9 hours yesterday! She passed a home with a sign on the mailbox that read "Have to pee? Stop on in!". Now that is what you call southern hospitality! The images of cars all over the roadway and off the roadway are pretty startling. There should have been a state of emergency called in advance of this storm, schools should have been closed, don't know what they were thinking.

Before the snow started at noon, the Atlanta forecast was "a light dusting" for us.

The ice and snow was supposed to be south of a line from Interstate 20.

When the snow started coming down at 1:30, every employer in Atlanta yelled "Everybody RUN FOR THE HILLS" and released every worker to go home. The schools started releasing students early, then got the kids stuck on the highways with fully loaded buses stuck in ditches.

Everyone was listening to the forecast. Which was horribly wrong.

I posted this to my family on Facebook on January 26.

Heads up Georgia folks - snow and ice coming starting Tuesday night into most of the day Wednesday for those just north of a line on I20. <removed family references>, that means you! <removed family reference> in Savannah is likely to get hit as well - this will stretch from Texas through South Carolina.

For us in North Georgia, it looks like freezing rain without snow accumulation. And, no, you can't just put ice skates on your cars and keep going!!!!!!!!!!!

They should have cancelled schools/government offices right then and prevented this mess.


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW...WHICH IS IN
EFFECT FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 AM EST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* LOCATIONS...ALL OF THE ATLANTA METRO AS WELL AS AREAS ALONG
INTERSTATE 20 WEST OF ATLANTA AND INTERSTATE 85 EAST OF ATLANTA.

* HAZARD TYPES...SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...1 TO 2 INCHES.

Every weather forecaster in Atlanta STUCK with that forecast.

From 4AM on Tuesday, on television, the weather forecasters were poo pooing the possibility of snow in Atlanta and metro North.

These damned fools did NOT change the forecast until snow started falling and precipitated the damned "EVERYBODY RUN FOR THE HILLS" that happened at 1:30.

This is solely on local weather forecasts. Plain and simple.

Oh and school closings are made before 6AM on any given day. So the 4AM forecast said no measurable snow. The schools administrators were working off THAT FORECAST at 4AM.

Because the warning was there.

Maybe officials should start listening to them rather than the local yokels.

The warning indicated 1-2 accumulations for Metro Atlanta and surrounding areas.

Look, I'm not going to argue this with you anymore. It's there in black and white, plain as day.

That's how they were predicting it at 4AM when school administrators were making decisions which schools needed to be closed. Guess what? Everything SOUTH of I20 was closed at 6AM. Everything NORTH was left open.

Sometimes people should not comment on subjects.

Not just for those areas south of I-20.

You are wrong. And furthermore, you're being a dick about it.

in your opinion.

Bottom line is simple. I, like every other parent/person in Atlanta, was glued to the television starting at 5 AM Tuesday morning. I KNOW what was said.

In fact, I had a Dr. appointment in ATLANTA, right by Georgia Tech, an appointment that was absolutely necessary to get renewals on prescriptions for medications. I can't just stop taking my heart meds - it can cause a heart attack - so I can't just be "out" and would have run out at the end of the month.

It took me 2 months to get this appointment.

I called at noon to confirm the Dr. would be there and seeing patients as the weather was starting to go bad.

The office went to lunch from 12-1 and SHUT OFF THE PHONES, so I couldn't reach anyone. My appointment was for 2 and it takes me more than an hour to get there. We left for the appointment (my brother was driving as I wasn't prepared to drive in iffy weather).

They called at 1:30 to cancel the appointment.

I was furious. Not that they canceled the appointment, but that they shut off the phones and had a nice, leisurely lunch before letting anyone know they shouldn't take their life in their hands and get in a car!

Of course, it was at 1:30 that all of Atlanta decided to tell their employees "Everybody, RUN for the hills." We were literally minutes ahead of the snow and that nightmare traffic all the way back home.

Atlanta metro includes cities SOUTH of Atlanta.

That is what the forecast called for. Period.

What part of THIS don't YOU understand?

And now I am done.

Period.

I was here. I was watching. I know exactly what the forecast was.

And no where in that forecast did she say ALL of metro Atlanta.

LOL

We've all taken driving courses at some time (mostly to get our licenses), but when you get virtually NO practice in driving in snow, you don't know how.

In addition, the type of snow the South gets is usually very sticky and icy - it's not the powdery stuff Northerners drive through. It's tougher to drive in.

I realize a lot of this will change with climate change, but to harp on Southerners not knowing how to drive in this is pointless. I can't drive in it, either, but mostly because I have a rear-wheel drive sports car. They don't go in snow.

I live 40 miles NORTH of Atlanta

My county was not on ANY watch or warning

I'm looking out my window at 3 inches of snow and a frozen landscape.

Find Forsyth County, Georgia on ANY of those warnings.

The OP is talking about Atlanta. Deal and Reed screwed this up.

Not the meteorologists. Not the weather forecasters.

The Governor of the State, and the Mayor of Atlanta. (Try reading the link I posted.)

And both Deal and Reed SHOULD be called out.

This isn't a Dem/Repub thing. It's an incompetence thing.

I lived there for a few years, I know it gets off the hook with snow and ice. Totally understandable.

This situation could have been made less chaotic. IMO Schools should not have opened in the region.

Businesses should have given an advisory as to what was potentially going to happen.

