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Restoring power only part of the job
McCook residents who have had power restored to their property may still be in the dark.
That's because they may need to contact an electrician before service can be turned on for their house, according to the Nebraska Public Power District.
The "meter loop" may have become detached from some homes and is the connection point between NPPD's service wire and the customer's house electrical cable, said a press release from NPPD. Because they are owned by the customer, meter loops must be fixed by a commercial electrician before NPPD can restore power.
"We regret the inconvenience these types of ice storms cause and really appreciate the patience of our customers," said Brian Buhr, operations and maintenance superintendent for NPPD.
One local electrician quoted a price of $40 per manhour, with two electricians sent on each call.
Jeanne Schieffer, a spokeswoman for Nebraska Public Power District, said about 2,100 of its retail customers at the most were out of power at any one time Wednesday and Thursday.
That number had dropped to 140 customers, mostly between McCook and Kearney, by Friday morning, she said.
Most of the outages were due to ice-laden tree limbs pulling down power lines.
The utility provides retail or whole service in 91 of Nebraska's 93 counties, including the storm-struck cities of Big Springs, Scottsbluff, Chadron, Ogallala and Kearney.
Spokeswoman Gwen Kautz for the Dawson Public Power District said about 4,200 customers were without power Thursday.
Most of those people were still in the dark Friday morning, she said, because ice and falling tree limbs were bringing down lines that had been fixed at least once already.
"We're actually in worse shape this morning than we were yesterday," she said Friday.
Both power districts were bringing in additional crews to help restore power.
McCook residents also need to be aware that when weather conditions change with the melting ice, tree limbs once heavy with ice can bend or snap back, damaging power lines again and causing another outage.
The ice also damaged hundred of trees in the city, said Public Works Director Kyle Potthoff. The true extent of damages may not be known until spring, he added.
Tree branches that were snapped off may need to be trimmed to prevent decay from entering the tree, he said. Trees that were split down the middle may not recover at all and have to be removed.
Because of muddy conditions at transfer station, McCook city officials are asking the public to dump broken tree limbs on the asphalt parking lot at the Jaycees ball park complex on West M, on the northeast corner. Only tree limbs should be left at this location. City officials thanked residents for their cooperation.
Long-term tree damage
Across Nebraska, trees weighted by ice up to a half-inch thick, are dropping limbs and branches, and the damage could run deeper than aesthetics. "The severity of the damage won't show up until June or July, when the tree is stressed out from heat and lack of water," Ted Griess said today from his home in Minden.
Griess is a horticulturist with the Buffalo County Extension office.
This year's mild fall and winter probably prevented many trees -- especially younger ones -- from reaching full dormancy, Griess said.
For those trees, the ice coating may have caused cellular damage, an affliction that might not be apparent for months.
"If you were a weightlifter who over-lifts what you're capable of lifting, you tear muscle tissue," he said.
Trees experience a similar situation beneath the weight of too much ice.
"This can have a lasting effect on the vigor of a tree."
Young trees and species such as willows, magnolias and flowering varieties will be most stressed.
Griess said tree owners should wait for ice to drop naturally and to hope that trees rebound to their normal posture.
Griess advises waiting to prune until January or February, when full dormancy occurs. Pruning reduces a tree's exposure to disease and insects.
"I look out the window at all my lovely trees and hope that they have more faith in themselves than I do," Griess said.
Very White Christmas
It will be a very white Christmas for some Nebraskans.
The storm that hit the Panhandle Wednesday and Thursday dumped 10 inches of snow on most western Nebraska cities, according to National Weather Service figures.
Even more fell in Bridgeport, Bushnell and Morrill -- 16 inches, the weather service said Friday.
The big storm system clobbered the eastern half of Colorado, with up to 25 inches falling in the Denver area and more than 3 feet in the mountains.
"We didn't have amounts close to what they had in Colorado and Wyoming because the snow started a lot earlier there," said Chris Buttler, a meteorologist at the service's North Platte station.
He said people living in the Panhandle east to Valentine and Arnold faced ice at the front of the storm, which cut down on the snow.
But the ice caused significant power problems.
The winter storm had let up enough Thursday for maintenance crews to clear roadways in the Panhandle and reopen Interstate 80 throughout Nebraska.
A two-mile stretch of Interstate 76 in Nebraska, running from the I-80 junction to the Colorado state line, was also reopened Thursday. All state and U.S. highways were also reopened.
The storm closed the Denver airport, causing flight cancellations across the country and at Eppley Airfield and Lincoln Airport. The airport was expected to reopen at noon Friday.
United Airlines spokesman Jeff Kovick said it could be days before some people are able to get on a flight.
Flights between Omaha and Lincoln and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were also canceled Friday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported rain was backing up air traffic in Chicago.
It's not likely Nebraskans will see more snow this holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service predicted cloudy skies for most of the state through Sunday. There was a slight chance of snow in east and central Nebraska Sunday night.
The Christmas Day forecast called for clear to partly cloudy skies across the state. Temperatures are expected to be lower in the east, at 15 to 25 degrees, and slightly warmer in the west, in the mid- to upper 30s.