2 inches of snow shuts down Atlanta


pam
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The south doesn't get snow. You can't judge others based on your experience. This is the most snow I have seen in my entire life. I am not personally prepared or have the experience to deal with this weather. I don't even have proper clothing for it. Our community preparedness is no better. Why be prepared for something that rarely happens. If we admit our limitations we get laughed at and called names if we move forward and things fall apart we get laughed at and made fun of. I don't mind the joke or two and make them myself. I know my kids sledding with a boogie board on frozen grass is funny. The problems come when the jokes shadow the seriousness of the situation or ridicule and name calling begin.

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I suppose we Utahns are spoiled by the ready availability of snowplows and salting equipment, and the fact that most motorists here have either snow tires or at least basic experience with driving in snow. Warmer climates can get away with not having that stuff--most of the time.

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I suppose we Utahns are spoiled by the ready availability of snowplows and salting equipment, and the fact that most motorists here have either snow tires or at least basic experience with driving in snow. Warmer climates can get away with not having that stuff--most of the time.

St. George is an example. They are in Utah but were totally unprepared when they got hit with several inches of snow not long ago. They had nothing to clean it up with.

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Yesterday's nightmare was a combination of multiple factors.

1) The weather pattern. It was pretty cold (teens to mid 30s), warmed up for a day or 2 (30s to upper 50s) the day before and then the day of high of 25. This meant that a lot of people thought, it's too warm it will pass to the south, etc. Normally, in GA when snow starts to fall it takes about a couple of hours before it starts to stick. Well when the snow started falling about 10:30-11, it hit the pavements it melted (pavements were warm from the day before) and then started to freeze (b/c of the cold and wind).

2) Because of this (and the fact that in GA if school lets out after 1100am they don't have to make up a snow day) none of the schools closed when the snow started to hit. Of course since a significant portion of businesses take their cues from the schools (as they have employees who need to pick up kids if school gets out) very few businesses closed as soon as the snow started.

3) About 11:30-12:00 schools start closing-about an hour after they should have, it takes about 15-20 min. for the word to get out and then businesses start closing. So from about 12:10-12:30 basically the whole of Atlanta closes, now rush out is normally staggered from 3:30-5:30-6pm. Take that amount of people and shove them into a 30min - 1 hour window. Total gridlock . . . at first not from the snow but just the sheer massive amount of people leaving at one time.

4) So by 12:30 everybody is trying to leave to pick-up kids, go home, etc. Of course it's been snowing for 2 hours. Snow hits pavement melts, refreezes and now we have slick spots.

5) Atlanta is actually a pretty hilly city. So ice is forming on roads @ 12:30, normally cars running on the ice would melt it, but since the entire world let out, cars are stopped which gives time for the snow to melt, refreeze, melt refreeze, etc. So we have gridlock, time passes and now we have really bad roads coated in ice. Not only that but there are a lot of immigrants in Atlanta, and a lot of them are from places further south, Mexico, Africa, etc. they have probably never seen snow like this and they are driving on it.

6) Idiot drivers: going slowly down a hill, braking sliding down a hill, stop at the bottom and then try and make it up the top, not knowing to turn into a skid, etc. Just basically being not very smart drivers. A complete mess.

IMO the whole thing mess started with the school systems; had they let out at the first snowflake a significant portion of it would have been avoided . . . some schools didn't let out until 1:45pm! School buses were trapped with kids on them, kids slept the night at schools, etc. Many road were impassable because the school buses were blocking the roads!

I believe a major reason why schools didn't let out early was because they didn't want to have to make up a snow day (so none of them except the furthest south counties released before 11AM) and the fact that many of the local schools systems already had egg on their face for closing school a couple of weeks ago because it was too cold.

Oh and they don't pre-treat or salt the roads . . . .okay they do but they don't have enough to get the job done, plus it doesn't do much good to salt the roads when they are gridlocked simply because everyone is on the roads.

Edited by yjacket
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I had six inches of snow in my driveway. The road was not plowed until just before the school bus brought the kids home. Business as usual.

You have snow up your way?

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My husband and I spent ALL of yesterday towing people out of ditches and up hills, pushing cars, directing traffic, and giving rides. We have a 4x4 tacoma with mud tires. Then we spent all day today handing out food and water to stranded motorists on 285. Some of those people had been stuck in their cars for 24 hours!! In Georgia you can get away with bald tires all year UNLESS it ices. And might I add that no one knew how bad it would get, they weren't even sure it would stick! Luckily my husband was born in Idaho and owns icy roads but even we had some problems getting home at 1am. Emergency is pretty gone now though. They're calling it the ATL Snowpocalypse. So happy it's over.

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There just not use to it! If it really snowed in south florida most wouldnt know what to do or have the proper clothing or know how to drive in it.

I think it was in 1976 but not sure if the yr is right. We had snow flurries in Ft. Lauderdale just a few when it hit the ground it melted. I missed it :( ... My family members told me...

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The South doesn't have the equipment the North does to handle a couple inches of snow, we also usually get freezing rain first then it turns to snow.

We don't have snow plows or road salt for the most part either.

And besides its more fun to stay at home with a hot chocolate in front of a fireplace than it is to go out and play dodge-em cars on the roads.

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We're looking at a job possibility in So. Carolina. After living in Utah, MN and ID, I think we'd know what to do with a little snow and how to get around. It's always the other guy on the roads I worry about though. But Oh, how I hope we get this job. I'm so sick of long winters, trying to walk the dog on icy roads that never get plowed in ID, dirty old snow, long drab stretches of bitter cold, and no leaves on the trees till May. I'll take sultry over this.

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After living in Utah, MN and ID, I think we'd know what to do with a little snow and how to get around.

Snow is not the problem, ice storms are the problem in the deep south, you rarely get snow without getting freezing rain first. I lived in MN and WI for the first 31 years of my life and only remember freezing rain once. It's almost a yearly thing here in Texas. Happened twice this year (so far)

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Snow is not the problem, ice storms are the problem in the deep south, you rarely get snow without getting freezing rain first. I lived in MN and WI for the first 31 years of my life and only remember freezing rain once. It's almost a yearly thing here in Texas. Happened twice this year (so far)

We got that several times in MN and even a few times here in ID. I know you just don't try to drive anywhere when that happens.

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