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Floods - Somalia, Ethiopia,
Kenya
Typhoon Durian - Philippines,
Vietnam
Ice storm/blizzard - United States,
Canada
Cold wave - United States
Winter storm - Europe
Tornado outbreak - United States
Floods - Mozambique
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 11
November 8th 2006 - March 5th 2007 - Bill McGuire |
Ice storm/blizzard - United States, Canada
| Territory: |
|
United States, Canada |
| Region: |
|
Central, south-western, mid-west,
southern and north eastern states of the contiguous United States;
Great Lakes, Ontario, Canadian Maritimes. |
| Date: |
|
11 - 24 January 2007 |
| Event: |
|
Ice storm/blizzard |
| Impact: |
|
Close to a million householders were affected
by power outages. States of Emergency were declared in Missouri
and Oklahoma, and the latter was later declared a Federal Disaster
Area. Interstate highways were closed in a number of states,
Amtrak services affected and flights cancelled. From Texas to
Illinois, around 5 cm of ice accumulated as a result of three
storms, leading to countless traffic accidents, which took the
majority of the 85 lives claimed by the freeze across 12 US
states and three Canadian provinces, including 26 in Oklahoma.
Disruption and accidents in eastern states were largely attributed
to blizzard conditions and heavy snowfall rather than ice. Estimates
of total losses, either economic and insured, are not yet available. |
| Summary: |
|
On 11 January, the first of three cyclonic ice
storms took hold of much of the United States. The first developed
in the south west of the country, sucking down freezing Arctic
air over the warm, moist air of the Gulf, and leading to freezing
precipitation (mostly rain, with some snow) from northern Texas
to the New England States, affecting Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas,
Missouri, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, the New England states,
and the Great Lakes region, Ontario and the Canadian Maritimes.
A second storm developed close to the US-Mexico border on 16
January, and tracked across southern Texas, into the Carolinas,
and up into eastern Canada and Maine, while a third, headed
from Arizona into the Great Lakes and crossed the Mid-Atlantic
States before heading north into eastern Canada on the 24th.
Ice layers up to 10 cm thick were reported from Missouri and
Oklahoma, with 81 cm of snow falling in eastern Canada. The
storms were succeeded by a period of intense cold across much
of the continent, with Mount Washington (New Hampshire) recording
a record wind chill of minus 65 degrees C on 17 January. |
| Data sources: |
|
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/01/12/ice.storm/index.html
Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20070114-15082300-bc-us-weather.xml
|
| Additional sources:
|
|
Rural Missouri
http://www.ruralmissouri.org/07pages/07MarchICE.html
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| Image: |
|
Ice damaged trees at Bolivar, Missouri. Courtesy:
Joleene Naylor.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/15th_2.jpg
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