Ice Storm WARNING

It is December in Kansas City. Along with crazy Christmas shoppers and cold temperatures, Kansas City is also known for the nasty ice storms. Basically, if you are not from the area, instead of snow the sky sends down ice. Not hail and not rain but actual ice pellets. It is a strange thing if you have never witnessed an ice storm. The atmosphere above us is warm but the temperature on the ground is cold, so the rain turns to ice (not snow) before it hits the ground. It really makes a mess of things and shuts down the whole city because no one can really drive on ice. In 2002, we had a terrible ice storm that left 4 inches of ice on my car and power lines were out in some places for two weeks.
So, the lovely Kansas City weather people have forecasted that Kansas City will get 0.5 to 1 inch of ice accumulation over night tonight. When there is a report such as this, everyone runs to their local grocery store and shops like we are going to be snowed in for about three weeks. It is insanity really. I had to stop by the grocery store after work today because we needed milk. The place was packed!!!! Almost all of the parking spaces were taken and the lines to check out were really long. I just smiled to myself because I know that I have food in my basement to last me awhile. I just needed some milk. (which I could live without if necessary)
The plus side of all of this is that I might not have school tomorrow. (Yes, they will cancel school because of 1 inch of ice. The busses cannot make it through ice but they can make it through snow.) It will be a much needed day off if we do end up not going to school. But, I will wait for the 5:00 A.M. phone call that tells me that school is cancelled. Until then, I am at ease knowing that I have enough food to get me through a few days or weeks if necessary! (maybe even a year??=-)