Ice Storm — Tidal Berkeley, South Carolina

2014-01-28 to 2014-01-29 · Tidal Berkeley, South Carolina

Event narrative

Storm total ice accumulations across Tidal Berkeley County ranged up to one quarter of an inch in the Daniel Island area. A few roads had to be closed due to ice accumulation due to hazardous travel on Daniel Island. The initial verifying report was due to public impact when law enforcement had to close the Don Holt Bridge due to ice accumulation.

Wider weather episode

A strong but shallow arctic cold front pushed through the region early in the day on 1/28/14. By that evening, a strong cold air damming regime prevailed as northerly surface winds pushed temperatures to around freezing across nearly all of southeast South Carolina. Above the shallow freezing layer, a prominent elevated warm layer developed which resulted in the predominant precipitation type being freezing rain for the event. Strong synoptic forcing produced widespread precipitation through the event. Storm total ice accumulations ranged from one quarter to three quarters of an inch, especially across far inland areas. There were even a few isolated one inch amounts reported. Total snow and sleet accumulations were less than an inch. The unusually high amounts of ice accretion caused widespread major travel impacts with several bridge being closed due to ice. Furthermore, temperatures remained near or below freezing at many locations through 1/31/14, which slowed the melting of ice and prolonged travel impacts. Also of note, melting ice falling from the towers of the Ravenel Bridge damaged several vehicles and resulted in one non-life threatening injury.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 526930. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.