Ice storm in city

As a cold front settled across Missouri last night, a series of sleet thunderstorms dropped over an inch of ice on Columbia. This morning, the front, which stretched from the Southern Plains to New England, nudged a bit to the north, producing a shallower layer of cold air in our region; the sleet gave way to freezing rain.

Ice storms pose significant travel problems for humans but are also one of the more deadly weather events for wildlife. Birds and small mammals that usually sift through leaf litter for seeds and insects find that their hunting grounds are glazed over by a thick layer of ice.