I'm from WI and I can't believe what I'm seeing

[EC]

in Atlanta. Why didn't the Mayor have salt trucks out before the snow hit? I can't believe what I'm seeing. Up here that isn't even considered a storm. They should have had the highways salted at least and since they don't have the equipment, they should have called a snow day before it hit and told people to stay off the roads.

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. They don't have 1) salt, 2) salt trucks, 3) anyone who knows what the fuck to do

It's tough, you see, when you have neither the know-how nor the hardware.

Add to that wintry mix hundreds of thousands of people who can only get anywhere driving and have no business even attempting to operate a Razr scooter in rainy conditions, and you get this fucked up mess.

I would do the Northerner eyeroll at this catastrophe, but it's too easy, and they're suffering too much. Maybe it willbe a spur for them to get they sheet togevah, policy-wise.

[UncleMuscles]

10. it's possible to spread salt or sand manually from a dump truck

also, it would be hard to believe there isn't a spreader anywhere in Georgia.

any state DOT would have the capability to spread sand.

[pnwmom]

61. The state DOT would still be limited by the number of trucks.

[morningfog]

67. They could contact out the work to locals.

Maybe not feasible this time, but they could set it up for next time.

[joeglow3]

93. Yeah. Spend millions a year for the storm of 2024

[Bandit]

30. Salt is used to melt ice, it doesn't do much good before any ice develops.

They have much better de-icing material today and most places that have a lot of snow no longer use salt at all because it is so damaging to vehicles.

[AleksS]

65. That first part isn't quite true

Salt lowers the freezing point of water, so pre-salting actually has a few very very important effects:

1) It takes the "freezing" out of freezing rain, preventing things like sheet ice and frozen roadways
2) It starts snow melting as it hits the road, helping prevent a build up in the case of light (1-3 inches) of snow
3) It creates a layer of watery/slush between snow accumulation and the road, making it easier to clear accumulated snow

That's why you see the salt trucks out well before every snowstorm in the north.

Yes, it is bad for metal--the Cl- ions are a powerful oxidizing agent causing rust, and can penetrate concrete to cause damage to iron rebar in the roadways. However, it's also more effective than sand at keeping roads safe, so it's a mixed bag, and you pick your poison.

I know in WI here we're still pretty much 100% salt use. Not all NaCl salt, some Mg and Ca salts too, IIRC, but those are far more expensive, so rarely used.

(Just some musings from a lifelong northerner with friends in the DOSanitation.)

[magical thyme]

68. we pre-salt in Maine...

In fact, I can tell when we're going to be getting freezing rain/wintry mix a day in advance. Suddenly there will be plows out like crazy, stripping every last bit of snow off the roads and the shoulders. Sparks flying from the blades on clean road surface. Then come the trucks covering all the road surfaces with salt/sand right through the storm. The freezing rain doesn't freeze, and the roads stay driveable.

Back roads can be an exception. The little village hospital I work at was all black ice throughout a couple weeks ago. I went from flying down the highway like a normal drive to slipping along at 5 mph with essentially no brakes until I got to the scary downhill, where I always imagine sliding through the T at the bottom of the hill and either sliding into the house across the street, or slipping past it and landing in the river. I went down that hill in neutral, riding the brake at about 1 mph. I was about 30-40 feet from the intersection when a big truck came along. I had sudden visions of my sliding into the street and hitting the car behind it, when the truck turned left. Turned out it was a sand truck and it threw fresh sand on the last 30 feet and right under my car. Phew...talk about guardian angels watching out for you...

[yellowcanine]

89. The pretreatment is not just regular salt. It is a special formulation.

Regular salt doesn't work so great for pre treatment under most conditions.

[notadmblnd]

32. What they might want to consider doing- is getting

some salt dispensers that hook up on backs of pickup trucks for when they have a storm. It would be less costly than buying salt trucks and could be pulled out on the rare occasion that they are needed.

[William769]

7. If you're at the library, I am sure you can find that information.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. .

[hrmjustin]

19. go away and get a life!

