February 2, 2023 - Ice Storm Hits the Mid-South United States

Ice Storm
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A swath of precipitation-bearing cloud combined with very low
temperatures brought a dangerous ice storm to much of the Mid-South
United States in late January and early February 2023. The Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra
satellite acquired a true-color image near the start of the wintery
blast on January 31 just as ice, sleet, and freezing rains was coating
streets, trees, and homes from Texas to Tennessee.

The first salvo of the storm brought up to an inch of sleet in
Oklahoma, including the city of Tulsa, along with scattered bursts of
lightning. Further south, the town of Denton, Texas, reported one-half
inch of accumulated sleet. On that first day, sleet and freezing rain
was reported as far south as San Antonio, Texas and stretched
northeastward to at least Memphis, Tennessee.

The 0.10 of an inch of ice accumulation in Memphis was enough to cause
slick roads, car accidents, and broken limbs, but the higher
accumulations in Texas proved deadly. The storm is being blamed for 7
deaths in that state as of February 1, most as a result of traffic
accidents. In addition, thick ice brought widespread gridlock, road
closures, and thousands of airline flight cancellations—Dallas-Fort
Worth International alone cancelled 1,300 flights. As of February 1,
more than 347,000 customers are without power in Texas, with one out of
every four customers in Travis County without power.

According to the Weather Channel, as of 10:00 pm EST February 1, the
ice storm shows signs of intensification in localized parts of
southwest Texas and Arkansas, so another tough night is expected in the
Mid-South. Fortunately, temperatures are expected to begin to rise by
the afternoon of February 2, turning sleet to rain and permitting the
process of melting and recovery to begin.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/31/2023
Resolutions: 1km (1015 KB), 500m (3.1 MB), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-02-02

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