Glaze Ice

I did an Oxford instrument ground school long ago.
One of the weather topics was glaze ice. This was described as extremely
dangerous, in that supercooled rain could impact and flow to a glassy
ice layer over the wing in seconds, which tended to pull the aircraft
down pronto.

In the last three days, I actually witnessed an event. It was a ground
forecast of "freezing rain". It was devastating. As you know, most of
the US distributes power almost entirely on overhead lines.
In the local (SW Oklahoma) counties, there are trees quite close to
power lines. Tree branches sagged to the ground in minutes and the
majority shed limbs into the road and onto power lines before your eyes.

Many power poles could not hold up the half-inch coat of ice on the
lines, in a moderate crosswind and splintered - often a half dozen in a
row. One county (Harmon) estimated about 3 to 4 weeks to repair the 2000
or so power lines that were down on broken poles before electric power
could be restored there.

For people who are used to living in Tornado Alley and don't easily
shock - this was a new one on them! There was a rush on motor
generators. There was no gasoline to be had for a day or more after, til
the generator sets were set up at strategic gas stations to serve huge
lines of customers.
Some small towns are reporting sewage farm pump failures, others say
went drinking water pump stations out.
The local AM radio station used for emergency reporting, went out after
a while - its antenna was glazed, which mismatched the transmitter,
which then fried.

The city set up strategic industrial generator sets - of which the
smartest siting after the water and sewage utilities, was at a 24 hour
diner - where the utility crews could go to rest and eat.

Moral: If you fly into glaze ice, fly down or fly up, but fly OUT quick
as you can!

Brian W