[sharp_stick]

12. LOL n/t

[In_The_Wind]

14. Or while using a google app when having coffee at Starbucks.

[Jazzgirl]

26. Ah yes! The Library!!!

That's a wonderful place to do....research.

On edit: Gee that was fast!!!

[William769]

28. We had her pegged from the first post.

We just like playing with with her.

[hrmjustin]

34. your a pig!

[William769]

38. She loves me.

She's not my type though.

[Warren DeMontague]

87. Once you've gone Lemurian, you'll never go back.

Or so I'm told.

[FSogol]

3. Please describe all of WI's fire ant containment plans.

[Whisp]

6. best answer.

Comments like what you responded to just remind me too much of a Rand Paul kind of mentality.

[dumbcat]

8. And hurricane Evacuation plans.

Why would taxpayers agree to find it?

[Lochloosa]

24. Didn't know they were lost.

[frazzled]

20. LOL ...

And while you're at it, please stop in for some good Wisconsin fried green tomatoes and peach cobbler.

[ScreamingMeemie]

40. Hey now, I grew up on Wisconsin fried green tomatoes.

[rlegro]

45. Perspective

I live in Wisconsin and every summer for decades in this and my previous back yard have grown bushels of fine Wisconsin peaches, many bigger than tennis balls. Peach cobbler, cherry cobbler, apple cobbler, blueberry cobbler and so on, all home grown. It's possible because peach hybrids were developed long ago to thrive here in Wisconsin's shorter (but not very less hot or sunny) summer. Also, we know how to grow, prepare and eat fried green tomatoes; even my grandmother knew that.

As for the South's salting issues in wintery weather, I sympathize with politicians who understandably don't want to budget for storms they have been taught not to expect. But maybe they'll start expecting them now, and respecting more frequent occurrences as climate change slaps us all. Finally, replying to something farther up-topic, it actually makes sense scientifically to begin applying salt and other de-icing compounds (which around my parts sometimes includes a mixture of -- believe it! -- beet juice) just BEFORE an ice storm, as that coats the pavement, reduces freezing some more and makes plowing easier.

It's the way we have worked out things here in good old (notwithstanding Scott Walker) Wisconsin.

But don't feel bad. I was visiting Seattle one winter years ago when an unusual storm (for those days) dropped about half an inch of snow downtown. The city pretty much came to a standstill, with many accidents. If you don't routinely drive on snow or ice, you aren't going to be that good at it, especially if your locality isn't able to plow or de-ice streets and roads very efficiently. Whereas, back in the late '70s when Milwaukee had to ask for the National Guard to help dig out buried cars and entire streets because of a record blizzard, some of us just grabbed our thermal long undies, slapped on our cross-country skis and sailed off to work, Nordic style.

[frazzled]

46. I don't feel bad—I don't live in Atlanta

I lived in Minnesota for 14 years, and got all my produce from a CSA across the way in Wisconsin. I know Wisconsin. I live in Chicago now, and go there frequently. I also lived in Buffalo, NY for six years (talk about snow: you want snow? try lake-effect snow in Buffalo), Boston for five ... I clearly know how to drive in snow and on ice. I've lived in snowy places my entire life.

But I do have a sensitivity to regional myopia and chauvinism. I feel badly for the chuckles Atlanta is getting for not being "prepared" for a snowstorm.

Did I pick the wrong foods for you? I was merely trying to say that the South is different from the North in many respects: frequent snowstorms being only one of them.

[sharp_stick]

22. Diesel Fuel and Matches

are the only acceptable response to those little buggers.

[mockmonkey]

50. Wisconsin has a plan for that

Scoop out the Fire Ants in their hills with a backhoe and use them for grit (NOT to be confused with grits) when the next snow storm hits!!!!

Just joking.

I'm so glad we don't have Fire Ants (or Black Widow Spiders or Crazy Ants and poisonous snakes are few and far between) here in Wisconsin.

I feel bad for anyone that has to drive on icy roads, snow covered is bad enough.

Blame Canada!

