In-Cloud Icing in the Columbia Basin

On 24 November 2005, 11 lattice steel towers of a high-voltage electrical transmission line running along the edge of an escarpment were damaged by an accumulation of rime on overhead ground wires. Cold air pooling in the Columbia basin of eastern Washington several days before the failure led to the formation of low-level fog and low clouds with temperatures below freezing at the elevation of the transmission line. The liquid water content profile of the cloud formed by air rising over Badger Mountain north of Wenatchee, Washington, is estimated using the air temperature, dewpoint temperature, and air pressure as measured at Wenatchee in the Columbia River valley below the line. Cloud median volume droplet diameters are estimated using typical droplet concentrations. The validity of the computed liquid water content is determined by comparing the measured cloud-base heights at Wenatchee with the calculated cloud-base heights. The mass and density of ice accreted on the ground wires and conductors of the transmission line are modeled using assumed wind speeds at the top of the escarpment with the estimated cloud properties. Results are compared with the density and mass of an ice sample retrieved from the field. This event is compared with other modeled in-cloud icing events from 1973 to 2007 using the period of record of Wenatchee weather data. This paper illustrates an approach for estimating the severity of in-cloud icing on the wires of transmission lines subject to cloud liquid water contents that have been enhanced by the local terrain.