota's Twin Cities region, the worst snowstorm in nearly 20 years. 30,000 square miles of flooded land cost over $15 billion to repair – the most expensive in U.S. history. You may also like: How weather has shaped human history, - Dates where damage occurred: Oct. 29- 30, 2011 company. If it seems like the number of power outages each year is on the rise, you… Read More. In eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, over 3 million people were without electricity for up to a month and a half. just south of Montreal, after one of the worst ice storms in Canadian history struck eastern Ontario and Quebec in January 1998. The temperature line between snow and rain is razor-thin, Freezing rain falls disguised as normal rain—but when a layer of cold air above the ground super-cools water droplets, Ice coated everything from trees to cars to roads, a layer of ice nearly an inch thick covered the ground. The final price tag: over $2 billion in losses. We were on a small country road and couldn’t see how close we were to the ditch on the side of the road – ended up in that ditch. With modern technology, preparations can generally be made – except in the tragic case of the world’s worst tsunami in 2004. The capital city, Charleston—just 650 feet above sea level—only saw two inches of snow accumulation. Hurricane Sandy might be best remembered for heavy rainfall and flooding along the eastern U.S. coast, but in the mountains of West Virginia, a cold front bringing polar air with it met Sandy to produce snow and blizzard conditions. - Event type: Extreme Cold-Wind Chill The storms resulted in widespread power outages, leaving millions of residents without electricity, typically for a few days to a few weeks. The winter of 2009-2010 was unusually cold in Great Britain and Ireland, and included serious problems with ice glaze. Total costs were $15 million in North Carolina and $20 million in Tennessee. to help give you the best experience we can. India, Bangladesh and Nepal saw damage to such a great extent that 30 million people were injured, displaced or affected (by conservative estimates). The event ranks as the most expensive catastrophe in Colorado history, according to insurance estimates. the zone that marks where a cold air mass replaces a warmer one. Many of the fatalities were caused by carbon monoxide inhalation, as people used power generators and kerosene heaters in unsafe manners. Enough snow fell on Minneapolis's Metrodome to deflate the dome, collapsing the Teflon roof. Here are some of the most powerful and surprising water disasters in recent history, from sudden ice to racing tsunamis to vast floods, captured in words, images and videos. bree lee has uploaded 44 photos to Flickr. Support WHO’s work to track the spread; to ensure patients get care and frontline workers get supplies; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments. - Total damage: $23.5 million A winter storm coated New England states with ice on December 11-12, 2008, cutting off power to more than a million people across New Hampshire, Vermont, … Power outages and tree damage was widespread in this area. We've seen frost flowers, which I do want to try to make in my freezer (since I live in a place far too warm and dry to ever get frost flowers naturally). Arbor Day 2020: What and When is Arbor Day? Most unbelievable, though, is an 18th Century claim from Seringapatam, India, of a hailstone the size of an elephant!