In Atlanta's defense... how many inches of ice does it take to be a problem?
The answer is, of course, that less than an inch of ice (versus snow) is more than enough to make life Hell.
A swath from Atlanta to Raleigh is poised to get an ice storm Tues-Wed. Those of us a little north of that arc will get good old-fashioned snow Wed-Thu.
This southern icing is a typical occurrence for the northern-south because it is a little warmer there, and freezing rain is a borderline-temperature type of phenomenon... water freezing to ice.
I am an excellent snow driver. I cannot, however, drive well on solid ice when temperatures are 25-35 degrees because it is pretty much impossible to drive (well) on relatively warm ice.
Ice is not all that slippery (as you've probably noticed in sub-zero conditions) but pressure on ice, from shoes or tires or the blades of ice skates, instantly melts the very surface of the ice making a thin layer of water over ice directly under the tire or skate.
So seeing southerners careen about in these winter storms is understandable. Not only do they lack the budgets and equipment for winter storm preparation, but what they are driving on is actually worse for driving than what we get in colder climes.
To end with something productive, I would suggest, for the Atlanta area, a halt to big-rug truck traffic during winter storm events. (But done on an hour by hour basis, not a general ban whenever bad weather might be coming.)
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