Purple Sage Ice Storm


	*Ice Storm* Kansas City, Mo, Jan 29/31, 2002 This page is about the ice storm that hit the Kansas City area on January 29th / 31st, 2002. This storm caused extensive local damage to trees, homes, and utility services. Dollar amounts of damage totaled in the millions. Electrical power was out in some homes as long as three weeks. Obvious reminders of the damge remained visable until summer. Today, (August 2023,) one can still find reminders of the storm, but they are not as redily visable. Below, is the text of an e-mail to my parents which accompanied the photos contained on this page:

These photos are from the front and back yards of our home, this morning, January 31, 2002. All the brush on the ground are tree limbs from our once beautiful trees.

These photos were taken on the second morning of the ice storm. Weather predictions tell us that the storm will continue throughout today, getting weaker until tonight when it's supposed to start clearing.

With the exception of emergency power on from the generators which is keeping my servers alive, all power to my office building at Sprint is kaput! We are fortunate to still have power at our home, but it's blinking on and off menacingly! Power is out for about a quarter of a million homes in the Metro KC Area.

.. And this too, shall pass!


It started out like any other mid winter ice storm. The roads were bad, but aside from that it was rather pretty. This was taken about noon, January 29th.	Rather pretty indeed. Note the ice on the patio pavement below. Fun for the kids!	Katrina, (waving) with her friend and neighbor, Jamie. Obviously, schools were closed becaue of the roads.

Twenty Degrees (f). Not too cold, but cold enough to freeze.	Things are now starting to get a little dicey. This is about 3:00 PM on January 29th.	Note the hook that the bird house is hanging from. The ice is forming the same way on tree branches and power lines.

This is a grid type, table top. Ice has formed about two and a half inches across the top!	Have a Seat!	About 4:00 - 4:30 PM, ice chunks began sliding off the roof onto the patio. No more play time outside for the kids!

By sunset, the tip of this tree had bent down to touch the ground! Although it has recovered greatly, it has never quite straightened up. (By 2005, this tree had to be removed as it dies due to the damage.)	The next day. Micki heard that there was a van under that ice.	Chip, chip, chip!

The doors are frozen shut!	That's ice across the top of the mirror!	Our street was very lucky! Many in our neighborhood and across the city were closed due to whole trees laying across the road. Power was out in some areas for three weeks!

This and the following two photos are sort of a panarama of our front yard. This gum tree really took a beating.	That's katrina at the front door. (Twenty years later, we still have loose branches comming down.)	In the upper left corner of this photo, you can see the top of the birch tree bent, and frozen to our roof. When it sprung loose, it caused some minor damage. This was the only damage to the house.

The going cost to cut and pile up, (not take away,) the timber such as we had in our front yard was about $400.00. I purchased a chain saw for $150.00 and cut it and piled it myself, as well as helped out the neighbors. We still have some of it for firewood.	Our next door neighbor did not have a lot of tree damage in front. Most of his tree damage occurred out back. A large maple limb fell across our cyclone fence, which corrected a flaw in the fence!	The bradford pear tree in the middle is about 25% shorter than it was before the storm. (In 2004, the Bradford Pear spliot down the middle during another November Ice Storm. It has since been removed.)

Limbs came within six inches of hitting our vehicles, but we had no damage to the cars.	Lots of work to do.	Note the sharp ends of the branches. Some were found impaled ten inches into the frozen ground!

The Bradford Pear tree. (In 2004, the Bradford Pear spliot down the middle during another November Ice Storm. It has since been removed.)	Check out the Birch Trees frozen to the roof. (The Birch Tree was removed during 2015.)	Lots, and lots of work. After cutting and piling it up, the city picked up the debries about two months later.

UPDATE 16AUG23