Major Ice Storm Of 2008

In 2008, a major ice storm wreaked havoc across the Northeast, knocking out power to more than a million customers and paralyzing cities for several days.

A cold front hit the region a few days earlier, bringing in a cold air mass. The next day, a low pressure system that developed in the southern states moved northeastward over the Mid-Atlantic region and then over southern New England on the morning of the 12th.

As the system moved through the region, it brought warmer air aloft. With the cold air mass already in place at the surface, it was the perfect setup for mixed precipitation.

Heavy precipitation fell as freezing rain for several hours, and by the time it subsided, ice accumulations ranged from about a half inch to an inch. Higher elevations saw colder temperatures, where sleet and snow fell instead, with reports of 3 to 6 inches of snow.

Ice storms are rare because the configuration of the atmosphere must be ideal for ice accumulation. But when they do occur, they can be very dangerous. This was the case with this configuration.

What made this storm so devastating was not only the intensity of the freezing rain, but also the extent of the area affected by the freezing rain. All of southern Vermont, southern New Hampshire, the western two-thirds of Massachusetts, and parts of New York all experienced heavy accumulations and damage to trees and power lines.

More than a million customers lost power across New England, including about 440,000 in New Hampshire alone. A state of emergency has been declared in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Maine.

During the first days after the storm, it was almost impossible to leave the city due to the extensive damage to the trees.

Restorations have been slow, with some power outages lasting more than two weeks in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Some school districts closed earlier than planned for the semester due to these outages.

The last cuts were restored on Christmas Eve.

Miriam Guthrie graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree in atmospheric and oceanic sciences and is now a meteorology intern at Weather.com while working on her master’s degree.