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Atlanta Snowpocalypse 2014


DeltaPilot

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area.

i would have gladly challenged anyone to try and drive on I75 in my truck last night. It was impossible no matter who is driving. 4x4s and front wheels maybe but anyone with rear wheel was SOL.
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You might not understand.  It was 60 degrees on Monday, when the snow fell yesterday even though it was like 25 degrees, the streets were somewhat warm, but it fell heavy enough to overtake the warmth, but still melted and refroze underneath.  Thus it is was solid ice not so much snow, NO ONE can drive on ice.

Honestly, we didn't really have a lot of heavy snow in Carrollton. Basically about 6-7 hours of light snow that accumulated to about 2". We did have at least 10 hours of subfreezing temps before the snow began and also I'm not sure one 60 degree day is enough to make the roads that warm.

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area. 

 

Snow v/s ice is apples and oranges. I don't know which part of Westchester County you're referring to, but I am quite familiar with the grid from New Rochelle up to White Plains. As far as topography, it's not that dissimilar to the ATL suburbs. I also know that there's no way in hell it would be drivable on ice.

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Snow v/s ice is apples and oranges. I don't know which part of Westchester County you're referring to, but I am quite familiar with the grid from New Rochelle up to White Plains. As far as topography, it's not that dissimilar to the ATL suburbs. I also know that there's no way in hell it would be drivable on ice.

 

I grew up in that areas and I agree.  Snow is no problem to drive on for the most part.  When the roads are a solid sheet of ice though, you're a fool to try and drive.  If you don't hit something, something will probably hit you.

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One thing from a wx standpoint I will point out... Dale Caldwell from Fox 5 in ATL was grilling the Governor about the local METS forecasting the snow for metro ATL.  Saying that local forecasters were calling for this early on.

 

Well... we were recording a show on Fox 5 Monday night and this was from around 9PM on Fox 5 right before they went on the air.

 

Seems Dale has a memory or a stretching the truth problem.

Looks like snow in Metro Atl to me according to that map or at least CLOSE ENOUGH to be very worried. A 20-30 mile jog north from that map and the entire metro is covered. I definitely see snow in McDonough, Covington, and Griffin on that map. And lots of it. Not far from Atlanta at all.

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damn. This brings to mind a lady who had her drive shaft laying on the road under her brand new dodge ram this morning.

 

lol  I can see that happening.  Accelerator to the floor, tires spinning wildly and smoking.  Suddenly the tire reaches pavement.

 

CLUNK

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area.

Blame whoever you want. Government officials, Weather men, NWS, Mean employers, friendly employers, uninformed citizens, or all of the above. The bottom line is that this was a catastrophe! If staying off the roads for a day will help prevent this from happening in this situation, then that is what folks should do. You could not pay me to be anywhere near Atlanta on a day with snow in the forecast. If New Yorkers handle the snow so much better than us Southerners, please do us a big favor and stay up there with them!

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We in the suburbs don't count; they particularly ignore us in the Northern Suburbs and Carrollton may as well be in Alabama for how you're treated.

Atlanta has been called the "largest sprawling settlement in human history".  And now they all have cars, lol.  No one will spend the bucks necessary to prepare the city for a winter disaster every 20 or 30 years.  This admin will take the heat for this one, and it will be soon forgotten.  Folks will move away, administrations change, a new bunch of suburban commuters will enter driving age, time will pass, then..boom!  But at least all these folks will stay home next time, and scare their kids too. 

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Yep.  Not showing up and losing a day's pay is a tough decision for some folks. If you stay home and nothing develops, getting fired is also a possibility.  Obviously its a very complicated problem. One that most likely will not be solved, primarily because the situation does not arise often enough to force the changes that would be a long term solution.

when i lived in washington dc they actually had a pretty good solution that worked (of course this was full time employees that could build up sick and leave time). basically if the weather looked pretty bad and you didnt feel comfortable getting out in it (or wanted to stay and have a snow party lol) on those days you could call your supervisor/company and take a leave day without any penalty (basically like a sick or vacation day without having to have it preplanned or requested).

