November 11 2015 storms in central united states

At lower levels, CO poisoning causes symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and headache, but high levels can cause unconsciousness, heart failure, and death. Damage from ice storms is highly capable of shutting down entire metropolitan areas.ДЄdditionally, the loss of power during ice storms has indirectly caused numerous illnesses and deaths due to unintentional carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

According to most meteorologists, just one quarter of an inch of ice accumulation can add about 500 pounds of weight per line span. This can leave people without power for anywhere from several days to a month. Even without falling trees and tree branches, the weight of the ice itself can easily snap power lines and also break and bring down power/utility poles even steel frame electricity pylons have been sent crashing to the ground by the weight of the ice. Falling branches can block roads, tear down power and telephone lines, and cause other damage. In addition to hazardous driving or walking conditions, branches or even whole trees may break from the weight of ice. Pedestrians are severely affected as sidewalks become slippery, causing people to slip and fall, and outside stairs can become an extreme injury hazard. Ice-covered roads become slippery and hazardous, as the ice causes vehicles to skid out of control, which can cause devastating car crashes as well as pile-ups. The freezing rain from an ice storm covers everything with heavy, smooth glaze ice. Besides disrupting transportation, ice storms can disrupt utilities by snapping lines and poles. This was considered to be the most severe ice storm in the Spokane area since 1940. The combined weight of the snow and 25 millimetres (0.98 in) to 37 millimetres (1.5 in) of ice caused considerable widespread damage. An ice storm in eastern Washington in November 1996 directly followed heavy snowfall. More timber was damaged than that caused by Hurricane Camille. An ice storm in February 1994 resulted in tremendous ice accumulation as far south as Mississippi, and caused reported damage in nine states. Most ice storms are thought to form primarily in the north-eastern US, but damaging storms have occurred farther south. While meteorologists can predict when and where an ice storm will occur, some storms still occur with little or no warning. When the supercooled drops strike ground below 0 вЊ or anything else below 0 вЊ (power lines, tree branches, aircraft), they instantly freeze, forming a thin film of ice, hence freezing rain. However, the drops themselves do not freeze, a phenomenon called supercooling (or forming ' supercooled drops'). This thin layer of air then cools the rain to a temperature below freezing (0 вЊ). However, if the warm layer completely melts the precipitate, becoming rain, the liquid droplets will continue to fall, and pass through a thin layer of cold air just above the surface. If the precipitate is partially melted, it will land on the ground as sleet. Frozen precipitation melts while falling into the warm air layer, and then proceeds to refreeze in the cold layer above the ground. Ice storms occur when a layer of warm air is between two layers of cold air. A graph showing the formation of different kinds of precipitate as a function of height and temperature.

November 11 2015 storms in central united states