Beautiful Disaster

An ice storm struck the Midwest, beginning Friday January 12, causing widespread damage and some loss of life. Large parts of Missouri and Oklahoma have been declared disaster areas. That doesn't mean it doesn't look good. All photos were taken in Joplin, MO. The next few were taken on Monday the 15th.


Neighbor's Oak


Buick


Crape Myrtle


Window


Bunny tracks and frozen grass


Cold Fingers


A parking lot light at Charlie's Chicken looks like a beaded swag lamp.


Where power still existed, trees were backlit by streetlights.


Crossroads on the bunny trail


Walking on frozen grass


Main Street, Joplin, looking south from 26th street. By Tuesday, January 16, 2007, the main streets in Joplin were mostly cleared but ice still coats the trees.


However, most side streets were not cleared. Many are simply sheets of very thick ice.


bush in front of the South Main Street post office


Ice Milk? Southtown Meats on Main Street


Route 66 sign on Langston Hughes (formerly Broadway) near Florida Street


Snow and ice are removed from rt66 in front of the Cobblestone Cafe on Langston Hughes on Tuesday the 16th.


St Louis Avenue along its Route 66 stretch, looking north, Tuesday, January 16th.


Trees south of Murphy Blvd.




30th Street, between Delaware Street and Brownell Avenue


Wednesday January 17: The ice is still largely intact in the trees and on the ground. Birds are having difficulty finding food, and perching is problematic on icy branches.


A bit later in the day, I started to excavate the afore-pictured Buick. Until now I had, fortunately, had a garaged car to get about in.


This is on the roof of the car. That's 2.5 inches of solid ice, with about 1/2 inch on snow on top. YOu can actually see strata which represent different parts of the storm in these ice pictures.


It's even thicker where the sleet had piled at the bottom of the back window. That's 4 inches of ice.


The base of the front windshield was about the same. Heating the car from the inside didn't help much, nor did a plastic ice scraper. I ended up using a metal pitchfork to chip away the ice cocoon.


Thursday, January 18: A trip over to a relatives house on the edge of Joplin reveals that deer have been out foraging - with little success - I'd think, for something to eat. The temperature got just a hair above freezing today with no additional precipitation, but the self-refrigerating quality of all that ice seems to have kept it on the roads and trees.


Tracks of cars, people and deer share a driveway.


Friday, January 19, one week after the ice storm began, ice still clings to trees in this, the first clear dawn in a week. It's supposed to be significantly above freezing today.