Ice Storm of 1998

An example of the damage to trees
Storm type:	Cyclonic system - mixed ice/snow/rain
Formed:	January 4, 1998
Dissipated:	January 10, 1998
Maximum amount1:	~5 inches (120 mm) (freezing rain)
Lowest pressure:	Unknown
Damages:	$5-7 billion (2005 USD)
Fatalities:	37 - 56 total
Areas affected:	Ice in Atlantic Canada, southern Quebec, eastern Ontario, northern New York and northern New England; rain/flooding in the Appalachians
1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion Image File history File linksMetadata Ice_Storm_98_trees_line_Noaa6198. ... The CYCLONE, an early computer built in 1959 by Iowa State University, was based on the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) architecture developed by John von Neumann. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... A shrub coated by glaze after a night of freezing rain. ... This article is about general United States currency. ... The four Canadian Atlantic provinces. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower White garden lily Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water    (% of total)  Ranked 2nd 1,542,056 km² 1,183... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (French has some legal status but is not fully co-official) Flower White trillium Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... The Appalachian Mountains are a system of North American mountains running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. ...

The Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as Ice Storm '98) was a massive ice storm that struck eastern Canada, New England, and Northern New York in January of that year. It caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area, leading to widespread power outages. A typical view of a winter storm. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ...

Background

Freezing rain is common in Canada and New England, generally occurring at the narrow boundary between cold air from the East and North and moist air from the South. Typically, a warm airmass will come up along the Mississippi Valley and overrun a shallow layer of cold air trapped at the surface. Such a favorable cold air damming happens with an East to North-Easterly flow in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Valleys, and along the axis of the Appalachian Mountains. A shrub coated by glaze after a night of freezing rain. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Length 6,270 km Elevation of the source 450 m Average discharge 16,200 m³/s Area watershed 2,980,000 km² Origin Lake Itasca Mouth Gulf of Mexico Basin countries United States (98. ... The Saint Lawrence River (French fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... The Ottawa Valley is the valley surrounding the Ottawa River for the west-east portion of its path through the Canadian Shield from Mattawa to Ottawa. ... A rainy day in the Great Smoky Mountains, Western North Carolina The Appalachian Mountains (French: les Appalaches) are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, forming a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 1...

Snow is produced at upper level in such a winter storm system but it eventually melts into rain in the warm layer, above freezing temperature, associated with the overruning. When that rain touches the ground in the cold air below, the droplets freeze on contact creating accumulations of ice. If the cold air layer is too thick, the droplets refreeze before the ground and form sleet or ice pellets which are less hazardous. Sleet can refer to at least two different forms of precipitation. ...

The Montreal area typically receives freezing rain between 12 and 17 times a year, averaging between 45 and 65 total hours of rain. However, it usually lasts only a few hours and leaves a few millimeters of accumulations. It renders roads and sidewalks slippery, causing fenderbenders, but road crews use de-icing material to take care of it. Power lines and other equipment are built according to tough standards since large accumulation events happened many times prior to 1998. In Quebec, standards were reinforced after a storm left 30 to 40 millimeters (1 to 1.5 inches) of ice over Montreal in 1961. City motto: Concordia Salus (Latin: Well-being through harmony) Province Quebec Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area  - % water 366. ... A shrub coated by glaze after a night of freezing rain. ...

Storm description

The ice storm affected a large part of eastern Ontario, southwest Quebec, and New York state. This map shows the accumulation of freezing rain in those areas.

On January 4, 1998, an upper level low system stalled over the Great Lakes pumping warm and moist air from the Gulf of Mexico toward the upper St. Lawrence Valley. The upper flow, then turning Eastward, was bringing this airmass down toward the Bay of Fundy. At the same time, a high pressure centre was sitting further north in Labrador, keeping an Easterly flow of very cold air near the surface. For winter, an unusually strong Bermuda high pressure area was anchored over the Atlantic Ocean, which prevented these systems from moving further to the east, as most winter storms do when they pass over the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1500x772, 519 KB) A map showing the extent of the 1998 Ice Storm that affected eastern Ontario, southwest Quebec, New Brunswick, and parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1500x772, 519 KB) A map showing the extent of the 1998 Ice Storm that affected eastern Ontario, southwest Quebec, New Brunswick, and parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ... The Bay of Fundy (French: baie de Fundy) is a bay located on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. ... This article is about the region in Canada. ... A high, or a high pressure area, is a region where the atmospheric pressure is greatest with relation to the surrounding area. ...