I've got a lot of friends there, thankfully they are home, dafe warm and sound. (ironically, it is because they listened to the weather reports. )

Area weather forecasts were for 1-3 inches in the metro area. The forecasters did not get it wrong.

That is NOT what happened and it was proven right here in this thread.

So, go ahead, try to blame this on the schools when it's the weather forecasters who should be shouldering this mistake.

I don't have anyone connected to the school system, thank goodness, but these administrators made the best decision they could with the information they were given. Incorrect information.

changing the forecast and came in faster than they had anticipated. The earlier forecast made some municipalities think they had time to send employees home before the weather changed dramatically.

And school districts/administrators have to post school closings by 6AM. They were basing decisions on a bad forecast.

Every store, restaurant, and homes simply threw open their doors for folks stranded.

CVS pharmacy has folks sleeping in the aisles this morning.

And, that's literally where we are this morning. 600 high schools kids stuck at school overnight in one county, multiple other counties housing children they couldn't get home.

Truckers just lined up on every interstate, stuck, not moving. Frozen in place.

Another headline......Rush hour from hell stretches past 18 hours.

At one point last night, the announcement went out that motorists should call the fire department if they were stuck in their cars, and the FD would come get them so they could sleep overnight at the fire house.

Folks just abandoned their vehicles on the interstates and got to heat to stay alive.

Air temps right now are 12 degrees F.

seems not so bad here on eastern LI.

can't get home.

Not a lot of snow, but got down to 10 degrees last night so it froze solid.

The state legislature will discuss putting more money into machines to treat roads, but ultimately it won't be spent because this doesn't happen often enough. Besides, it's clearly Obama's fault.

But, it's not like folks weren't warned it was going to snow and ice over.

If the forecast was wrong, that's one thing.

But my office has has been closed for two days here in eastern North Carolina. In fact, all our offices were closed on the coast. Plus all the schools and colleges. And yesterday it didn't really even start snowing until late in the day.
Granted these are mostly small towns out here and I guess you can't really shut everything down, but still it seems an abundance of caution would have been in order.

My daughter was called this morning from Ross (clothing store where she works) to come into work. They EXPECT you to risk life and limb to get to work, even in a declared State of Emergency, with every official anywhere begging people to stay off the roads so they can try to clear them.

I told her boss, look, I pay for the insurance on that car and she's NOT going to drive it so someone can total it for her for $7.25/hr. NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN. And if you don't like it, you can fire her right here and now.

His best bud is Nathan Deal.

meteorologist as opposed to Deal and Reed.

( I voted for Reed, btw)

you are all over the place.

Where is Deal?!

What can anyone do that isn't already being done?

I'm trying to figure it out.

Reed a Republican just like Deal and it's the weather reporting's fault because ... something something Forsyth County.

(Honestly confused.)

Lol.

Most of these office workers and students could have stayed home.

I can't believe people are still doing this to themselves there.

I do believe that the teabagger run state government is too cheap to properly prepare for snow.

Meanwhile, here in Pennsylvania, we had ten inches of snow last week and many roads were drivable the next day.

stocked up on eggs, milk and bread. It might be weeks before the stores open again.

We will thaw out by Thursday.

Last edited Wed Jan 29, 2014, 01:25 PM - Edit history (1)

Flat tire, no gas, cell phone battery low. It's 12 degrees. She's been stuck on the highway since yesterday afternoon. I'm horrified for anyone with children who might be in the same situation. Reed's excuses aren't cutting it for me right now.

Edited to add that I'm not blaming Reed. The interstate is not his jurisdiction. This situation is just really frustrating.

Looking back on it these days the biggest bullet we dodged I think is carbon monoxide poisoning.

It was a heavy snow and the exhaust from the engine could have backed up in the car easily.

I read recently of a kid that happened to when he got in the car that was being dug out in order to warm up, CO killed him.

I was living in Georgia then. It was an actual blizzard. Seeing all the Atlanta based stories got me to thinking about that March in '93. Some called it a "snowicane", due to its hurricane force winds. It also spawned several tornadoes and water surges. Lot of people died that March.

Our car was totaled while parked in the driveway by pine trees falling on it.

28 pines on the house.

13 inches of snow. No heat and an open roof.

It was gawd awful!!!!!!!

Drifts had buried the car (driveway was above the house) The steps down to the house were buried. The back steps were covered almost to the deck (about 6 feet). No electricity. No heat. We lived in 2 rooms for several days, trying to stay warm.

People were stranded in the mountains a few miles away. They were in cabins and at a resort. Couldn't even reach them by helicopter for a few days. Then they just air dropped supplies until the roads could be cleared; which took more than a week to do.

No power for a week, frozen roads and frozen pipes, big trees down everywhere.

Good times.

Got about 12" of snow, being from up north I found it kind of amusing the way EVERYBODY lost their minds. Some of the southern people going through basic had never seen snow before. Best 3 days of basic, with only one drill sergeant and no heat or hot water, there was nothing he could do with us other then let us stay in the barracks and try and stay warm.

So I went alone. Didn't stay long though. It was freaking cold. Neighbors all checked on each other. Only six houses down the hill. We had it better than many. A lot of people suffered damages and were stranded.

TWC had been warning folks for days about this weather but they didn't take heed. Ironically, TWC's meteorologist Mike Bettes and others had to walk four hours to work this morning in the snow/ice with temps in the teens.

What an idiot.

Or is he exempt because he's a Dem?

I bet the reps screwed this up on purpose to distract from the SoTU.