The first significant ice storm of the season has its eyes set on Texas and Oklahoma early this week.
Residents from Dallas to Oklahoma City are preparing for freezing rain that can coat everything with a layer of ice, from roads and powerlines to trees and cars.
First Alert Meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin explains how ice storms happen during overrunning precipitation events.
Overrunning precipitation occurs when lighter, warm air from the south gently rides up and over heavier, cold air from the north, sparking off rain, snow, sleet and freezing rain.
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In Steve’s hypothetical example, Kansas City is getting the ice while Chicago gets snow and Houston gets rain. However, in the case of this week’s storms, the geography is actually much smaller.
Houston is expected to see rain, Dallas and Oklahoma City are expected to see ice, and Kansas City is expected to see snow on the storm’s northern reaches.
