Oh, crap! Not again!

Issued by The National Weather Service Memphis, TN
3:33 pm CST, Mon., Jan. 25, 2010

... WINTER STORM EXPECTED THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY... WITH POSSIBLY SIGNIFICANT ICE AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...

A POWERFUL UPPER UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM MOVING ALONG THE GULF COAST WILL BRING MOISTURE INTO THE MIDSOUTH WEDNESDAY. AN ARCTIC AIRMASS WILL LIKELY DROP INTO NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE MIDSOUTH THURSDAY AFTERNOON... CHANGING RAIN OVER TO A MIXTURE OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET. THE SHALLOW ARCTIC AIRMASS WILL ADVANCE SOUTH THURSDAY NIGHT... BRINGING THE FREEZING PRECIPITATION SOUTH THURSDAY NIGHT. AREAS ALONG THE MISSOURI AND KENTUCKY BORDERS WILL LIKELY SEE A CHANGEOVER TO LIGHT SNOW LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW MAY OCCUR OVER NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE MIDSOUTH.

AT THIS TIME... THERE REMAINS SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH EVOLUTION OF THIS POTENTIAL WINTER STORM SYSTEM. SMALL DEVIATIONS IN THE DEVELOPING SYSTEM WILL GREATLY IMPACT PRECIPITATION TYPES AND AMOUNTS.

IT APPEARS THAT STRONG WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY THE WINTRY PRECIPITATION. SHOULD SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS OCCUR... THE STRONG WINDS COULD HELP BRING DOWN TREE LIMBS... WHICH COULD CAUSE POWER OUTAGES.

THE WINTER STORM SHOULD CLEAR THE MIDSOUTH BY FRIDAY NIGHT... WITH BITTER COLD ARCTIC AIR USHERING IN BEHIND THE DEPARTING STORM SYSTEM.

MIDSOUTHERNERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAN AHEAD FOR THE POTENTIAL OF SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS AND POSSIBLE POWER OUTAGES... FOLLOWED BY SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES PERSISTING INTO THE WEEKEND.

Wednesday is the anniversary of the horrendous ice storm of January, 2009, that plunged hundreds of thousands of people into powerless darkness and pretty much paralyzed a swath from northern Arkansas through eastern Kentucky for several days.

We lost power a little before 6 p.m. on Jan. 27 and it wasn’t restored until the afternoon of Feb. 2

We slept little and lightly the night of the ice storm as the sound of snapping and crashing trees filled the darkness. It was like being in the middle of an artillery barrage and I expected a large tree through the roof at any second.

When the freezing rain stopped and the sun came up the next morning, we found the ground littered with branches. The house escaped damage, but our back yard chain link fence was smashed in two places. And there were a couple of trees down across the driveway.

We kept the house warm with a kerosene heater we bought a day or two before the storm hit. I bought a generator on Jan. 30 and we were able to put away our candles and flashlights until power was finally restored.

I spent the next 10 weeks with chainsaw and lawn tractor and wagon cutting and hauling branches to the street and built a pile of tree debris so big it took four county dump trucks to haul it away on April 21.

I don’t expect a repeat of last year’s disaster, but at least we’re better prepared with the kerosene heater, generator (with a full gas tank), and a couple of chainsaws.