At a Glance
- A winter storm brought freezing rain and sleet from parts of Texas to the mid-Atlantic.
- Ice accumulations resulted in slippery travel, tree damage and power outages in some areas.
- Snow moved across parts of the mid-Atlantic.
A winter storm spread freezing rain, sleet and snow from Texas to the mid-Atlantic from Feb. 10-11, resulting in hazardous travel conditions, damaged more trees and knocked out power from Texas to West Virginia.
This system has been named Winter Storm Shirley by The Weather Channel.
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Winter Storm Shirley was a stagnant collision of Gulf of Mexico air and a persistent seepage of arctic air that lined up from Texas to the mid-Atlantic.
Wednesday, February 10
This collision first took place across the mid-Mississippi and Ohio River valleys early on Feb. 10 in the form of light freezing rain and sleet.
Snow became much more widespread during the afternoon and evening hours across the Midwest, and later in the Northeast. Freezing rain fell from Arkansas to western Tennessee to much of Kentucky.
For the second time in a week, snow fell at the rate of at least 1 inch per hour in the Cincinnati metro, snarling traffic on the Wednesday afternoon drive.
A pair of fatal vehicle accidents occurred Wednesday morning on roads slickened by freezing drizzle in western Kentucky.
Up to one-quarter inch of ice accumulated on trees in Muskogee, Oklahoma. A half inch of sleet was reported in Carbondale, Illinois.
This initial burst of energy spread eastward through Maryland and New Jersey late on Feb. 10 while moisture and cold air continued to overlap further southeast in Texas into the mid-South.
Thursday, Feb. 11
Slick roads from light freezing rain lead to a pair of multi-car pileups in Ft. Worth and Austin, Texas, Thursday morning. More than 130 crashes were reported in Dallas this morning. A quarter-inch of ice was reportedly causing trees to come down in Austin, Texas, Thursday afternoon.
Extensive tree damage was reported in Elliott and Hardin Counties, Kentucky. Up to one-half inch of ice was reported in parts of the Bluegrass State. More than 135, 000 homes and businesses had lost power from Texas to West Virginia as of 10:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, according to poweroutage.us.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
