Snow in the Deep South

[Cc1966]

Doesn't happen often, but Atlanta is expecting 1-2 inches of snow today/tonight. The roads will be a MESS for sure. Time for cocktails...

[Lion]

Yep...I was down in Atlanta in the early 1990's when it snowed on Christmas Day. But just enough to liberally cover the ground. The children had fun having a snowball fight until their gloves and clothes were soaked...then it was inside for Hot Chocolate!!!

[bayerische]

It's global warming.

Time for Boat drinks!

[00pumpkin]

Its snowing here in Roswell, GA.

[jcd]

I have that same patio furniture ^^^

That isn't much snow, but to folks who don't know how to drive in it (or if you do, you're surrounded by people who don't) and lacking a decent infrastructure to remove it, I don't envy you guys.

But I'm sure people down there don't envy the -30F windchill we had here in WI this morning either.

[MitchSteel]

AHA!!! Now you guys know how we feel.......well, we can't feel, cuz we're FROZEN

[rodrob59]

This is what 1/2 inch of snow does to Atlanta suburban traffic. Took me 2 hours to travel 7 miles home and I left soon after it started. This particular mile took me an hour.

[00pumpkin]

It turned into about 1 - 1 1/2" of snow by sundown. All the roads around ATL are nasty. The snow is not the issue, its the ice underneath. Lots of stranded vehicles and some in ditches. Luckily my wife has 4-wheel drive and was able to maneuver her way home safely, even though it still took her an hour and she works only 15 min away normally.

I've heard plenty of stories of kids stranded at school, parents at work and even some people stranded in their cars on the hwy.

[Aarcher@McDGA]

South of Atlanta. 2-3 inches here. Roads are still Icy.


AA

[vitalsignsrn]

Hope all the southerners are doing ok. I know if they aren't used to it its quite crippling. When I lived in NC, if there was even a report of a flake of snow the schools and businesses would shut down. Yes, a little overboard but they really are not prepared.

Good luck all.. :-)

[GradyPhilpott]

Atlanta is in a state of emergency with thousands of people, including school kids, trapped in their vehicles and school buses. Businesses such as Home Depot have turned themselves into overnight shelters for those trapped on the streets and highways.

http://www.weather.com/news/commuter...lanta-20140128

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/29/us/win...Top+Stories%29

[Cc1966]

Yep it's a d@mn mess. I have two cars wrecked blocking the road leading out of our community. My brother (a police officer) spent 8 hours to cover only a few miles last night. Temperatures will remain below freezing for the next day or so...

[Darlinboy]

It's still a big mess, and many remain stranded. My wife picked up our kids from school across town yesterday at 10:30a, and arrived home at 6:30p. Many accidents or people who ran out of gas and had to abandon their cars, causing further delays.

Only took me two hours to get home from work, but I couldn't get my car up the hill to our house. Fortunately she's got a four-wheel drive SUV and made it no problem. We were lucky, many kids were stranded at school, their parents unable to get there to pick them up.

We're not going anywhere today, and hope everyone stays safe until this passes!

[mtrunner]

What a disaster. My question is why were the schools open and why didn't companies tell employees to work from home or stay home?

[Cc1966]

Major case of city/state management missing the mark! The forecast was for 1-2 inches of snow with three days advance warning.

[vitalsignsrn]

Gary makes a very good point...why weren't the schools closed? I think the magnitude of the storm probably just took everybody by surprise.

[mtrunner]

Originally Posted by vitalsignsrn

Gary makes a very good point...why weren't the schools closed? I think the magnitude of the storm probably just took everybody by surprise.

That's the thing. I heard on tne news, a couple of days ago, that a snow storm would be hitting the south. Definitely seems the local government officials missed the mark on this one.

[rodrob59]

Yesterday I posted a photo of traffic I was in just north of Atlanta and complained about it taking me 2 hours to get home. Today in his press conference the Governor said that as of last night at midnight, there were 99 school buses with children still on the road in Fulton Co alone.

I officially withdraw my complaint and am waiting for the guillotine to be set up for all the officials involved in this major screwup.

[superdog]

krioke. you should see what happens in jersey.

i had my car washed yesterday dammit. i had more than that on my windshield when i woke up.

[b06tmm]

Our state and local municipalities in Louisiana took this seriously and they started closing roads around noon, yesterday.

Here is a current screen-shot of the road status:



This morning, one of our local radio hosts said "we're better in football and winter weather!", referring to Atlanta.

You must realize the mind-set after Katrina...

[00pumpkin]

Originally Posted by mtrunner

What a disaster. My question is why were the schools open and why didn't companies tell employees to work from home or stay home?

They are trying to blame the national weather service. I do remember seeing a map the day before the storm hit showing that everything around and above Atlanta would only get up to an inch. Usually that stuff doesn't even stick so I think everyone thought it would be fine, especially north of ATL where I live.

We never seem to be ready for a storm down here. I think there may be 3 plows in the whole state. ha!

[Aarcher@McDGA]

Meteorologists the day before thought all the snow would hit south of Atlanta. They also made it clear that there were no previous human or computer models that were familiar with what was coming. Yesterday morning it hit North GA (common in winter) and by midday had pretty much covered the majority of the state.

The thing is predictions were wrong but here in GA it is hard to predict what we will actually get and agencies should have prepared better. I heard the city of Atlanta added 30-40 sand trucks and 30-40 plow trucks since the storm in 2011 and I don't really think they used any of them.

Best story I heard was the Dad that walked 5-6 miles to be with his 5-6 year old daughter at school. She had never slept away from home.

AA

[Amez]

It is interesting to see the difference it makes having a some road equipment to handle the snow/ice and drivers used to it.

[anilzat]

Well it's nice here, snow is gone for the most of the area, it's in the 30's and it's time to go out and work play whatever.

[Davey Boy]

[anilzat]

Originally Posted by Davey Boy

North is still cold, I'm at a nice spot living the dream.

[G8RDPM]

My neighborhood was full of ice. We had no snow,but my street was like an ice skating rink!
Missed 2 1/2 days of work. Not good!
60 degrees today,finally!

[elcompa]

Not Deeeeeep south, but this is our cottage house in North Carolina (mid south??) along with Fluffy and Scruffy. About an hour south of Raleigh.

photo 2.JPG

photo 4.JPG

[anilzat]

At first I thought it was a small squirrel taking a dump in your yard, my eye glasses helped me see it better.

[Beek]

Let me help you shoveling that snow