What states get ice
Executive summary
Ice storms—defined by the National Weather Service as freezing‑rain events that leave at least 0.25 inches of ice—most commonly strike the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, but significant events and damaging outliers also occur in the Mid‑Atlantic, Appalachia and even parts of the South and Plains [1] [2]. Recent forecasts and historical studies show concentrated risk in places such as western Maryland, the West Virginia panhandle, Pennsylvania, New York and the Great Lakes/Midwestern corridor, while notable storms have extended into states as far south as Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma [3] [4] [1] [5].
1. The usual suspects: Northeastern and Midwestern states
Most ice storms occur in the Northeastern states and across the Midwest—regions that combine frequent winter storms with the layered temperature profiles that produce freezing rain—making New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and the Great Lakes states regular recipients of glaze events that cause tree and power‑line damage [1] [4] [6]. Federal hazard mapping and academic reviews show a concentration of historic ice storm severity across the Eastern U.S. and the upper Midwest, where repeated damaging glaze events have been recorded over multi‑decadal records [2] [7].
2. A Mid‑Atlantic and Appalachian hotspot: Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia
Multiple operational forecasts and map products have singled out the central Appalachians and Mid‑Atlantic—including western Maryland, the West Virginia panhandle, central and southern Pennsylvania and parts of Virginia—as areas with the highest probabilistic risk for hazardous ice accretion during major winter systems [3] [4]. The National Weather Service and regional meteorologists explicitly warned that these areas have the “highest chances (40–70 percent) for more than 0.25 inches of ice accretion” during the referenced winter event, underlining their recurring vulnerability to power outages and tree damage [4].
3. The Midwest, Plains and outlier Southern states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas
The Midwest and lower Ohio Valley routinely see freezing‑rain storms that can cause widespread outages and transport disruption—Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky are called out in state climatology and regional reporting for repeated damage from ice accumulations [8] [9]. Historical analyses and popular lists also name states farther west and south—Missouri, Oklahoma and even Texas—as occasional recipients of significant ice when the synoptic setup pushes warm air over shallow cold surface layers; the 1994 event and the February 2021 Texas cold event serve as examples of these outliers [1] [5] [10].
4. Why these states get ice: the meteorology behind freezing rain
Freezing rain forms when precipitation falls through a warm layer aloft and refreezes on contact with sub‑freezing surfaces, which makes regions where warm, moist air overruns a shallow cold surface layer especially ripe for ice—conditions common along storm tracks from the Midwest into the Northeast and across the Appalachians [6] [1]. Climatologists and risk indices use this mechanism and historic event catalogs to map relative ice‑storm risk nationwide, showing an Eastern U.S. concentration with pockets elsewhere where atmospheric setups occasionally align [2] [7].
5. What the maps and history say: concentrations, severity indices and notable events
National Risk Index products and long‑term severity indices emphasize that the Eastern U.S. hosts the bulk of major ice‑storm losses and repeat events, while curated lists of notable ice storms document damaging episodes across New England, the Mid‑Atlantic, the Midwest and the Southeast over the last century; some counties have experienced multiple major ice events over 55‑year records [2] [11] [7]. Media forecasts for specific storms—for example, maps highlighting western Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania—underscore how operational products focus impacts to particular states during each event [3] [4].
6. Practical reading: which states “get ice” and how to interpret that phrase
If “what states get ice” means which states are most likely to experience ice storms, the clearest answer is the Northeastern and Midwestern states, plus the Mid‑Atlantic and Appalachia as a concentrated hotspot, with intermittent but sometimes severe events also hitting parts of the Plains and Deep South [1] [4] [7]. Sources agree that while some states are perennial risk areas, damaging ice storms are also episodic and can strike outside the usual zones when atmospheric conditions allow—researchers and emergency planners therefore treat both geographic concentration and outlier risk as important [2] [5] [6].