and things ended up as just sleet. there's a coating on the ground, 1/4" of ice on the trees.. not as bad as the destructive ice storm of january '04 by any means. the precip is gone now.
look out near 21/48.. where the 'secondary' upper system is entrenching and quite possibly generating a surface system. based on its rapid evolution and the initial convective nature.. i'd say it bears watching as it moves north and east in the central atlantic.
non-weather event, but the 8.9 earthquake in the indian ocean has made itself the #1 killer event of 2004.. the tsunamis it generated have killed untold people.. easily inside a five figure death toll. all the hurricanes this year probably won't compare to it.
HF 1534z26december