A series of surface low pressure past in this circulation between January 5 and January 10, 1998. For more than 80 hours, steady freezing rain and drizzle fell over an area of several thousand square miles of Eastern Ontario, Canada, including Ottawa and Kingston, an extensive area in southern Quebec, northern New York, and northern New England, USA (including parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine). January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Eastern Ontario is the region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies between the Ottawa and St. ... Motto: Template:Unhide = Advance Ottawa/Ottawa en avant Location City Information Established: 1850 as Bytown Area: 2,778. ... Kingston, Ontario, is a historic city in Ontario, Canada, located in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower White garden lily Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water    (% of total)  Ranked 2nd 1,542,056 km² 1,183... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  Ranked 43rd  - Total 9,620 sq mi (24,923 km²)  - Width 80 miles (130 km)  - Length 160 miles (260 km)  - % water 3. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  Ranked 46th  - Total 9,359 sq mi (24,239 km²)  - Width 68 miles (110 km)  - Length 190 miles (305 km)  - % water 3. ... Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 39th 33,414 sq mi  86,542 km² 190 miles  305 km 320 miles  515 km 13. ...

Further to the south, southern Ontario and western New York, as well as much of the Appalachian region from Tennessee northward, received heavy rain and severe flooding, while further east, the Canadian Maritimes mostly received heavy snow. Exacerbating the problem was a steep drop in temperature that immediately followed the passage of the freezing rain. Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (French has some legal status but is not fully co-official) Flower White trillium Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats... A rainy day in the Great Smoky Mountains, Western North Carolina The Appalachian Mountains (French: les Appalaches) are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, forming a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 1... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... The Maritime provinces See also Maritime province for disambiguation. ...

Prior to the 1998 storm, the last major ice storm to hit Montreal (1986) deposited around 30 to 60 millimetres (1½ to 2¼ inches) of ice. However, the 1998 storm left deposits twice as thick, downing power lines all over the region, destroying or damaging most of the trees in Montreal, and leaving streets covered in a thick impassable layer of ice. For further comparison, the amount of freezing rain falling over the affected area in just these three days was double the average annual amount of freezing rain the area normally receives. A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...

Impact

Many power lines broke and over 1000 pylons collapsed in chain reactions under the weight of the ice, leaving more than 4 million people without electricity, most of them in southern Quebec, western New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario. At least twenty-five people died in the areas affected by the ice, primarily from hypothermia, according to Environment Canada.^[1] Twelve more deaths and hundreds of millions in additional damage were caused by the flooding farther south from the same storm system. Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope restored) Official languages English, French Flower Violet Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Lieutenant-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson Premier Bernard Lord (PC) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 10 10 Area Total  - Land  - Water    (% of total)  Ranked 11th 72 908 km² 71 450 km² 1... Eastern Ontario is the region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies between the Ottawa and St. ... Hypothermia is a medical condition in which the victims core body temperature has dropped to significantly below normal and normal metabolism begins to be impaired. ... Environment Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for coordinating environmental policies and programs as well as preserving and enhancing the natural environment and conservation of wildlife. ...

The bridges and tunnel linking Montréal with the South Shore were closed because of concerns about weight tolerances or ice chunks falling from the superstructures. All power linkages to the island of Montréal were down for several days, disabling both of the city's water pumping stations. When power was restored, parts of Montreal remained impassable due to large chunks of ice falling from rooftops and endangering pedestrians and motorists; large portions of Old Montreal were cordoned off by police. City motto: Concordia Salus (Latin: Well-being through harmony) Province Quebec Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area  - % water 366. ... Old Montreal (or Vieux-Montréal in French) is the oldest area in the Canadian city of Montreal, dating back to colonial times. ...

The area south of Montreal (Montérégie) was so affected that the triangle formed by Saint-Hyacinthe, Granby and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu was nicknamed triangle noir ("dark triangle") by the French-language media^[2] for the total lack of electricity for weeks. Map (2001) of the Regional County Municipalities making up Montérégie Montérégie is an administrative region in the southwestern corner of Quebec. ... Saint-Hyacinthe (Ville de) town in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. ... For the township see Granby, Quebec (township) Granby is a city in southwestern Quebec, located east of Montreal on Lac Boivin. ... Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is a city in Quebec, Canada about 50 km southeast of Montreal. ...

Cities such as Ottawa, Smiths Falls and other Eastern Ontario municipalities, that has never experience such an amount of freezing rain, declared a state of emergency. On January 7, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick called on the help of the Canadian Forces, prompting the deployment of more than 15,000 military personnel at the peak of the crisis. Smiths Falls (2001 population 9,977) is a town in Ontario, Canada. ... January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Canadian Forces (French: Forces canadiennes) are the combined armed forces of Canada. ...

As many trees were damaged or fell by the heavy ice, the maple syrup and orchard regions suffered heavy blows and massive losses in the storm; Quebec's maple sugar industry, the largest in the world, was devastated. The loss of electrical power also greatly affected pig and cattle farmers, as they could no longer provide water or adequate ventilation to their barns full of livestock, leading to the death of many animals. Many barns also collapsed under the weight of the ice, killing the animals inside them.^[3] A sugarshack where sap is boiled down to maple syrup. ... An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production. ...

