The term "Ice Storm" can be a bit of a misnomer. We had what's called an ice storm last night, the things associated with the word "storm" were, as is often the case, absent. There were no high winds, certainly no thunder or lightning -- in fact, the precipitation wasn't even all that hard. Ice storms earn their name because of the damage they can cause.

If you don't live in a climate that gets ice storms, this is what happens. Ordinary rain (possibly sleet but not snow nor, paradoxically, actual ice) falls at a moderate-to-heavy rate when the temperature is close to the freezing point. It has just enough time upon landing to get everything wet before freezing. Then more rain lands on the ice and freezes to form thicker ice, and so on.

Absolutely everything gets coated in ice. If you look at a bush or hedge after an ice storm, every single leaf and bud is encased in its own big transparent coating of ice.

The effect is striking -- absolutely gorgeous, especially on the trees. But trees suffer most from ice storms. The coating of ice gets heavier and heavier. Healthy trees droop and lean under the weight. Unhealthy trees break, falling sometimes on roads, cars, houses, and power lines.

Where I live in New Hampshire, there's about a 50-50 chance that any given winter will have an ice storm. They aren't always bad. 1998 had a bad one, known intuitively as "The Ice Storm of 98." Starting last night and ending this morning, we had "The Ice Storm of 2008."

Our bedroom window overlooks a deep woodsy area. Last night we were serenaded to sleep by frequent periodic sharp cracks, followed sometimes by the tinkly shower of a million bits of ice splattering on the ground. That meant a big tree branch snapping and falling somewhere. Sometimes we'd hear a much louder crack, followed by creaking and thumping. Whole trees falling over. One tree right near our house fell down in the night, waking us up. It fell away from the house and vehicles, which is good. My forester of a father checked the property for hazardous trees when we bought the place. Still, sometimes you never know what's going to happen.

We lost cable and Internet services, but that's it. Somehow our power is still on, although the NH power company is reporting the biggest statewide loss of power in 30 years. Many whole towns won't get power back for days.

Lots of business are closed. The streetlights in our town were all out. What few gas stations are open have long lines. The same is true of where I work, in a Massachusetts town an hour's drive to the south. My workplace has power but very little else of the town does.

The amazing thing is that the roads are fine. When Virginia gets the odd snowstorm, the state shuts down. In New England, a lot of money is poured into snow and ice removal. It usually gets taken off the roads before it even has a chance.