Ice loads on overhead lines due to freezing radiation fog events in plains

The paper discusses specific ice accretion events that may occur in plains, i.e. freezing radiation fog events, whose worst cases can damage transmission overhead lines. A simple model is proposed able to estimate ice loads due to such events, based on standard meteorological observational data. The simple model has been validated by comparing ice loads estimated by the model with historical input data and ice loads estimated based on historical damages to overhead lines. It has been shown that its most promising application can be obtained by replacing the observed meteorological input data with similar parameters from an operational numerical weather prediction model. Such icing forecasts can be used to generate alarms to anticipate potential damage to overhead lines. This application was successfully tested on a significant freezing radiation fog event that took place in the northern half of France in the very beginning of 2017, using data issued from the French convective-scale numerical weather prediction model AROME (Application of Research to Operations at MEsoscale).