Ice Storm of December 2005
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The Ice Storm of December 2005 was a damaging winter storm that produced extensive ice damage in a large portion of the Southern United States on December 14 - 16, 2005. It has led to enormous and widespread power outages and at least 7 deaths.
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[edit] Background
The storm was triggered by a deep low pressure system formed over the Gulf of Mexico on December 14, which began moving northward. At the same time, cold arctic air from northern Canada penetrated deep into the central United States and lowered the temperatures at the surface while warm air from the Gulf Stream remained at the coast. A second Alberta clipper farther north also added additional energy to the system.
The precipitation remained as rain in the coastal areas, including the large cities from Boston to Washington, D.C.. However, freezing rain was extensive in the inland areas, including around Atlanta, where the temperatures remained just below freezing for extended periods. The freezing rain persisted for many hours, leading to extensive ice damage.
[edit] Impact
| State | Total | County | County total |
Direct deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 1 | Unknown | 1 | 0 |
| Maryland | 2 | Unknown | 2 | 0 |
| North Carolina | 5 | Cabarrus | 1 | 1 |
| Granville | 1 | 0 | ||
| Rockingham | 1 | 0 | ||
| Wilkes | 1 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 7 | 1 | ||
Trees and power lines, along with numerous other lightweight structures, have come down in many areas from Georgia northward, and highways (including several Interstate Highways) were closed and impassable. The heaviest ice accretions have been in southwestern North Carolina, where ice over 3/4 inch (20 mm) thick has been reported.
The ice storm has left over 700,000 people were left in the dark in and near the Appalachians, including 30,000 customers in Georgia, 358,000 in South Carolina, 328,000 in North Carolina and 13,000 in Virginia. [1] It took over a week to restore power. Several emergency shelters had also been opened. [2]
At the higher elevations, and farther north across the Great Lakes region and into northern New England, the storm produced heavy snow with amounts as high as 20 inches (50 cm) in several areas. [3]
In Canada, 41 centimetres of snow fell in Montreal in about 12 hours including 30 in 4 hours only and 11 in one single hour during the morning rush hour on December 16. This is near its worst storm ever when they received 43 centimetres on March 3, 1971. In Ottawa, between 20 and 35 centimetres fell in a short period of time causing several OC Transpo transit buses to be stuck on the city's bus-only roadway and several of their articulated buses jackkniffed at a busy intersection in its suburb of Gatineau, Quebec.
In addition, at least seven deaths have been blamed as a result of the weather (one of them directly related to weather conditions). One of the deaths was as a result of a tree that fell into a home and crashed into a man in Kannapolis, North Carolina, one as a result of a faulty generator in a house without power, and the other five (two in North Carolina, two in Maryland and one in Georgia) are as a result of traffic accidents. [4] [5]
