Ice Storm — Haywood, Tennessee

2022-02-03 · Haywood, Tennessee

Event narrative

Up to one-half inch of ice led to widespread tree and powerline damage along with power outages.

Wider weather episode

An arctic front slowly pushed across the Mid-South on Wednesday, February 2, 2022. This front edged south into northeast Mississippi by 12 am Thursday, February 3, 2022, and then stalled. Arctic air poured into the Mid-South with patchy light freezing rain across northeast Arkansas and the Missouri Bootheel overnight. A potent upper-level disturbance moved into the region and interacted with the stalled front starting early Thursday morning. A surface low developed and moved east-northeast along the front along with a shield of heavy wintry precipitation. The cold air deepened quickly across the Delta region of the Missouri Bootheel, eastern Arkansas, and extreme northwest Tennessee. The region experienced mostly sleet from this event with a widespread amount of one to two inches and isolated three-inch amounts. Transportation impacts were extensive. A corridor of heavy freezing rain was located from Phillips County, AR, through extreme northwest Mississippi, and across much of West Tennessee from Memphis to Brownsville to Paris. These areas received from one-quarter inch to three-quarters inch of ice. Significant damage occurred to the power supply infrastructure throughout this region due to widespread trees and power lines being knocked down. Light icing occurred across other parts of northwest Mississippi such as Clarksdale and along I-40 in West Tennessee to the east of Jackson, Tennessee. Heavy rain fell along and south of the stalled arctic front across much of north Mississippi. Precipitation tapered off from west to east during the evening hours of Thursday, February 3, 2022.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1009174. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.