Community Chat

[151949]

People in the south don't know how to drive in ice and snow and don't have the advantage of things like snow tires, skid control on their cars etc. Why pay for things like that if you don't expect to ever need them?

[Hoovermom]

On 1/29/2014 Matty6 said:

On 1/29/2014 Hoovermom said:

On 1/29/2014 Matty6 said:

You folks in the south are not used to this type of weather.. I am sorry you are going though this. Take care! This has been a very tough winter for all of us.

No we are not use to this type of weather and I always feel for you people up north with your brutal weather. Cannot wait for spring can we?

Be safe.. I wish there was someway we can help you folks down there. I will leave you with this thought only 50 days to spring time..... Take care!

Thank you so much, I am actually going on a cruise the first of March and now it cannot come soon enough. The people who need the help most are the ones who have been in their cars for 20+ hours, and the temperatures were in the single digits overnight. I hope help is on the way for them.

[Hoovermom]

On 1/29/2014 LucyGoose said:

Oh, Hoovermom. I'm so sorry to hear that. No doubt he probably had to be on the road, or he wouldn't have. I live in Troy, AL. I woke up this morning to snow on the ground. I didn't think it would happen, but apparently it did.

Everybody stay warm and safe indoors.

LucyGoose, he and two other colleages were in Montgomery @ 11:30 am. for meetings which were cancelled. They were all to fly out @ 5:00 p.m. yesterday from Birmingham for various locations. Lots of people still out on those roads trying to get home. I hope DH can get back to the car and try once again. The responders must be totally exhausted because we do not have the personnel for situations like this. Anyway, thanks for the good wishes.

[Hoovermom]

On 1/29/2014 happy housewife said: People in the south don't know how to drive in ice and snow and don't have the advantage of things like snow tires, skid control on their cars etc. Why pay for things like that if you don't expect to ever need them?

You are so right, this doesn't happen every year thank the good Lord LOL. I think some people used kitty litter as their skid control according to the news. It worked somewhat.

[Heiress-inFL]

On 1/29/2014 Hoovermom said:

On 1/29/2014 Heiress-inFL said:

I will say that I have love reading about all of the snow-angels helping out others! There are such good people still in this world! Absolute heroes! #snowangels

-HIF

Yes, there are lots of them helping each other out. They just found a missing man from Vestavia in a ditch and he was saved by those "snow angels".

Omgosh! I'm so glad he was found and I pray he'll be OK. During an interview I heard a man say that he was stranded for 6 hours, and his home was only a 15 minute drive from where he was. Autos running out of gas, and a woman actually delivered a baby while stranded. Both are doing fine though. God does miraculous things through the hearts of others, that's for sure!

Edited to add: I'm thinking the baby that was born was in Atlanta, not Alabama. Maybe??

-HIF

[Hoovermom]

Prayers for a local Coach who has not been located and also the stranded motorists still in their cars for 20+ hours.

[Sooner]

I find it hard to believe that they didn't have warning.If not that is awful! Maybe they are talking about warning farther in advance than they are used to. Oklahoma where I live is famous for wild weather--everything from tornadoes and hail to lots of ice and snow. A recent ice storm did thousands of dollars worth of damage to our trees.

One famous older meteorologist from this area was asked recently why Oklahomans were so obsessed with the weather, and he said "If they don't pay attention, they die." So around here, when any hint of ice, hail, tornadoes or whatever is in the offing we are all tuned in all day to TV, National Weather Service and whatever and keeps up basically minute-by-minute because we are so used to rapid changes. And when something is coming, we high-tail it to safety because we are used to that. We never assume the weather at noon will be what they said last night or even that morning.

I wonder if the forecasts changed rapidly and folks just assumed nothing was going to crop up.

Hoovermom--do you live in Hoover AL? BEAUTIFUL area and it would hard to get up the hills around there for sure!!! It is flat where I live so we just slide around home.

[chrystaltree]

Who would think that 3 or 4 inches of snow and icy road conditions would be so traumatic? I could understand it if those areas received 23 inches of snow. But a dusting brought them to their knees? Really? What I want to know is, since they get a storm like this every 10 years or so. Why weren't they equipped with chemicals to treat the roads? The snow fall was paltry, so they didn't really need a lot of plows. They just needed to treat the roads, to keep them from icing over. Also, meterorologists were predicting this for a week. Why didn't they reach out to other states for assistance? Northern states that were not going to be affected and could have lent a hand, equipment, assistance. It's like they just sat there and waited. Sorry, saying "we aren't used to this" is not an excuse for those in charge of public safety. It just isn't.

[Sooner]

On 1/29/2014 chrystaltree said:

Who would think that 3 or 4 inches of snow and icy road conditions would be so traumatic? I could understand it if those areas received 23 inches of snow. But a dusting brought them to their knees? Really? What I want to know is, since they get a storm like this every 10 years or so. Why weren't they equipped with chemicals to treat the roads? The snow fall was paltry, so they didn't really need a lot of plows. They just needed to treat the roads, to keep them from icing over. Also, meterorologists were predicting this for a week. Why didn't they reach out to other states for assistance? Northern states that were not going to be affected and could have lent a hand, equipment, assistance. It's like they just sat there and waited. Sorry, saying "we aren't used to this" is not an excuse for those in charge of public safety. It just isn't.

A lot of cities in the south can't really afford to be really prepared and also, we get lots of ice that falls quickly and is impossible to travel on. Sometimes you get freezing rain or sleet then it warms a little and the top layer melts a little and it is horrible to try to walk or drive on.

We aren't used to this is a very valid excuse. You can't spend the money and the manpower or the common knowledge in the public for "used to." You just have to do the best you can.

[Hoovermom]

On 1/29/2014 Sooner said:

I find it hard to believe that they didn't have warning.If not that is awful! Maybe they are talking about warning farther in advance than they are used to. Oklahoma where I live is famous for wild weather--everything from tornadoes and hail to lots of ice and snow. A recent ice storm did thousands of dollars worth of damage to our trees.

One famous older meteorologist from this area was asked recently why Oklahomans were so obsessed with the weather, and he said "If they don't pay attention, they die." So around here, when any hint of ice, hail, tornadoes or whatever is in the offing we are all tuned in all day to TV, National Weather Service and whatever and keeps up basically minute-by-minute because we are so used to rapid changes. And when something is coming, we high-tail it to safety because we are used to that. We never assume the weather at noon will be what they said last night or even that morning.

I wonder if the forecasts changed rapidly and folks just assumed nothing was going to crop up.

Hoovermom--do you live in Hoover AL? BEAUTIFUL area and it would hard to get up the hills around there for sure!!! It is flat where I live so we just slide around home.

The weather changed so quickly, like within an hour. The weather has already been below freezing so the ground was not that warm. We do really well with tornadoes and are always kept up to breast with them, but this one was totally a surprise. Yes, I live in Hoover and it is a beautiful town but lots of hills. Thanks!!