gboudx wrote::uarrow: yeah I'm all for the SREF if this could be a crippling ice storm. I've never experienced one but I could go my whole life and not feel like I missed anything.
I was the news/sports director for KLAK 97.5 FM and KMKT 93.1 FM here in Sherman/Denison back in 2000. That's when the "Silver Christmas" ice storm hit Grayson, Fannin, and Lamar counties in North Texas and all of the southern Oklahoma counties from Durant to McAlester to Broken Bow.
I was scheduled to be off on the two or three days after Christmas that year. But I ended up being called in and working 13+ hour days and being on the air every 15 minutes broadcasting news updates, power company updates, weather info, etc. It was hard to drive through town because of all of the downed trees and limbs. At it's worst, there were more than a quarter of a million people without power in the Red River Valley and SE Oklahoma. And remember, there aren't any large cities in these areas.
It was the worst icing I've seen as an adult. I remember watching heavy rain fall with temps in the low to mid 20s on Christmas Day and thinking this is not good. That night I stood on my porch watching blue explosions across my part of town as big limbs and trees went down and blew transformers.
Well more than a 1/2 inch of ice accumulated on trees and power lines in our area. Massive hardwood trees were felled during that storm here in Denison. Pine trees to our east and NE didn't stand a chance. The Beavers Bend State Park area of SE Oklahoma was a disaster area for months and closed for some time until the downed trees could be dealt with.
Locally in Grayson County, power lines snapped like rubber bands. A number of transmission towers went down between Tom Bean, Howe, and Bells in that storm and portions of the local grid had to be all but rebuilt. While we didn't lose power in my home through some miracle, people behind us were without power for a week plus. People one block over in the other direction were without power for several days. Other areas in Denison and Grayson County were without power for over two weeks. Some places in SE Oklahoma were without power for nearly three weeks.