Let’s get this straight: North Mississippi and Oxford aren’t used to this kind of winter weather.
We’re more comfortable talking football weather delays than ice storms that flat-out knock power lines to the ground and make you question whether your grandma’s old porch light can survive frostbite.
But that’s exactly what hit last weekend.
A storm swept through Mississippi, coating roads and tree limbs with freezing rain and sleet.
That pretty layer of white you hoped would make everything look like a holiday card instead pulled down power lines, snapped limbs and kept thousands of folks in the dark — literally.
Countless homes across Lafayette County, where Oxford sits, were without electricity at mid-day Sunday, about three-quarters of the customers there, according to outage trackers.
Roads Like Rink Sprints Create Travel, Safety Challenges
If you’re picturing a couple of folks trudging down the road with flashlights, you’re underestimating the situation — and overestimating how gentle ice can be.
Roadways across the region were slick enough to make even seasoned motorists tread carefully.
Crews out working have to balance the urgent need to get electricity back on with the very real danger of slipping wires, fallen limbs and traffic that might as well be skating on a pond in February.
Local officials have been reminding residents again and again to stay off the roads if you can.
That’s not just a suggestion — with fallen power lines still lying across thoroughfares, it’s near-term survival advice.
A Look Like a Tornado Hit
Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill put it plainly when she described what crews were up against.
“It literally looks like a tornado has gone down every street in our community,” she said when surveying the ice’s toll on trees, houses and lines.
That’s not dramatic storytelling — that’s someone who has walked every street and seen enough ice-heavy oak trees fall to make your jaw drop.
For crews, that means navigating around downed limbs and snapped utility lines just to get to the next pole.
Utility Workers Doing Best They Can
City and utility crews aren’t quitting. In fact, they’re out there in some of the slipperiest conditions you’ve ever driven through, trying to restore power safely for folks who’ve already been waiting way too long in the cold.
That’s not a throwaway line — that’s what officials are insisting with every update.
The emphasis on safety isn’t just bureaucratic talk. With ice still clinging to power lines and tree limbs, one wrong move can injure a lineman and take even more help out of circulation.
Sitting tight and moving carefully may slow the fix, but it keeps more trained workers on the job.
Wind Not Helping as Line Crews Plow Forward
Line crews have a tough road for a simple reason — ice is heavy. Even half an inch can weigh down lines enough to pull them down.
What we saw was more. With limbs snapping off like bad plays in the backfield and creating hazards everywhere, workers have to approach every section of line like it’s a bad snap on third down — with focused attention and cautious steps.
That’s why restoration times are not being measured in hours, but days.
With many thousands still without power across Oxford and the north part of the state, officials have said the outages could persist as crews methodically pick their way through the damage.
Community Waiting, Watching
In the meantime, residents are still in the deep freeze. Officials have been urging folks to stay indoors and keep freezers shut so food stays cold.
That’s not glamorous advice, but it’s practical.
Ice has made everything more dangerous — from getting stuck on the road to accidentally touching a live line that’s dropped in a yard somewhere.
All this would make even the best-prepared athlete uncomfortable.
Like any coach who tells his team to block and tackle, these crews are focused on fundamentals: safety first, then power restored.
It’s not quick, but is it necessary? Absolutely.
What Comes Next? Slow but Steady Progress
The storm may have passed, but the kind of damage it dealt doesn’t disappear with a couple of warm days. That’s on line crews and city workers — traversing icy roads, clearing limbs and working step-by-step until your lights flicker back on.
And when they do, it’ll be more than an electric current coming back to life.
It’ll be the result of hard, careful work — not unlike a team grinding out yards on a cold January night.
That’s Mississippi winter weather for you. You don’t just get through it, you work through it.
