Anybody else get hit by the big ice storm last week? We just got our power and cable back on. Our whole area looks like a hurricane's been through here. We were without power for 7 days and cable for 10 days.

It sounds like you and some other places got the worst of it, Arkie..

I am so happy to hear you are OK and back on-line..

Good to see you're back up and running!
I hate ice storms!

I live in Indiana and got hit real hard. As of yesterday all out city is now on full power but there are numerous counties in Kentucky that still don't have it. Obama has signed that they are a federal disaster. Luckily neither of our daughters was hit. My Mom and I were without power all week. You take for granted the pleasures of things like your own brand of toilet paper, using your own commode and your own bathtub. We stayed at our daughters house along with her two snakes, two dogs and one cat. We left out cat at home. It got down to 37 in the house but the cat always seemed fine when we checked on her daily.

We have American Family insurance and have already got our damage check! They said to let them know after all the snow and ice melts and we find out what our refrig loss is.

I'm almost feeling guilty here, but no, no ice storms..I watched as it went thru your part of the county, though, and I have to admit I'd much rather have snow & cold than ice storms. My brother lives near Tulsa, and he was iced and snowed in for a couple of days..Not the massive power outages that were in other states. I'm glad you came thru it alright & that you're back on NT!

Survivor guilt for me too Polar Express, but then out heat waves are just as bad, or maybe even worse at the moment.

Temperatures reached 116F yesterday, and there's been so many deaths! 22 last week in one state alone. I daresay the cold is doing the same where you all live.

Come on Spring for you, and Autumn for us!

At the risk of sounding "dumb," what is the difference between a snow storm and an ice storm?

Does it rain ice? Like hail? does it snow and then freeze immediately?

Ice storms happen when the upper air temp is too warm for snow..Precip falls as rain, and the cold temps at the surface cause it to freeze immediately. It's like navigating on a big ice rink. The worst of it is when the rain falls and freezes instantly on trees and power lines. The ice is so heavy it causes both to fall..Power outages everywhere..Yuck..

Ice storm is usually freezing rain that freezes as it hits things coating them with ice. The ice is very heavy, breaking tree branches which pull the wires down. I much prefer snow to ice.

so...this is different from hail?

I have seen pictures from the news. Beautiful and horrible combined.