Though occasional flurries arrived with our recent winter storm, central Missouri primarily received a glazed landscape for the Christmas Holiday. Freezing rain left a thin coating of ice on the trees, shrubs and grass, producing a beautiful winter scene; fortunately, the glaze is too thin to cause major tree damage and our electrical power has remained intact.
Since the overnight low dipped near zero and this afternoon's high is expected to remain in the twenties (F), little melting will occur before Christmas morning. Indeed, while periods of bright sunshine highlight the beauty of the glaze, the sun's angle is too low to produce much heat. By tomorrow, however, a wind shift will push warmer air into Missouri and the wintery spectacle will rapidly disappear.
Ice storms are beautiful but devastating events, damaging vegetation, taking down power lines and setting the stage for numerous accidents. Like many other spectacles brought to us by Mother Nature, they are both awe inspiring and, if not given their due respect, dangerous; but she is neither responsive to our admiration nor affected by the pain that her handiwork might produce. We are but actors on her stage, enjoying the scenery but always at the mercy of her fickle direction.