[ZombieHorde]

77. Icy roads aren't too bad, most of the time.

Drive in a lower gear, drive a little slower, accelerate slower, and have more room in between cars. If you car starts to turn one way against your will then steer in the other direction. If your car won't stop when you want it to, then pump the brakes, and look for a spot with some traction.

That is pretty much all there is to driving on icy roads.

[Baclava]

86. We have kids with ice skates on in the middle of the street playing hockey

what gear should I use going around them?

[ZombieHorde]

88. Your horn. nt

[MineralMan]

4. There are no salt trucks in Atlanta.

There are dump trucks that might be used, but there's no stockpile of salt, either.

I live in St. Paul, which has a mountain of salt stockpiled every winter.

Current conditions in Atlanta are very, very rare, so they aren't prepared. Being prepared would have a cost all out of proportion to the risk. You're right, though - they should have shut things down in advance. In a few days, everything will be back to normal there, though.

[themaguffin]

29. yes there are, but not enough and roads weren't treated and then roads were gridlocked

[sharp_stick]

5. The Interstates are the

responsibility of the State I guess not the city. Why the State didn't bother treating the roads is a perfectly good question, maybe they don't have any salt trucks. They knew ice was on it's way and with proper treatment there should have been a much lighter impact. Add to that the fact that everyone in town decided to get out of Dodge at exactly the same and worst possible time and you get what you see here.

I remember in Hartford a couple of years ago we had a blizzard and cars were being abandoned on the freeways because everyone tried to leave at exactly the same time. At least that was a real blizzard but they learned from it and stagger the early closings.

[michello]

15. I keep reading about how this is the

Mayor of Atlanta's fault. No it isn't. The streets of Atlanta were salted, the city of Atlanta is fine. It's metro Atlanta and the Highways that Are a mess, and that is not Mayor Reeds responsibility.

[kelliekat44]

27. Please stop giving us facts. It's too hard to take when we are placing blame...nt

[former9thward]

35. The Mayor said the problem was everyone went home at the same time.

A day after some three inches of snow paralyzed the country's ninth-largest city, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed blamed the resulting gridlock on decisions by schools, business and government to send people home at the same time.



http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/29/us/winter-weather/

[KentuckyWoman]

91. Well he's correct on that

At noon I-75 was speed limit plus. 15 minutes later the whole damn metro area was gridlock. And a couple inches of ice to 1 million cars dumping out into the interstates all at once.... mix in the inexperienced, a few dumbshits, and a few hyper agressive asses and this is what you'll get anywhere.

I had to drive in part of it and can say in that stretch the dumbshits made life miserable for everyone else.

[Tippy]

9. First they would.... ask what are salt trucks?....They put salt in shakers not trucks

not being a smart ass but most of the younger children have never seen snow let alone ice...but their are some adults in the mix they are the ones who dropped the ball..I know in 92 they had snow and Ice we were on our way to FA and got caught...not a pretty sight...we finally got a room and stayed put till it thawed.

[RobertEarl]

13. I've driven thru Atlanta, a lot

I am not surprised. That place is nuts on a normal day.

I checked the official weather forecast at 2 am Tuesday. No snow was forecasted for the region. Well, it started snowing a few hours later.

Surprise!!

[Swede Atlanta]

39. Actually we knew there was sleet and snow on its way as early as last Saturday....

I watched the local weather forecast Sunday and Monday....all the stations were saying we were going to have a sleet/snow event. The line of where the snow would fall kept creeping further north to include all of North Georgia and the forecast amounts were in flux. But everyone knew we would be having an event.

The city and state do have "spreader" trucks. They are probably appropriate in number given the frequency of these kinds of storms here. I can't see spending a lot more of taxpayer money to purchase, crew and maintain a huge fleet of equipment for relatively rare events.

The problem yesterday was schools were open. Schools began early dismissal as the first flakes began to fall. Businesses began to encourage employees to leave for home. Government agencies began to dismiss non-essential personnel. This all happened at the same time. So where you would normally have elementary school buses running from say 3:00 to 4:00, middle school from 3:30 to 4:30 and high school from 4:00 to 5:00 they were all running simultaneously. Some parents panicked and rushed to pick up their children at school. Employees who would normally have staggered commutes were all on the road at the same time.

