Ice storms can go by several names: freezing rain, silver storm, glaze storm. The after-effects are known as glaze ice, silver thaw, or silver frost. The freezing rain itself is distinct from sleet, and a storm can alternate between freezing rain, sleet, and snow depending on the position and interaction of the warm and cold fronts involved.
A particular set of conditions is required for an ice storm to develop. The most common set is when warm moist air flows up and over colder air. As a result, cold precipitation passes through a thick layer of warm air followed by a thin layer of air near the ground that is below freezing point; this causes the temperature of the droplets to fall below freezing without giving them enough time to become ice crystals(turning them into supercooled liquid water) and means they’re primed and ready to form ice the instant they come into contact with something solid. In the United States this occurs most often in regions east of the Rocky Mountains, where cold arctic air is able to flow down and interact with warm moist air coming off the Gulf of Mexico, and the typical season for ice storms to occur is in winter.
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Freezing rain will present a building roster of hazards the longer it continues. First are the obvious dangers from any typical level of ice buildup: slippery roads, slippery walking surfaces(watch out for those front steps), cold temperatures. As the glaze ice thickens and its weight increases, new hazards develop: falling branches and trees can directly injure people and block roads or land on homes, pipes can rupture thanks to below freezing temperatures, and power lines and poles snap and cause loss of electricity(even big electricity pylons can crumple under the weight of glaze ice). This damage to the electrical grid can cause entire cities to lose power for multiple days or even up to a month. In turn this loss of power results in more potential hazards: hypothermia is a risk due to loss of heating, while the incorrect(indoor) use of barbecues, gas generators, and kerosene heaters cause carbon monoxide poisoning.
Despite the potential damage of the aftermath, the weather itself is only about as violent as any typical rain storm. It sounds like a rain storm, with a sort of sharp tinny sound as the drops hit solid objects and crystallize. As the ice builds up, however, the relative calm will be disrupted by breaking branches, falling trees, broken power lines, and the like. The sound of falling branches and trees is very scary, especially if your characters are outdoors when it happens.
Words to Describe It
Neutral
Nouns (Components)
- Crust
- Freezing rain
- Glaze
- Gust
- Ice
- Precipitation
- Puff
- Storm
- Wind
Adjectives
- Cold
- Dark
- Gray
- Moonless
- Overcast
- Sunless
- Uniform
- Wet
Verbs
- Accumulate
- Blow
- Coat
- Crackle
- Crystallize
- Encrust
- Glaze
- Spread
- Whisper
Positive
There’s not much that’s positive about the ice storm itself. Even if someone’s hunkered down indoors, there’s still the possibility of power outages, loss of heating, and overburdened trees coming down to contend with. The aftermath can have a certain cold beauty about it, though.
Adjectives
- Bright
- Clear
- Crisp
- Crystalline
- Radiant
- Smooth
Verbs
- Crackle
- Crunch
- Gleam
- Glitter
- Reflect
- Shine
Negative
Nouns (Components)
- Chill
- Deluge
- Gloom
Adjectives
- Bitter
- Bleak
- Brittle
- Cheerless
- Damp
- Deadly
- Dim
- Dismal
- Dreary
- Dull
- Frigid
- Gloomy
- Heavy
- Icy
- Leaden
- Lethal
- Menacing
- Murky
- Somber
- Sopping
Verbs
- Break (tree branches and power lines)
- Buffet
- Drench
- Freeze
- Loom
- Menace
- Mock
- Shatter
- Snap (tree branches and power lines)
- Soak
- Threaten
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Sources
http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Glaze_ice
https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/winter_stuff/winter_wx/winter_wx.html
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