New England ice storm to trigger major hazards, power outage risk
A significant ice storm is set to unfold across northern New York state and northern New England into Friday. The culprit behind the threat of ice, which will be heavy enough to threaten treacherous travel conditions, damage and power outages, is a far-reaching winter storm that has brought extensive snow impacts from the Western states into the central United States and severe weather and flooding dangers to the Southern states.
The impactful ice event will unfold in parts of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, the Champlain Valley of Vermont and neighboring areas of Canada and most of the Green and White Mountains of northern New England by early Friday, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham.
The icy zone began to take shape near Detroit and southern Michigan Thursday night then extended across southern Ontario later on Thursday night and will continue onward toward the coast of northern Maine and southern New Brunswick on Friday.
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Ice can accrue to a thickness of 0.10 to 0.40 of an inch, with the heaviest amounts anticipated where mostly freezing rain occurs. Ice accumulation of 0.25 of an inch is enough weight to bend tree limbs and even cause weak trees to come crashing down. If power lines are in the way, power outages will result.
In some cases, sleet will be mixed in, which may reduce the stress on trees and power lines. On the other hand, the ice buildup from sleet or freezing rain will create hazardous conditions on roads and sidewalks.
Forecasters urge people to avoid travel as roads can become a sheet of ice with no traction. Due to fallen trees and power lines, cleanup on secondary roads may take some time.
AccuWeather meteorologists warn that the ice storm may be a preview of a wintry weather pattern expected to take shape next week and continue into March and perhaps April.
Near and north of the wintry mix zone, a stripe of heavy snow will extend from the Midwest to central Ontario through portions of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Valley to northern Maine and a large part of New Brunswick. This zone can expect 3-10 inches (8-25 cm) of travel-snarling snow.
"Cities such as Windsor, Toronto and Kingston, Ontario, may deal with an icy mixture of freezing rain initially Thursday night, then precipitation is likely to transition to sleet and snow as temperatures dip on Friday," Buckingham said.
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Snow will be the predominant precipitation type in southern Quebec and northern Maine, where the air will be cold enough throughout the storm.
"Within this corridor, snowfall totals could approach a foot (30 cm) before the storm concludes later on Friday," Buckingham said.
Major airline delays and flight cancellations are likely in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and St. John in Canada, as well as at regional airports such as Burlington, Vermont, and Bangor, Maine.
AccuWeather forecasters say that enough cold air will set up across the northern tier of the northeast U.S. as a major storm heads eastward to bring the chance of heavy snow and ice next week. Heavy snow may also fall on some of the heaviest population centers in southeastern Canada.
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