The road conditions deteriorated rapidly with compacting wet snow and with rapidly dropping temperatures the roadways turned to ice. Some people were smart enough or able to work from home (like myself). But you had essentially everyone who would normally be on the roads spread out from 3:00 to 6:30 or 7:00 all on the roads at the same time.

Once the roads were completely standstill as in a parking lot, salt and sand trucks and snow plows couldn't even get on the interstates.

They should have been more aggressive with pre-treating overpasses and bridges and potentially engaging the on-ramp throttle lights early on. Schools should never have been opened but at a minimum they should have staggered releases. Businesses should have been encouraged to allow employees to tele-work if possible.

[RobertEarl]

42. Yep

Funny, just as I was reading the official forecast at 2 am, Tuesday morning, which was no snow, a spreader went past my house. So, the DoT here in the mountains was well aware, but the Atlanta school system was caught by surprise?

Days ago, there was a 5 day look into the future weather for the southeast and it said 2 inches of snow for Atlanta. 5 days ago. Somebody screwed up.

[TBF]

16. This was a weird storm -

(btw I grew up in Wisconsin too!)

I live in Houston now and we were supposed to get a couple of inches of snow potentially. Down here they just close down the city (literally, mayor says go home), schools and the corporations close). That's what happened yesterday morning and we all woke up to very cold air but no precip. It went to the north and hit Birmingham/Atlanta instead. And they were not expecting it - they were thinking a dusting at best. Last I heard trucks were headed down from Tennessee ...

I lived in Wisconsin about a third of my life, east coast another 1/3 and now I'm in Texas. Each region prepares differently. Wisconsin has buildings for salt/sand storage and it's budgeting far in advance, while Houston sends out guides on hurricane preparedness and we have evacuation zones here by the coast. On the east coast it's a mix depending upon where you live.

I know it looks funny from up north though - I went to a high school in the central part of the state and they would sometimes send the buses an hour or two late but they rarely closed. It pretty much had to be a blizzard - lol.

[HappyMe]

18. They should have called off school,

told people to stay off the roads. That Mayor dropped the ball on this big time.

[GoCubsGo]

21. This is highly abnormal weather for this region.

They don't buy salt or salt trucks, because the roads rarely ice up. As for Atlanta, half the problem there is not preparedness. It's unregulated, haphazard development, and a weak public transportation system, that results in horrible traffic, snow or no snow.

As for calling a snow day, everyone knew this was coming. Unless the governor calls some sort of legal emergency, one can't really keep the people off the roads. And, they sure as hell can't stop them from all going home at the same time, which is what happened in Atlanta, apparently.

[Fumesucker]

23. Something I haven't seen mentioned yet

Atlanta is the intersection point for three major interstates, primary shipping arteries that are jammed with 18 wheelers just passing through.

Those are the ones you see jackknifed all over the interstates, they are prohibited inside the perimeter highway and take it around the city, three major interstates worth of trucks on one highway, it makes for terrible traffic on I 285 the perimeter at the best of times.

[Phentex]

47. Exactly!

This was gridlock at its finest. The snow was secondary to that.

[lame54]

25. It snows once every few years

[Cracklin Charlie]

31. Your post made me turn on the weather channel

I was expecting to see some terrible piles of snow, with ice and wind, and pictures of cars getting stuck.

Imagine my surprise when the lady said Atlanta had 2.5 inches of show, and every one was wrecking and getting stuck on the roads, and were leaving work early. 2.5 inches???

Having grown up in the south, I am not about to diss these folks, because I know what it's like to have little to no means to remove any of this snow. And, I certainly don't want the stuff to show up here, in NW Missouri...but 2.5 inches???

The funniest part is seeing a live report from Jim Cantore, showing the streets behind him to be practically clear (melted) of snow, but there is NO traffic. No cars getting stuck, no people hurrying in the cold streets behind him, no traffic at all on the road. Hopefully, they all are home, or out playing in the snow. Looks like they'll be in the 70's by the weekend, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Stay safe out there, southerners!

