Midwest Ice Storm Shuts Airports, Schools

Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa have been battling one of the worst ice storms ever. Schools have been shut down and airports have been closed; O'Hare alone has had 400 flights canceled. The storm has been blamed for at least 23 deaths.

The ice storm started in Texas and have created havoc leaving over one million without power. This has been caused by, in many cases, one inch of ice on the wires. In some cases it may be ten days before power is restored.

In my community, Central Illinois we have been battling constant rain and blowing as the temperatures dip in and out of the twenties. Even in Northern Georgia there may be Snow flurries.

As you go East on I-74; moving to further North on I-55, the roads become slicker and slicker even with chemicals being laid down. Much of the problem is with the weather changes, the ice freezes and re-freezes and actually makes thicker layers.

In our area, just as it is taken out of the forecast for good, it is brought back in (mist recently for a full day at least) because, not in precipitation changes but temperature changes. That is the very difficult aspect of this storm; it doesn't follow normal patterns.

I am a veteran commercial driver and have found these particular driving conditions to be difficult; more so than most of the time. For one thing there is no breakdown of the ice after traffic usage; it seems to stay the same.

In Illinois the extremes of the state are the biggest problem Chicago already being mentioned and the Southern part of the state which is near Kansas City having had 65 flights canceled in their own right.

Despite being in the path of terrible conditions and end results, such as Des Moines, Iowa Central Illinois has escaped much of the deadly fallout from the storm. In Iowa in particular, the ice storm followed several inches of sleet and snow creating a deadly mixture.

In Peoria, Illinois, virtually all events have been canceled. The results of the devastation have been going on for two days in the areas hit before our area which is just now reaching 24 hours.

In many states, the effects of the storms have set records for that particular state.