Memphis awoke to ice, slush and cancellations. Power outages peaked at 10,000.

Memphis-area residents woke up Thursday morning to a fresh blanket of icy slush on the roads and sagging tree limbs heavy with a sheath of frozen precipitation.

Forecasters issued an ice storm warning on Wednesday, 27 years after another damaging ice storm that is still recalled with a level of anxiety among Memphians. 

But the city fared far significantly better than the morning of Feb. 11, 1994. 

Power outages began to accumulate in tandem with icy precipitation early Thursday morning; Memphis Light, Gas & Water reported 3,000 customers were without power around 7 a.m.

An apex of 10,000 powerless customers was reached around 11 a.m., but that number began to decline shortly after. By lunchtime, MLGW had restored power to thousands, driving the number of affected back down to roughly 6,000.

By early afternoon., about 1 percent of MLGW customers remained without power.

The outages were initially concentrated mostly along the Poplar corridor between North McLean Boulevard and White Station Road, but power grids in municipalities like Bartlett and Millington began to falter around 9 a.m.

Communities in North and South Memphis were affected as well, although outages were more scattered compared to the city's densest areas.

Closures:Memphis area schools and universities close as ice storm nears

Precipitation started Wednesday evening when the forecasted frozen fog began to coat surfaces in a thin layer of ice. Frozen precipitation continued throughout Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, marked by the rare appearance of "thunder ice", or a thunderstorm with freezing rain or ice. 

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Memphis said the freezing rain would continue throughout Thursday morning until early afternoon, but the forecasted icy rain was replaced by light snow throughout much of the Memphis area, enabled by temperatures that remained below freezing.

Travel was strongly discouraged by the weather service in Memphis but some commuters took to the streets and accidents began to pile up.

By 10 a.m., Memphis police had responded to 29 crashes throughout the city. 

Public works crews tasked with lessening hazardous road conditions responded to reports of ice at several interstate overpasses and intersections and fallen limbs near the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Highland Street, as well as near Whitten Road and Elmor Road.

A spokesperson for Memphis International Airport said runways remained open Thursday morning for arrivals and departures after crews treated runways with de-icing chemicals Wednesday night. 

Twelve passenger flights were canceled by airlines as weather in other parts of the country forced changes in flight schedules. 

Friday's forecast, according to weather service meteorologists, will contain less precipitation. Some freezing rain is expected before midnight, but otherwise skies will remain cloudy and grey. Thirty-three degrees is the expected high; 22 degrees is the low. Factor in the wind chill, and the Memphis-area will, at times, feel like single-digit temperatures.

Cancellations for Thursday in Shelby County

• The Shelby County Health Department closed its facilities for the day, including COVID-19 vaccination sites. Clinic appointments for Thursday will be rescheduled. 
• The University of Memphis closed all Shelby County buildings, as well as the Lambuth campus.
• All Bartlett City Schools closed for the day. The closures affected both in-person and virtual students, who can enjoy the area's first virtual school snow day in recorded history. 
• The Lakeland School System closed all campuses to in-person learning. Students attending remotely also have a snow day.
• The City of Germantown announced solid waste collection for Thursday was suspended due to winter weather. Thursday routes will be collected on Friday, and Friday routes will be collected on Saturday, weather permitting.