 

those without leave days could call in and not ahve to work, but of course they lost the income for that day.  dc is large and it can be a virtual snowstorm to beat all snowstorms in like the NW part and raining in the SE part.  that way each person could use their discretion and not risk suffering any ill effects on the work/being fired or written up front

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i would have gladly challenged anyone to try and drive on I75 in my truck last night. It was impossible no matter who is driving. 4x4s and front wheels maybe but anyone with rear wheel was SOL.

I want Myth Busters to do a show on it.  Bring in the best pick drivers from around the country, give them pos automatics with semi bald tires, and ice down a number of hills, then set them all to going, lol.    T

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One thing from a wx standpoint I will point out... Dale Caldwell from Fox 5 in ATL was grilling the Governor about the local METS forecasting the snow for metro ATL.  Saying that local forecasters were calling for this early on.

 

Well... we were recording a show on Fox 5 Monday night and this was from around 9PM on Fox 5 right before they went on the air.

 

Seems Dale has a memory or a stretching the truth problem.

 

They're all trying to throw NWS under the bus and make themselves look good; anything to sell some ad time and cause problems.  Yet another example of how low we've gone.  Of course Deal and others haven't helped by being dummer Esel's.

 

It's like a mcabre comedy and will only get uglier..

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area.

sea level to 500' lol...thats some rugged terrain your talking. I think the problem in Atlanta was ice.
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LOL, I'm from Chicago and you can't drive on this.   This was from this morning,  You can barely walk on it.  If you think you can good luck, but I would place a nice wager that you could not.   And you wouldnt complain if your commute home was 16 hours if you were lucky enough to make it?  We are complaining?   Your post is full of ignorance.

 

 

 

lol i agree - i have lived from LA (where .20" rain causes this lol) to MN and DC - even in MN during ice events the plows and salt trucks were pulled.  NO ONE can drive on a solid sheet of ice (skating down the road might work)

 

Walked 10+ miles, hitched an ATV ride for 14 more but I'm finally home. Glad my truck is a POS so no one will steal it.

 

jeesh man - wow, i am scared to ask how long was your commute and how far did you have to go????

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Is that blood on that semi that was crushed splattered near the top of it? I hope it's not because that seems gruesome...

 

Is that blood on that semi that was crushed splattered near the top of it? I hope it's not because that seems gruesome...

No, I think that is the paint color of the truck. The coolant from the crushed radiator appears to have splashed up and removed some of the snow and ice to reveal the paint below. Still doesn't look very survivable for the driver, though.

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lol i agree - i have lived from LA (where .20" rain causes this lol) to MN and DC - even in MN during ice events the plows and salt trucks were pulled.  NO ONE can drive on a solid sheet of ice (skating down the road might work)

 

 

jeesh man - wow, i am scared to ask how long was your commute and how far did you have to go????

I left Emory hospital at 12:30 and got to Windy Hill buy 6:30 or so. I found a hotel after an hour or so. I started walking around 7:30 this morning and found a Cracker Barrel open so that was a bonus. I use to be a pretty avid backpacker so despite my family asking me not to I decided to hoof it. A few miles later my cousin called and had some friends that had been working all night rescuing people on an ATV. They headed my way and I met them around Barrett Parkway. That ride home was frigid. It was 18 and we were running 35 or so.
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lol i agree - i have lived from LA (where .20" rain causes this lol) to MN and DC - even in MN during ice events the plows and salt trucks were pulled.  NO ONE can drive on a solid sheet of ice (skating down the road might work)

 

 

Skating down the road does work.  I used to do it in NJ ice storms when I was a kid. Worked great until you hit a piece of gravel sticking up and then you did a nice belly flop. There were also times where we had a big snow, followed by freezing rain and we would skate on top of the snow.  That was awesome(I weighed a hell of a lot less than I do now).  It was so cool crouching like a skier and flying down a hilly field on ice skates. And then you would hit the soft spot and finish the trip down on your stomach.  Good times.

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i'll call your stupid anecdote and raise you one...8 people were fired at my wife's office (16% of the workforce) because of calling out due to the snow in virginia on 01/21/14.

