Ice Storm Warning Update

1:00 p.m. Sunday


The Weather Deck has been renamed the Ice Deck

It is great to hear from Mary Anne in Remington...she has about .25" of ice. I am glad she is safe and sound. I was getting worried about her. My weatherwatchers are like family.

Here are some ice pictures from WLFI TV-18 in West Lafayette, Indiana. The good news is that ice accumulation has slowed down here at the station and the heaviest freezing rain is now moving to the east. We are holding steady at a .25" of ice with the potential for another .10" on the way. I do think the worst of the icing is over so if we can all just slow it down on the roadways we should get through this thing okay.




Huge pine trees are no match for mother nature as they are bent to the ground.

Our petrified TV-18 truck full of ice!







4-foot icicles hang off our dishes...bigger than my 3 year-old!


11:30 a.m. Sunday



Ice Accumulation update. Peru just reported .20" as of 11:43 a.m. It is amazing our roads are doing so well. We just called the Tippecanoe County highway department and there are no major problems on the main roads. But be careful of less traveled roads and straight-aways with little traffic. These are the areas that are becoming slick along with untreated roads, bridges, and overpasses. We had a frantic call from Rensselaer of trees being bent to the ground, but no downed trees or powerlines. The heaviest ice is now moving out of Newton and Jasper Counties but it may be too little too late for some trees. We will have to monitor that area closely because once you get above a .50" of ice things really go downhill in a hurry.


9:45 a.m. Sunday



It has been busy here at TV-18. Lee Ann Okuly and I have been making calls and measuring ice. We woke up to thunder freezing rain and with the heavier precipitation our freezing rain advisory has been upgraded to an ice storm warning. Ice accumulations are expected to be a quarter to a half-inch. There could be a sliver of heavier ice especially in portions of Benton, Newton, Jasper, White, Cass, Pulaski, and Fulton Counties where the temperatures will be a little colder. The main treated roads should hold up pretty well but be very careful of secondary roads, bridges, and overpasses. Here will be the main storm impacts.



Remember to be very careful of course if you have to drive. Concerns will continue to be ice accumulations on powerlines and trees. Once ice accumulations approach .50" chances of power outages go way up. The ice can increase the weight on the powerlines by more than 30 to 50 times their normal weight.

The good news is we may see the heaviest freezing rain move out of our area early this afternoon and just be left with drizzle and freezing drizzle. The bad news is that temperatures will stay near 32 and if we are lucky barely make it to 33 degrees. This ice storm could have been a lot worse if our temperatures were in the lower to middle 20s, but we are not out of the woods yet. We have had about .50" of precipitation here at WLFI with .20" of ice. We have one more batch of heavier freezing rain and rain to get through. Here is what it looks like here.


You can see why I am concerned about the trees and powerlines. It is starting to add up. Stay safe and we will continue to do live updates on the air as needed.