Ice storm warnings

A major ice storm is brewing in Southern Ontario. It has people remembering the frozen nightmare of 1998, when four million people lost power, and some of them stayed in the dark for months. This storm isn’t expected to be as severe, but weather warnings are still in effect for Ontario.

So far it hasn’t been cold enough in Hamilton for the constant rain to freeze and accumulate on power lines and trees, but if temperatures hover much below zero overnight, we could have some serious problems.

In Milton, it was cold enough that trees started growing sparkly tentacles of ice. It wasn’t as slippery as Kingston, where people were skating down their streets.

Larry Roberts from Horizon warns, “trees get ice accumulation, which causes them to break and fall on the lines.. or the lines could break under the weight of the ice. That’s what we’re trying to prepare for. We have crews on standby ready to go.”

Wet roads could also soon turn to black ice. Acting Sergeant Mike Hall from Hamilton Police says, “it can be difficult for us because we get more calls, drivers put themselves in positions… the ice increases chances of rear ending, hitting poles, possibly pedestrians.”