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Freezing rain
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=== At ground level === Freezing rain often causes major power outages by forming glaze ice. When the freezing rain or drizzle is light and not prolonged, the ice formed is thin and usually causes only minor damage (relieving trees of their dead branches, etc.).<ref name="Glaze Ice">{{cite web|url=http://ecosys.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/perturbation-disturbance/verglas-glaze-ice-eng.asp |title=Glaze Ice |access-date=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715235211/http://ecosys.cfl.scf.rncan.gc.ca/perturbation-disturbance/verglas-glaze-ice-eng.asp |archive-date=2009-07-15 }}</ref> When large quantities accumulate, however, it is one of the most dangerous types of winter hazard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://weather.about.com/od/g/g/glaze.htm|title=Glaze Ice Definition|last=Oblack|first=Rachelle|access-date=2009-07-18|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822014756/http://weather.about.com/od/g/g/glaze.htm|archive-date=2008-08-22}}</ref> When the ice layer exceeds approximately {{convert|0.25|in|mm|abbr=on|order=flip}} {{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}, tree limbs with branches heavily coated in ice can break off under the enormous weight and fall onto power lines. Windy conditions and [[lightning]], when present, will exacerbate the damage. Power lines coated with ice become extremely heavy, causing support poles, insulators and lines to break. The ice that forms on roadways makes vehicle travel dangerous. Unlike snow, wet ice provides almost no traction, and vehicles will slide even on gentle slopes. Because freezing rain does not hit the ground as an ice pellet (called "sleet") but still as a rain droplet, it conforms to the shape of the ground, or object such as a tree branch or car. This makes one thick layer of [[ice]], often called "glaze". Freezing rain and glaze ice on a large scale is called an [[ice storm]]. Effects on plants can be severe, as they cannot support the weight of the ice. Trees may snap as they are dormant and fragile during winter weather. Pine trees are also victims of ice storms as their needles will catch the ice, but not be able to support the weight. In February 1994, a severe ice storm caused over $1 billion in damage in the Southern United States, primarily in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Western North Carolina, especially the Appalachians. One particularly severe ice storm struck eastern [[Canada]] and northern parts of [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[New England]] in the [[North American ice storm of 1998]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/weather/p/icestorm.htm|title=The Canadian ice storm of 1998|last=Munroe|first=Susan|access-date=2009-07-18|archive-date=2009-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303161930/http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/weather/p/icestorm.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Glaze Ice"/> <gallery mode="packed"> File:Damaged trees in Ljubljana Trg MDB.jpeg|Tree downed by a thick layer of glaze in downtown [[Ljubljana]], [[Slovenia]] File:Freezing Rain on Tree Branch.jpg|Glaze on a tree in La Malbaie, Quebec File:Zlodowacenie - Marznący deszcz 6.JPG|Ice on coniferous tree in [[Tomaszów Mazowiecki]], [[Poland]] File:Bent tree glaze ice Celje.jpg|A birch tree is badly bent under a thick layer of glaze ice in [[Celje]], [[Slovenia]] File:Ice storm in moscow.JPG|Aftermath of freezing rain in [[Moscow Oblast]], [[Russia]], December 2010 File:Iced power lines.JPG|Power outages due to the weight of ice on lines or overhanging tree limbs </gallery>
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