This does not look good. From the National Weather Service:
A major ice storm will move through the region tonight through Tuesday night spreading a large swath of freezing rain across the mid-Mississippi valley. Ice accumulations of one half inch to around one inch are expected along and south of Highway 34 including the Memphis MO, Fairfield, Mount Pleasant, Keokuk, Burlington and Macomb areas. Between Highway 34 and a line through Williamsburg, Iowa City, Clinton and Sterling ice accumulations around one half inch could occur. Areas to the north will see a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow with ice accumulations around a quarter of an inch and snowfall amounts up to 3 inches.
Ice accumulations from this storm system couild result in significant damage to trees and power lines. Power outages should be anticipated especially in the south were heavier ice accumulations are expected. The ice will also cause difficult if not impossible travel conditions.
The adverse weather with this storm system will affect a large area of the midwest. Ice Storm and Winter Storm Warnings are in effect from the southern plains through the mid-Mississippi valley.
Good thing I just bought 100 pounds of ice melting chemicals for the driveway and sidewalks. All of my final exams are tomorrow. At least that's the plan. Students are to watch the WIU web page for any announcements.
Ouch, chemicals to get rid of the snow would get you in trouble in Europe as they are banned for environmental reasons. Shovels do the job much more PC ;-)
This isn't snow. This is ice. Thick, glare, glass-like ice. Shovels don't cut it. For what it's worth, I only use as much salt as is necessary to cut through and loosen the ice so that it can be scraped away. In past ice storms, I have seen a city bus slide backwards down a hill and had so much ice coating my car that I could not enter it until the temperature warmed up. The doors had frozen shut.
Yes, I proudly shovel the snow and would gladly trade away this ice for snow any day.
The de-icing chemicals (commonly called salt) are a blend of various chlorides (salts) such as magnesium chloride and sodium chloride.
I don't often hear of ice storms in Europe, but perhaps I have heard something of it on occasion. Do you get much stuff like this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7137682.stm