According to the National Weather Service, we are experiencing a brief break in freezing precipitation. The first of two rounds began late Monday evening into early this morning. The second round is predicted to move in Tuesday afternoon and persist into the overnight hours. Preemptively, local school systems, including Lakeland, canceled school for today. Based on forecasts, the weather later Tuesday and early Wednesday (Round 2) will bring more than Round 1, so there’s an increasing probability school will be canceled Wednesday.
For a frame of reference, in the Ice Storm of 1994, 250,000 customers lost power as ice coated 1-2 inches on trees, powerlines and roads. In the Ice Storm of 2022 approximately 272,000 customers lost power. The ice on trees and powerlines was between a quarter inch and half an inch. Predictions for this ice event are between .25 and .50 inches over the next three days. As usual, the roads in Lakeland are more scenic in nature and are lined with trees so pay close attention. The temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing and it will remain cloudy, so much of the road conditions today will remain the same into Round 2.
