This is what it has felt like for the last three days here in Atlanta!

 

Most of us up north won't even dust off the entire car with only an inch. Just start it in the driveway, pump the heat up, and come back in a few minutes when the light coat has melted off the windows. The rest will blow off in the first mile or two.

I saw the stories of people getting stuck OVERNIGHT in their cars. I don't know whether to feel sorry for them or not. Pretty sad that people can't adjust for conditions and drive like rational beings.

 

Read a article not that long ago that was about how long some of the big cities in the world would last without power. 3 days was the tipping point for humanity to go out the door.

 

I commute about 50 miles each way to work. I left Tuesday at 1:00 PM and arrived home at 6:00 PM. It was a grueling, nerve racking drive. Most of the issue was with the way the 18 wheelers lined the the lanes in tandem preventing us 4 wheelers from going forward at a reasonable pace. Not to say that some 4 wheelers did not get "horsey" and drive way too fast.

On my way to work this AM I saw many of those same big rigs and passenger cars on the side of the road or in the ditch!

People just need to drive slow...and I mean slow in bad weather.

 

Not written by me, so please ignore the pissy tone... that said, there are some valid points to consider:

I am really getting tired of northerners mocking the emergency aspect of the snow storm coming to Florida. We understand that you get snow more often, we know that your schools often don't close, and we get it. But there is a lot of realities you are ignoring.

People in Florida are not prepared for this kind of weather, the majority of houses use heat pumps for warmth, but in extreme cold they will not hold up. Most people don't have winter clothing, and cars are not winterized, nor do they have the proper tires. Not to mention our local government doesn't have access to salt trucks, or other large equipment to clear the roads and keep people safe. A lot of people live in Florida for a reason, because they aren't equipped to live in colder climates, which is why we have a lot of elderly folks living here. Many of them moved away from the cold and snow for health reasons.

You guys remember that little storm you got a while back? Hurricane Sandy. That was a category one hurricane. You know what we call a category one hurricane on the panhandle? Rain. But I happened to be up there during Sandy, and everyone was running around in a panic, national guard was walking around with assault rifles, and guess what, it caused a lot of damage. You know why? Because you guys weren't prepared for a hurricane anymore than we are prepared for a snow storm.

In other words, your experience doesn't diminish other peoples experience.

 

Ooooo, touché!

 

Most people in FL are transplants from the north, same thing here in The ATL, did y'all forget how to drive?

 

It only takes a few bad drivers to cause a major traffic jam. Hell, on the Schuylkill or AC Expressway, it only takes one putz driving too slow in the left lane to ruin the drive.

 

We have those here too!

 

I remember my first snow driving in Michigan. Despite everything I read for preparation, it was nothing compare to the real experience.
Glad I hadn't any snow related accident during those two winter seasons.

 

Not sure you can honestly compare a storm surge that wiped out many hundreds of houses and damaged thousands, to an inch of snow falling on the ground...these require a completely different type of "preparedness".

Being prepared for storm surge (putting houses 10 feet up off the ground with pilings with break away walls on the first level) isn't quite the same as buying a set of snow tires and driving slower, or buying a coat.

And yes you don't have as many (or any) snow plows as we do here, but honestly an inch of snow (2.54 cm for us actually) would not even get the plows out here. We call that a "dusting" and it's just another day of winter.

I still don't get people having to sleep overnight in the grocery store - can't you just walk home?

 

But…. but…. but Al, it was sub 50˚ temperatures!!!! ( )

 

You're thinking FLORIDA, i.e. the part below Orlando. It stays much warmer there and is not culturally part of the south.

I'm in FLARDA, the part above Orlando, which is actually a part of the cultural south. As of right now the regular air temperature has not risen above freezing in over 48 hours. It rained for about half of that, so everything is essentially covered with 1/2" of hard ice. We're not talking snow here. Also suggesting that someone walk home in freezing weather is not reasonable. Most of the south is suburban or rural and people drive everywhere, just like California. Walking home would be akin to suggesting that someone walk from the Bronx to Brooklyn. Theoretically possible but not something the average person would do even in favorable weather.

I have driven from Anchorage to Wassilla during a snowstorm when the temperature never got above -31. (Interesting place, I can see why SP is batsnit crazy, and I only had to stay 2 weeks.)

 

I'm a Southerner by birth but have lived all over, this was a dusting. What made it bad was that the temps plunged into the teens everything froze and we get what most "Atlantans" can't drive on, ice. They all think they are Richard Petty and have to go "balls to the wall."

And no, you can not compare Sandy to this incident, Sandy's effects will be felt for years, maybe decades..this will be over when the temps go into the fifties this weekend and the rain comes in.

Of course rain here has its own set of problems for Atlanta drivers but that's another story.

 

This is street in front of my house. Everything in this pic is covered with ice. There is a frozen canadian where the orange cones are placed.

 

You call that covered in ice? Really? You have never lived through an ice storm then where the freezing rain goes on for 12 hours and things are REALLY covered in ice - inches of it...

Text is not by me...but is the caption for this photo on a news site here today...

"Check out the photo on the left. That looks like a pretty nice winter day, right? Well South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley felt the need to declare a state of emergency over it. We better get the Red Cross on the scene ASAP...
On the right, however, we see destroyed cars, downed trees and wide-spread power outages. They're photos of the recent ice storm in Toronto. Did it declare a state of emergency? Nope. Not even after some residents spent Christmas in the dark."

There was a story last night on the news that the last of those affected by that ice storm just had their electricity reconnected - I think they went 37 days without it.

We realize you guys are not prepared for this stuff, but when you quoted someone talking about over reacting to Sandy, well you guys seem to have that process nailed down pretty well.

Oh and it's -7 C here right now - the last time it was above freezing was maybe a month ago...earlier this week it was -22 C with the wind chill making it feel like -34 C. I actually put a jacket on for that kind of weather.

And I guess we are aware enough (I won't say smart enough) to know when to stay home. We have weather that you should not be driving in here all the time, and I've never been stranded anywhere in my life because of it....

Anyway, hope it warms up for you soon.

 

Having read this - I'm glad I live in Scotland where the weather's perfect - certainly never too hot and, by comparison to these posts, never really too cold…… and if it is - there's always a pub nearby.