Community Chat

[gidgetgh]

I live in Atlanta. In my opinion, they should have cancelled school totally yesterday. That would have helped immensely. Also, part of the traffic issues on the interstates though were the tractor trailers, coming from all over. Pretty hard to do anything about those in advance. We did not get much snow, 3 inches or so at my house, but there was a layer of ice underneath it. Made the roads like a skating rink. Add the skating rink to the school and business early release and add the tractor trailers on the interstates and you have gridlock. On the national news it always looks like there's just a little snow so what could be the big deal, right? But we normally have that ice layer either under it or on top and you can't get traction on the ice.

[Photo Donna]

Actually the forecast had been for most of the bad weather to occur south of the city. The forecast was wrong -- and it was supposed to begin later in the afternoon.

Still -- school should have been cancelled -- I mean really, they cancel for nothing -- then when something is coming; they don't???? idiots.

[kittykatkay]

On 1/29/2014 Jules5280 said:

It's not like the sky just opened and Atlanta had no warning of bad weather. It was forecast, they has time to prepare. It might have been worse than what they expected or prepared for, because that is not their typical weather, but they still had an opportunity to prepare for it.

Exactly. Atlanta got it before we did, (I'm in Augusta area) and they closed the schools in my area yesterday and today. They had plenty of notification just like we did. I don't know why they didn't close the schools. Lots of businesses were closed here as well. Tomorrow there is a two-hour delay because it melted some today but it's going down to 15 degrees tonight and the roads will freeze over from what little snow melted today.

[dooBdoo]

I just saw this posted by several of my friends and family in East Tennessee and North Georgia:

For those saying "The South can't deal with a little snow."

This Is The Best Explanation We've Seen For Why All Of Atlanta Is Stuck In Traffic

"...It isn't just snow. In fact, if it was merely snow, we'd all be mostly fine. Admittedly, this is Atlanta, where even rain can lengthen an evening commute. On certain days, we'll even have something the traffic reporters call a "sunshine slowdown" because the glare is the only explanation for it. But for the most part, we're all used to what effect weather has on our getting to and fro.

But imagine this scenario: The weather service has been calling for severe snow for a few days, but the predictions only promise an inch or less. Now, it is one thing for you the commuter to scoff at the weather, but what if your municipal powers-that-be took the same attitude? No preparation, no salting or sanding before hand, and (this is the big one) no planned municipal closures.

So high noon rolls around and the snow arrives, and hey, that stuff is coming down pretty hard, like something seriously worth considering. It is at this time that the powers-that-be decide to close several offices and multiple schools.

Schools. Schools containing children whose parents haven't planned to fetch them until much later. So all of those parents now have to go rushing from wherever to their school of choice. Atlanta is a driving city, not a walking city or especially a rail or bus city, so thus commences a volley of unexpected traffic volume.

As the snow falls, several businesses catch the same idea, so they too decide to roll up the carpet and send their employees home a few hours early. This is a second unexpected volley of traffic.

Oh, and the sand trucks? They're heading out for their first run. We've about 30 or 40 such trucks to serve all of Atlanta, by the way.

Now this whole time, the snow is still falling and since the temperature has been hovering right around 27 degrees, the stuff is sticking to the streets. All of these commuters are crowding these streets, and while some are lucky to have found some roads favored by that first run of sanding, most are just plowing through and keeping the streets mostly ice-free by friction alone.

But with added volume, because the number of cars keeps increasing, these streets are getting crowded and the traffic is slowing and the snow melt that used to work so well isn't nearly so effective. Now that melted snow is refreezing under the tires of all of these stacked motorists. Those tires manage to melt a little of the top layer, but it freezes right back quickly. The result is a particularly Southern phenomena that looks and feels like cold glass.

What about the sand trucks? Well, they've made it through their first run, but now they can't so quickly get back to the warehouses to get more of that precious sand.

And all of those commuters? They're getting to know one another quite well, with run-ins and rear-endings and side-swipes that make it necessary for the police to be involved, and occasionally a fire truck, sadly an ambulance.

A few of those commuters just say "Screw it" and leave their cars where they get stuck, stomping off into the snow in hopes of stumbling home.

Did I mention the school buses that were still trying to get kids home at 10pm or later?

It is a horrible and dreadful and disastrous situation, and while it is easy to mock, please take a moment to consider just how quickly this escalated and how it could've been prevented. This is more than your typical case of 'The South can't deal with a little snow.'"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-all-altanta-is-stuck-in-traffic-2014-1#ixzz2rq0Ok9Vq

(edited to clean up formatting)

[Jannabelle]

On 1/29/2014 graycatsrule said:

On the news some were saying Atlanta was only predicted to get a dusting, that's why they didn't cancel schools or take precautions.

That sounds right, if they did not cancel school this is probably the info they got.

[Photo Donna]

On 1/29/2014 Jannabelle said:

On 1/29/2014 graycatsrule said:

On the news some were saying Atlanta was only predicted to get a dusting, that's why they didn't cancel schools or take precautions.

That sounds right, if they did not cancel school this is probably the info they got.

this is what happened

BUT once they knew things had shifted -- they should have let out school earlier

[Shorty2U]

We had storms like that every other day in PA this year (until this week). I think down south it is a matter of mismanagement. Im hearing the weather channel warned them, unfortunately their local government did nothing. I also heard they don't have the means such as salt trucks etc because they hardly ever get storms like this. Well its about time they become prepared. Its SO sad for those who lost their lives. And also those tractor trailers always caused problems too on the highways. They think they own the roads.

[ShowMe]

Well, our weather forecasters here in St. Louis have already said what we can be expecting for the weekend and on next Tuesday and Wednesday, and yes, the hills, bridges, and overpasses will be slick.

[SydneyH]

Very concerned, my teen is flying to Atlanta on Friday afternoon.........by himself. Prayers, lol.

[Lila Belle]

On 1/29/2014 SydneyH said:

Very concerned, my teen is flying to Atlanta on Friday afternoon.........by himself. Prayers, lol.

I'll send good thoughts but no "lol" his way.