Millions of trees were brought down by the weight of ice; a quarter of the trees in Montreal's Parc du Mont-Royal were destroyed. The acronym ICE can refer to: InterCity Express, a German high-speed train InterCity Express (CityTrain), an interurban train used by QR CityTrain in South East Queensland, Australia Internal combustion engine, a fuel engine In-circuit emulator, a computer hardware device In case of emergency, emergency number in mobile phones... Alternate uses: Mount Royal (disambiguation) Mount Royals eastern slope, with the cross and the monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier, seen from avenue du Parc Mount Royal (French: Mont Royal) is a mountain on the Island of Montreal, immediately north of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the city to which...

Critically, about 1000 steel electrical pylons (said, in Quebec, to be the most solid in the world) and 35,000 wooden utility poles were brought down, further damaging power supply and hampering the return of electricity. Teams were brought in from places such as Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, along with teams from the United States, and the Canadian Forces to help restore power to affected homes in Eastern Ontario and western Quebec. A pylon is a tall steel lattice structure used to support overhead electricity conductors for power transmission. ... Pole carrying telephone, electricity and Cable TV equipment. ... Motto: Parva Sub Ingenti (Latin: The small under the protection of the great) Official languages None Flower Ladys slipper Capital Charlottetown Largest city Charlottetown Lieutenant-Governor Barbara Oliver Hagerman Premier Pat Binns (PC) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 4 4 Area Total  - Land  - Water    (% of total)  Ranked 13th... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (Latin: One defends and the other conquers) Official languages None (English,French,Gaelic) Flower Trailing arbutus Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Lieutenant-Governor Myra Freeman Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 11 10 Area Total  - Land  - Water    (% of total)  Ranked... Eastern Ontario is the region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies between the Ottawa and St. ...

Three weeks after the end of the storm proper, there were still 700,000 people without electricity. Estimates of material damages reach around $2 billion Canadian for Quebec alone. Overall estimates are around $5-7 billion US for all the areas affected The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Operation RECUPERATION

With the roads blocked by fallen trees, broken power lines and rivers of ice, emergency vehicles could hardly move. On January 7, the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec requested aid from the Canadian Forces (CF), and Operation RECUPERATION began on January 8. It was the largest deployment of troops ever to serve on Canadian soil in response to a natural disaster, and the largest operational deployment of Canadian military personnel since the Korean War January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Canadian Forces (French: Forces canadiennes) are the combined armed forces of Canada. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... A natural disaster is the consequence of the combination of a natural hazard (a physical event e. ... Combatants Western Allied/UN combatants: South Korea United States United Kingdom Communist combatants: North Korea Peoples Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Douglas MacArthur, Jeong Il-Gwon Kim Il-sung, Peng Dehuai Strength Note: All figures may vary according to source. ...

CF members from about 200 units across Canada helped provincial and municipal workers clear roads, rescue people and animals trapped by storm wreckage, evacuate the sick, shelter and feed about 100,000 people frozen out of their homes, and ensure that farmers had the generators and fuel required to keep their operations going. Military engineers and technicians worked around the clock with hydro and telephone crews to repair and replace downed transmission towers and utility poles. On January 13, at the request of the Province of Quebec, CF members assumed the powers of peace officers in the most devastated areas around Montréal. A military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive and defensive structures for warfare. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... In the broad sense a peace officer is any public sector person charged to uphold the peace. ...

At the height of this crisis, Operation RECUPERATION involved 15,784 deployed personnel (including 3,740 Reservists) from all three CF commands; 10,550 in Quebec, 4,850 in Ontario and 384 in New Brunswick. In addition, 6,200 CF members and DND employees working at their regular jobs provided the logistical support required to sustain the operation. ^[4]

Trivia

• The Montréal based indie rock band The Arcade Fire wrote their song Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) based on their experiences of the storm.
• CN locomotives (CN3502 and CN3555) were moved off the tracks and used to provide power to residents of Boucherville and Coteau-du-Lac, South and West of Montreal respectively. A third locomotive was moved in Boucherville, but never actually put to use.^[5]

City motto: Concordia Salus (Latin: Well-being through harmony) Province Quebec Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area  - % water 366. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... The Arcade Fire is an indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: CN, cn CN or cn may stand for: Calcineurin (CN) Canadian National Railway (AAR reporting mark CN) and the CN Tower Canadian Northern Railway Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee Cartoon Network Chief of Navy China (Peoples Republic), ISO 3166-1... A locomotive (from Latin loco motivus) is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train, and has no payload capacity of its own; its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. ... Boucherville is a town in the Canadian province of Quebec. ...

See also

• Ice Storm of December 2005 in the Appalachians

The Ice Storm of December 2005 was a damaging winter storm that produced extensive ice damage in a large portion of the Southern United States on December 14 - 16, 2005. ... The Appalachian Mountains are a system of North American mountains running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. ...

References

Environment Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for coordinating environmental policies and programs as well as preserving and enhancing the natural environment and conservation of wildlife. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the countrys national radio and television broadcaster. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ...

External links

• Ice Storm'98 images
• Ice Storm narrative
• (French) URL in French on the Ice Storm of 1998