The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Pleasant Hill put together an ice accumulation map for this week’s ice storm.

I’m enjoying the illuminated ice-covered trees now that the sun is out. The sun, plus temperatures rising above freezing are rapidly melting the ice off the trees. Be careful for falling ice, and enjoy the glistening landscape while you have the chance.

My wife just called to say that we lost power at home. The trees are showing some serious sag, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see scattered power outages increase still this afternoon. With no power at home it likely means that there will be no update to KCWeather tonight.

Remember that you can still catch me via the KCWeather twitter stream.

The winds have shifted back around to the northwest, which puts an end to our warm up. Hopefully temperatures will stay at or above freezing for a few more hours, but we may see them drop back below freezing around or shortly after noon. Like I said, we are far from out of the woods with this storm. Another tenth to a quarter of an inch of ice is going to push tree branches closer to their breaking point. Providing that I still have power (we’ve had a few flickers here as of late), I’ll keep an eye on it and will let you know when I see temps drop below freezing.

Again, check either of my Twitter streams if I seem to drop off the grid. I can still update these from my cell phone.

Parts of NW MO and NE KS have actually had over 2 inches of freezing rain already, with doppler radar estimating close to 3 inches in some spots. More ice on the way. It could have easily been here…

Here in KC, the main roads are in good shape right now. Side streets are a bit icy. While much of the metro area is at or just above freezing, a cool down of a half to 1 degree is going to make a world of difference. In fact, it wouldn’t suprise me if if we continue to see accumulations on trees still occurring with us hovering so close to the freezing mark. It won’t take much more ice accumulation to cause tree limbs to begin to snap. I’m still expecting us to change back over to freezing rain and sleet this afternoon. So we’re not out of the woods quite yet.

Of course, I’ll keep you updated with my thoughts, providing I don’t get knocked off the grid. You can also follow the KCWeather Twitter feed. I can still update this via my phone.