I believe a lot of people have an unrealistic view of what needs to be done to recover from a major ice storm. Comments like these are common on social media today. Unfortunately, this comment reveals a lack of understanding as to what has to happen to get power back up and running. If media reports are correct, more than 200 power poles in Nashville were snapped. It takes a considerable amount of time to get each of them replaced. There is also damage to the high voltage transmission lines. Can you imagine having a job where you have to sit on the skid of a helicopter in freezing weather to make repairs?! The linemen are heroes!! Given that hundreds  of extra crews and utility trucks were brought in ahead of the storm (based on the weather forecasts of a major ice storm), I'm not sure what Robby would have done differently. Which brings us to personal responsibility.  Starting the morning of the 22nd, and continuing through the weekend, you saw this and ever more dire warning...

If it were me, I'd have a winter storm watch in effect in North Carolina, southern Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Tennessee and adjacent parts of Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia.  As to the weekend storm... Here is the statistical presentation of the chances of 4" or more of snow this weekend:  Please note the relatively probabilities over North Carolina and nearby areas.  It is hard to see but there is a small 70% area in eastern Massachusetts. 

Please let me add my thanks for all of the people who have worked tirelessly -- including meteorologists -- to forecast and recover from the just-ended storm. News reports say 30 people have been killed. While that is a terrible tragedy to their friends and loved ones, storms of this nature used to kill as many as 500 . Timely, accurate forecasts make a huge difference.  Associated Press photo of ice storm damage in Nashville  Consider how linemen from around the nation were pre-positioned to quickly restore power in the areas that have been devastated by the ice storm. Even with that head start, there are, nationally, still about 1,200,000 people without power. The worst-off states are below. Northern Mississippi looks like a war zone. That is where the greatest amount of freezing rain fell. The extreme problems extend from there northeast to Nashville. Below is the current headline from the Nashville newspaper. Please note the comment about carbon monoxide. The 230,000 = cus...

Big Climate sent out press releases last week about how Spain -- in nice weather -- managed to run their electric grid with wind, solar and batteries for seven hours. Unfortunately, people need electricity 24/7/365. Above is what happens when a storm rolls through. If Texas used a greater percentage of wind and solar (with solar panels covered by snow and ice in places), it would have been a disaster.  And, in New York and New England...

Both the media and social media today are talking about a "blizzard" on the East Coast this weekend.  This is speculation! The more accurate models (ECMWF and UKMET) do not  show a blizzard. Even if they did, we are five days out from the event which is too far to have any real confidence in a forecast.  I do agree that temperatures will continue below to well below average for the next 5 to 10 days east of the Rockies and, especially, east of the Mississippi River.   Just like with the just-departed storm, I'll begin forecasting in a day or two when we can have some confidence in the forecast.  One note: I agree with those saying that it will be Wednesday or Thursday before the airline system running normally. 

Addition at 11:15am Monday. This is the NWS's product which shows the total amount of ice. The white star in northern Mississippi is where the greatest amount of ice accumulated, 1.24" just east of Oxford, Mississippi. Compare to the map below which was ice effect's forecasts five days  in advance. Note: the ice from Virginia to New Jersey fell in the time interval beyond the range of the forecast below.  While this forecast wasn't perfect (West Virginia's ice would be forecast in later versions of the forecast), it provides lots of time for utilities to bring in crews from around the nation to speed the recovery.  -------- original post -------- This is the forecast on this blog Wednesday . It is from the NWS and where they expected the worst effects of the pending ice storm. This, via AccuWeather is where the power outages are the worst at this time (Sunday afternoon). At first glance they don't look the same because they are different base maps. But if you c...