Wednesday, October 28th 2020, 3:30 pm - Hundreds of thousands of outages have been left in the storm's wake, and 911 services have stopped responding to non-injury collisions.
Oklahoma and parts of northern Texas are buried in sheets of ice, the bullseye for an uncommon October ice storm for which Canada is tangentially to blame.
Some 200,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma Wednesday, three days after the storm ramped up, as ice-laden tree limbs snapped and fell onto power lines.
“Fall storms like this are your worst nightmare,” Brian Alford, a spokesman for Oklahoma utility OGE, told USA Today. “You still have leaves on branches that create a considerable amount of weight. And once you begin to thaw, you see the ice melt and you get the rebound effect of branches bouncing up. So we might make progress and then there will be a setback with the bounding due to the thaw.”
Road conditions are also abysmal, with calls for assistance so numerous, 911 services have stopped responding to non-injury collisions.
The ice storm is happening just a few hundred kilometres away from the U.S. Gulf Coast, where tropical weather in the form of Hurricane Zeta is happening in earnest.
Warm air from the Gulf is surging aloft, as high as 2,000 metres above the surface while, much closer to the surface, a burst of cold air sinks south from Canada.
So when that copious moisture precipitates, that tropical air melts any attempt at snow, and contact with that frigid Canadian air completes the setup for freezing rain.
Below is a look at how the storm's impacts have played out on social media so far.
Day 3 of this Beautiful Disaster! #OKWX #Oklahoma 🌬🌨❄October Ice Storm pic.twitter.com/JKn39gLLfD
— Compass OKC (@CompassOKC) October 28, 2020
Brrr #okwx #Oklahomaweather #IceStorm #2020winter pic.twitter.com/ZbNxqFsaOA
— PrisonMinistry/Author (@Letters4theLord) October 28, 2020
Where's the train to a warmer place? #okwx #Oklahomaweather #IceStorm #2020Winter pic.twitter.com/rdnyfplxFP
— PrisonMinistry/Author (@Letters4theLord) October 28, 2020
Definitely don’t want to be walking anywhere under the patio anytime soon lol. How your morning/afternoon going? #okwx #NotNiceIce #stayathome #staywarm pic.twitter.com/6bWr5kEDzb
— Trooper Flores (@OHPFlo381) October 28, 2020
I never cared much for these hedges but this may be a more abrupt end to them than I anticipated. 😬 #okwx pic.twitter.com/POZxRp9r98
— em dash aficionado (@imjacobnotjames) October 28, 2020
#okwx NW OKC pic.twitter.com/W7QY3RlD2w
— 🎃 Spooky Ginger 👻 (@mchastain81) October 28, 2020
At the @DevonIceRinkOKC #okwx pic.twitter.com/RyF6YDKnal
— 𝐌𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬 🍂 (@myriadgardens) October 28, 2020
Power went out Mon about 2pm- stayed w/ friend the last 2 nights- they lost power yesterday so 24 hours with no power there. On to my MILs house now. Stopped home and this is what we found. Power line completely disconnected from house. I’m exhausted & need a shower #okwx pic.twitter.com/PJWT7lcRkE
— Stephanie Skidmore (@Sgraceskidmore) October 28, 2020
Ice storms this close to Halloween feel less like a treat and more like a trick. Treat yourself to peace-of-mind and have Level handle your branch clean up. Contact us to schedule handyman service today. #okwx #handyman #icestorm #oklahoma pic.twitter.com/n2FRxFd7UD
— LevelHandyman (@LevelHandyman) October 28, 2020
The tree damage across Oklahoma from yesterday's ice storm is incredible. Reports of up to 1.5" of ice were received. More than 350k remain without power today as poles & lines had extensive damage. Add another costly disaster to the 2020 books. Photo: Oklahoma Forestry. #OKwx pic.twitter.com/U2BT72LiEF
— Jayson Prentice (@SeverePlains) October 28, 2020
Welp here is half of our back yard damage. Fence is broken underneath all that. And we don’t even have any trees of our own. Those fell from the neighbors trees. #okwx pic.twitter.com/oimk3bxpp4
— BravingWarrior 🏳️🌈 (@BravingWarrior) October 28, 2020
10-12in. diameter limb from large, old water oak snapped and fallen from parent tree in Original Military Park, OKC. Measurements made difficult and awkward by continuing rainfall and ice-melt. @NWSNorman #okwx #okc #icestorm @ReedTimmerAccu pic.twitter.com/10yinQHmiJ
— Vincent Craighead (@VincentC5000) October 28, 2020