The right way to preload images that allows for onload event firing even if IE has cached image.

preloads

var imageLoadEvent = function(){
 console.log('image ready'); 
}

var $newImg   = this.$(new Image()),
src           = 'blah.png';
          
// using onreadstatechange to deal with cached stuff in IE
$newImg.bind('load readystatechange', function(e){
  if(this.complete || (this.readyState == 'complete' && e.type == 'readystatechange')) imageLoadEvent();
});

$newImg.attr('src', src);