ice storm aftermathI was reading a novel the other day which included an ice storm in its plot. Now, I essentially spent my first 20 years growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to experience snow and ice as well as Utah’s deep “powder” at places like Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Park City … but up to now I’ve only been in one ice storm [such as the one pictured at right]:

I’ve forgotten the year, but back in the 1980s when I was working in the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Sales and Marketing office in Waikiki, I was sent in March on an American Airlines travel consumer show to Raleigh, North Carolina. The long flight into Raleigh had actually been delayed several days by a very bad storm, and ours was the first allowed to land one very foggy morning. Much to my surprise, everything was heavily covered with ice, as in the picture at the right. I mean, as I drove out of the airport in my rental car I  saw an inch or more of clear ice sealing in cars, power lines, signs, and so forth. In fact, lots of power lines had succumbed to the extra weight of the ice, likewise tree limbs had snapped off under the extra burden.

It was quite fascinating to me. But then, after just a little while, a more interesting aspect of the ice storm started…

The wind picked up and the weather began to clear quickly. Within a half-hour or so the fog was nearly gone and the sun was breaking through. Then — BAM! — an “ice bomb” fell out of the overhanging trees and pinged off my rental car, as the wind and warmth started to loosen the residue of the storm. BAM! BAM! Some of the “bombs” were big. I began to worry the car would be damaged; indeed, some cars by the side of the road already had broken windows and dings. It was all quite new and different to me, and I can’t say I enjoyed the experience.

By the next day, a Saturday, the weather for the travel show was warming and a lot nicer. All the ice had fallen and/or melted . . . and by Sunday Raleigh was enjoying a very pleasant, practically balmy early Spring day with clear skies and not a sign of the storm left . . . which made it just that much easier to enjoy the superlative Southern-style baby-back ribs some of us ate for dinner after the show. I haven’t been back to Raleigh since, but I can’t forget the ice storm.

By the way, in the 45 years I’ve now lived in Laie and other tropical places, I also haven’t missed winter snow and ice once.