Here's why this ice storm is a big deal: (They flew hurricane hunters into it)

[Are_grits_groceries]

The ice storm underway in the South is going to be one of the most damaging storms of its kind in decades, if current projections pan out. The storm, which is gathering strength along the Gulf Coast, is pushing warm, moist air up and over an entrenched cold dome of high pressure that is keeping temperatures below freezing at the surface from Maine to Alabama.

Ice more than an inch thick is expected to coat much of central and eastern Georgia into central South Carolina. This may not sound like much, but considering that tree branches will break at just a quarter to a half-inch of ice accumulation, entire trees and power poles are likely to come crashing down in the hardest-hit areas.

Freezing rain results when a layer of warm air aloft and cold air at the surface causes rain to fall and freeze upon contact with the ground. Today, a strong area of high pressure across New England has been funneling cold air all the way down the East Coast and into Georgia, in a phenomenon that weather forecasters call “cold air damming.” The cold air damming was so strong this morning that the 32 degree Fahrenheit line was advancing southwest across Georgia, as the cold, dense air oozed its way down the eastern seaboard.

Want Proof It's Serious? Hurricane Hunters Flew Into the Storm

In an ominous sign, meteorologists at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Atlanta have run out of adjectives to describe this event, writing in an early morning forecast discussion:

“This is an event of historical proportions!! Catastrophic...Crippling… Paralyzing… Choose your adjective. This is a very very big deal especially from metro Atlanta east along the I-20 corridor… generally anywhere south of I-85 and north of I-16 where the most significant ice totals are forecast. Stay safe out there!”

In order to improve the reliability of the computer models that its forecasters use to predict the weather, the NWS tasked the famed U.S. Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters to fly a reconnaissance mission above the Gulf of Mexico last night. The aircraft dropped instrument packages known as dropsondes, which sent back data on air temperature, pressure, and winds, among other information. This data was then fed into an overnight run of one of the main computer models, known as the North American Model (or NAM for short).
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More:http://on.mash.to/1bNjdJ4

The only scare card they have left is to say it will be more damaging than Hugo.

[KamaAina]

1. My dear friend in ATL strongly objects to "crippling"

she uses a wheelchair.

[murielm99]

2. Anyone who has ever been through an ice storm

ANYWHERE, North or South, knows how dangerous an inch of ice can be. It can take weeks to clean up and get back to anything approaching normal.

I hope everyone is staying safe, and looking out for their neighbors.

I am sick of the cycle we are enduring here: below zero, with double digit wind chills, followed by snow and blowing. It is endless. But it is better than putting up with ice.

[Whisp]

6. This is the coldest and longest winter I can remember

but I'm in the Canadian siberia area - the prairies - and am prepared.

I feel for the so many that this awful weather is taking by surprise.

[Aerows]

7. I'm about a mile from the Gulf of Mexico

and we had snow on the ground for two freaking days. It was little balls of ice that lasted for two days.

If our winter is bad, yours must be a horrific. Stay warm, my friend. Screwy weather, for sure!

[Whisp]

10. I will be okay, but thank you!

We have heat, we have shovels and fortunately a vehicle that can withstand this kind of craziness.

Husband is working on a festival snow sculpture for this whole week of crazy weather - in the wind and cold up about 20 feet carving a huge block of prepared snow. But he is well prepared with all the right clothing, etc., and comes home in tact.

It's you guys in the south that need all sympathies!

[Aerows]

13. We've been stunned by this mess

It's like having a moose in the backyard and you have no idea how to keep it from eating the bushes, or charging you if you go outside. This has been an ugly winter.

[seabeyond]

12. once. we were in one once, that bad. enough to take down power. 3 days for us, and we were

lucky cause i knew a man high up in company.

and so much more reason it creates mess. that is just with power

[CanonRay]

3. An Icecane?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. "The only scare card they have left is to say it will be more damaging than Hugo."

they did, actually..Intellicast weather site calls this a "category 5" storm.

first time I have ever known/heard a winter storm rated in categories.
While I do not disparage the severity of this storm, it is a bit...weird...to be naming them and rating them the same as hurricanes.

[Demo_Chris]

17. Absurd actually.

[Whisp]

5. This is just too horrible!

Wishing everyone out of harms way, please be safe.
This is horrific for a place that is used to warm weather - they can't be prepared.

[Aerows]

8. We were dumbfounded when the little balls of ice dropped from the sky

a couple of weeks ago. Now we are just saying, "Oh God, not this again."

[JaneyVee]

9. The day Atlanta will lose all of its trees.

[jollyreaper2112]

11. so the first thing they should do

An executive order banning unnecessary travel so workers won't get in trouble for not showing up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. This will be the year that we will finally realize, climate change is fracking real

now do something about it... humans are like short sighted and really, really stupid, I fear.

Notice, I did not say Americans. This is a species trait.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. My parents in eastern NC are snowed in with 7 inches.

Mom said it had just stopped snowing, and now they are waiting for the sleet.

[wandy]

16. Hay, 'grits, just stay safe............

Lay low, go to ground, ride it out out. Eventually it will go away.
Be safe.

[malaise]

18. The wind is troubling

Stay safe Grits.