In this Dec. 9, 2007 file photo, Daniel Kipps uses a chain saw on a ladder to clear away broken ice covered branches from the roof area of his parents house on Taylor Street in Nowata after freezing rain caused tree damage and knocked out power and water to many areas of the town. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World File
Let us go back to 2007, when there was no exceptional or extreme drought, there was no record snowfall, no record high temperatures or record low temperatures.
Instead, there was something related to the weather that would shut the Tulsa area down: the 2007 ice storm.
I knew there was something bad going on in Tulsa all the way from Chicago, where my flight back to Tulsa was canceled. More articles, photos and videos on this major weather can be viewed
here. And so, once again, I return to the weather-related work of Tulsa World Editorial Cartoonist Bruce Plante.
How cold are temperatures in order for an "ice" storm to happen? Well, freezing! And if there's no power, it's winter jacket weather indoors too, as this cartoon illustrates. The month started with highs in the 60s and 70s, but quickly leveled off near the 50s, then 40s, then 30s, all while getting more than an inch of rain (not snow) several days in a row.
Your energy bill records might have been broken, but did the ice storm cause any weather records to fall? Reviewing National Weather Service statistics, December 2007 had above average rainfall and recorded one of Tulsa's colder Decembers in history, 32nd coldest of all time, with a daily average temperature of 38.6 degrees Fahrenheit. However, as of right now, December 2007 holds no daily rainfall or temperature records for Tulsa.
Anyone who has lived in Tulsa for awhile has probably discovered that rain is not friendly to our area roads. But, there was something else holding motorists up on many area streets: power lines, power outages and downed trees.
An estimated 246,000 customers were without power in the Tulsa area. More than half of the city's traffic lights returned to working order by Dec. 18.
As for the tree loss, I actually checked in on this back in April. You can read my article
here.. There was no estimate on the number of trees lost, but officials did say that about 1 million years worth of tree growth was lost from the ice storm.
But, I am happy to end on a positive note: Through efforts like ReGreen Tulsa, Tulsa's urban forest will return to the tune of about 20,000 new trees planted since this major weather event.
--Althea Peterson
PS: Want to see Bruce Plante's take on the ice storm? Check out his blog
here.
