An ice storm is a mesoscale winter weather phenomenon characterized by prolonged freezing rain that accumulates as glaze ice on exposed surfaces, typically when a warm, moist air layer overrides a shallow subfreezing layer near the ground. Supercooled liquid droplets form in the warm layer, remain unfrozen while descending, and freeze on contact with surfaces at or below 0 °C, producing significant radial ice accretion. This process modifies surface roughness and load, impacting vegetation, infrastructure, and power systems, and alters surface energy and momentum fluxes. Ice storms are studied using synoptic analyses, vertical soundings, and microphysical models to understand boundary-layer thermodynamics and precipitation phase transitions.
Despite its deadly impacts, the recent winter storm that battered much of the United States was not historically exceptional, official data showed Monday.
Environment
Feb 2, 2026
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With another wave of dangerous cold heading for the U.S. South on Friday, experts say the risk of hypothermia heightens for people in parts of Mississippi and Tennessee who are entering their sixth day trapped at home without ...
Environment
Jan 30, 2026
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Perilously cold temperatures threatened millions of Americans Monday in the wake of a sprawling winter storm that left at least 23 people dead as it knocked out power and paralyzed transportation.
Environment
Jan 26, 2026
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A severe winter storm that brought crippling freezing rain, sleet and snow to a large part of the U.S. in late January 2026 left a mess in states from New Mexico to New England. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 26, 2026
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A monster storm barreling across swaths of the United States has killed at least 10 people and prompted warnings to stay off the roads, mass flight cancellations and power outages, as freezing conditions persisted into Monday.
Environment
Jan 26, 2026
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Americans stripped supermarket shelves Friday ahead of potentially "catastrophic" winter weather that threatened at least 160 million people across the country with transportation chaos, blackouts and life-threatening cold.
Environment
Jan 24, 2026
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Warm Arctic waters and cold continental land are combining to stretch the dreaded polar vortex in a way that will send much of the United States a devastating dose of winter weather later this week with swaths of painful ...
Environment
Jan 21, 2026
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