January 24-26, 2021 ice storm

NOTE: The pressure and wind observations, as well as the rating, is based on what occurred in northeastern Madison County, Indiana, and not nationwide.

In late January of 2021, a significant ice storm struck parts of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, as part of a storm system that also brought upwards of a foot of snow in parts of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as a strong tornado to the northern suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama that left one dead and left over a dozen injured. The ice storm, the second significant ice event in Indiana of the 2020-21 winter, was the worst to impact parts of Indiana in over 2 years, brought nearly a third of a inch of ice accumulation to parts of the state, and producing widespread power outages north of Interstate 70, with over half of Tipton, Wells, and Benton counties in Indiana losing their power at one point or another, and parts of Grant County recording a near half inch of ice accumulation.

The event was relatively poorly forecast, with ice accumulation only forecast to peak at a tenth of a inch, and snow accumulation forecast to peak at a half inch to a inch. Ground temperatures actually increased overnight on January 25, reaching above freezing early on January 26, allowing for the freezing rain to transition into a cold rain, with the ice accumulation melting. Power was restored to large parts of Indiana within a few hours of initial outages. Several car crashes were reported as a result of ice accumulated on highways.