Midwest braces for ice storm
12/11/2007, 6:33 a.m. EST By JAMES BELTRAN The Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Much of the nation's midsection was in the icy grip Tuesday of a tree-snapping, flight-canceling, roadway-closing deep freeze that spread from the frozen Plains.
The National Weather Service posted ice and winter storm warnings Tuesday for parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois.
About an inch of ice was expected over parts of Iowa, followed by up to 5 inches of sleet and snow. "It's a pretty good ice-maker," said Frank Boksa, a weather service forecaster.
The waves of frozen rain left at least 18 dead in Oklahoma and Missouri, with 15 of them killed on slick highways. Officials in Kansas and Oklahoma declared states of emergency.
Rain that started falling Monday evening was causing slushy conditions in the Kansas City metro area and farther south, where temperatures hovered around freezing.
"The predictions were pretty grim, and they're still not good at all," said Noelle Runyan, a weather service meteorologist. "With ice accumulations of more than half an inch, that could easily cause limbs to break, power lines to come down. It's going to be across a fairly wide area."
At Kansas City International Airport, most incoming flights scheduled after 8 p.m. Monday were canceled, as were a few dozen departures.
Westar Energy, Kansas' largest electrical provider, said outages started spiking as temperatures dropped after 10 p.m. Monday. Some 25,000 were without power.
Spokeswoman Gina Penzig said the company was prepared for the worst, calling in hundreds of line workers from states like Colorado and Nebraska — farther away than the utility normally goes to get additional help.
Oklahoma utilities said Monday that 500,000 customers were blacked out as power lines snapped under the weight of ice and falling trees — the biggest power outage in state history. Utilities in Missouri had more than 100,000 homes and business without power.
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Ice on bicycles in Oklahoma. 
So far at least 15 people have died in a major ice storm in the United States which has left more than 600,000 residents and businesses across three states, without electricity. Officials for the utility companies say that this could be the worst ice storm in history.

"This particular storm is now the worst in company history in terms of customers affected," said Oklahoma Gas and Electric spokesman, Brian Alford.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has ice storm warnings still in effect for Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois where as much as one inch of ice can accumulate on outdoor surfaces.
NOAA US Weather alerts for December 10, 2007 at 01:03 UTC
A State of Emergency has already been declared in Missouri with Governor Matt Blunt saying "we are only just beginning to see the devastation from this series of storms." Bowling Green has already seen nearly two to three inches of ice since Saturday December 8. Most other areas of Missouri have received 1/2 inch to one inch of ice.

Illinois has also seen accumulation, with the greatest total of one inch received in Poplar Grove.

Edna, Columbus, Pittsburg, Independence and Hutchinson, Kansas have all received at least one inch of ice along with parts of Texas and Oklahoma.

The NWS says that more storms are on the way and more ice is likely across the same regions.

"A series of low pressure centers have brought ice and snow from the Rockies, Southern Plains, to the Midwest and portions of the Northeast. Several additional disturbances and the presence of shallow Arctic air will continue to bring bouts of freezing rain, sleet, and snow from the Southwest to the Plains States, Midwest, and Northeast over the next several days," said a statement on the NWS's website.