I worked at the corporate HQ of a publicly traded corporation -- massively successful in recent years -- in Nashville. Our VP told my department before a forecasted snowstorm in 2010 that if he could make it to the office, he expected to see everyone else there, on time. The threat was clear. Of course, he lived a mile away from the office (located in a very wealthy suburb) while most of us had a 45 to 90 minute one way commute on a good day. All of us could have worked remotely with no real loss of productivity. So let's not be naive about the pressures employers create, and the false notions of who is an "essential" employee.

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I just got back from picking up my car. The state I Georgia announce they would not tow any cars. I found the window between 2 and now to be about the only possible time to travel. I got my dad to take me out there and luckily the roads were slushy enough on the icy spots that i was ok. Shaded areas are still snow covered in most spots. Strangely enough this is the easiest conditions to deal with. The roads are still very wet in spots. They will be ice again in about an hour.

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area.

This comparison is a joke. Northerners are constantly putting down the South. In this case...it is not deserved.

The circumstances of this event were a perfect storm for creating ice.

The temps were warm on Monday.

The temps fell extremely fast on Tuesday.

The combination caused the melted snow to turn to ice rather easily.

As good as a delivery person I'm sure you are. You would have been a cause to the traffic issues just like everyone else on the road.

Because you would have been just like everyone else and not prepared with chains.

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I left Emory hospital at 12:30 and got to Windy Hill buy 6:30 or so. I found a hotel after an hour or so. I started walking around 7:30 this morning and found a Cracker Barrel open so that was a bonus. I use to be a pretty avid backpacker so despite my family asking me not to I decided to hoof it. A few miles later my cousin called and had some friends that had been working all night rescuing people on an ATV. They headed my way and I met them around Barrett Parkway. That ride home was frigid. It was 18 and we were running 35 or so.

wow, there are some amazing stories from our atl peeps!  glad you got a hotel, i was afraid you were on of the 18-24 hour commute home unfortunate people

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area. 

I think it's safe to say you are a moron. I guess the southerners who tried to move but were literally spinning in place is  because they don't know how to drive. Or maybe they were faking it? They were faking it too when they press on the brakes and their car doesn't stop. Or were they faking it when they tried to go up a hill but couldn't or even sliding  backwards? Yeah they were just "freaking out".

 

Us dumb southerners should  learn  how to drive on solid sheets of ice like you northern people...with your army of salt trucks of course. Right? It's funny they interviewed people from up north stuck in it and they couldn't believe how bad the roads were...they couldn't drive in it..HMMMMMMMM I wonder why.

 

Maybe we should just change the laws of physics and properties of ice like you incredibly smart northern people so we won't freak out and complain excessively, right?

 

Oh and the next time you northern folks start dropping like flies when it hits 90 degrees for more than a few days or god help you if you hit 100, I'll be sure to note the over reaction.  Those who have heat exhaustion and stroke are just complaining excessively and should get over it.

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Yeah, this is a way bigger issue than "they can't drive in the snow" -- it has to do with an environment where the roads in adverse conditions can't handle the traffic when volume is around a million and a half vehicles. If there are cultural issues, they're more about an aversion to centralized management of resources and sound transportation planning than about individual drivers.

And from my experience (anecdote here), even if the forecasts had been perfectly accurate, authorities can't or won't credibly compel private employers to comply with restrictions on travel. Maybe the awful situation with the school buses would have been avoided, but not the logjam and chaos.

But rather than actually looking at solutions, I bet it's all gonna be about scapegoating.

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We have plenty of hills where I live north of NYC, and a dusting doesn't shut down the town. My area of Westchester County goes from near sea level to almost 500' elevation in about a mile, and yet I have worked countless delivery shifts, driving around town on residential streets, after 1-3" of snow fell. You can get up and down roads with minimal treatment if you are careful and think about what you are doing. I think southerners are complaining excessively about a small snowfall that should have had minimal consequences.

 

Should roads have been treated and plows deployed? Sure. Do we need to act like this is the Day after Tomorrow for 2" of snow? Absolutely not. Asking everyone to stay off the roads because it snowed 1-2" is just totally silly. Even in a hilly area. 

 

?......hmmm you must be related to the honorable Governor Deal! :facepalm:

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