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. It's the ice.

the cold came first.
the snow was predicted to land further south.
Ice pellets and snow hit, and promptly froze.

2010 we got over an inch of snow here, overnight.
No ice.

Yesterday we got ice pellets most of the day, then snow at night, and everything is covered in ice today.
It is the first time in the South I have seen icicles.

My back deck this am was very slippery, under the thin layer of snow is ice.
No way is this stuff drivable.

The areas that got so much stuck traffic also have hills, which are covered with frozen ice.

5 people are dead here in Ala. from those "2.5 inches".

[Cracklin Charlie]

58. Thank you.

It makes more sense now. That's why there are people who have been stranded for hours in their cars.

And honestly, I truly understand the nature of the problem, and that this is a very dangerous situation. I have lived through these kind of events in the south. Many years ago, while living in Conway, AR, I went outside one morning to drive to school. A light mist was falling, no big deal. I backed out the carport on the gravel driveway, hit the blacktop of the road, and slid all the way across, up into my neighbor's yard, and dang near killed her prized 100 year old crepe myrtle trees. There were cars crashed all over my neighborhood. It was a freezing mist that fell within about twenty minutes time. There were hundreds of cars piled up on interstate 40, and I personally knew many, many people who had wrecked that day, trying to get to school.

It's amazing how quickly that can happen. Stay safe!

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. Exactly what happened here.

Yesterday I heard what sounded like rain.
looked outside, could not see anything falling but the ground was rapidly being covered with what looked like snow.
Weird, I thought..you can see snow falling, usually.
Stepped outside and grabbed some, it was like finely powdered ice.
And it was falling in 24 degree air.
20 minutes of that stuff will make driving very dicey.

It is still covering everything, plus we had solid freeze last night, and now it is getting a bit slushy, but the temps are beginning to drop now, went from 32 to 30 pretty quickly, supposed to be 20 tonight.
So you see the problem...all that slushy is freezing.... again, not enough melt to move it off the roads.

The South is closed today and tomorrow, says the news.

for us safely indoors, it is pajama day!!!!!

[Arugula Latte]

36. A lot of us live in places where nobody knows how to function if it snows a bit.

[loyalsister]

49. I once saw cars floating down the strip in Vegas

For some reason, they didn't have a drainage system to handle a heavy rain.

[Arugula Latte]

57. Jeez, you'd think they'd at least take flash floods into consideration.

I mean, it's not unheard of in the desert ...

[loyalsister]

64. This was long before we started to really see the changes

It was a really severe storm. Casinos and hotels even lost power.

[Skittles]

85. here in Texas it happens EVERY YEAR

and every year they behave as if it is the FIRST TIME EVER

[joeglow3]

94. Exactly. The first snow storm of year is always a bitch

People forget how to drive in the stuff over the summer.

[Skittles]

95. they have gotten smarter here though

not letting the kids go to school, for example

[Arugula Latte]

96. Yep. In Portland (Ore.) we get a few inches of snow maybe every few years.

The whole city gets paralyzed.

[malaise]

37. Simple - they don't have a lot of snow storms

Geez!

[EC]

41. Well, that's kinda what I'm saying

THAT wasn't a snow storm. That was flurries. It should not have been that much of a problem that so many spent the night in their cars.


That said, I would not want to drive that freeway I was looking at on a good day. Here I really try to avoid the freeway in the snow, too many nuts on it, thinking they can drive the speed limit. So I always take side street. But 4 lanes is nuts.

[Brainstormy]

55. Thank you for stating the obvious

Not sure why others don't "get" this. BTW, I don't have a snow shovel or a sled, either.

[malaise]

74. My sis decided to stay home

because one of her adult kids (in another state) is a weather watcher just like me and told her to stay home

[Amonester]

43. A majority of them don't want big-gobermint, or even any gobermint at all...

Isn't what a majority of them vote for over and over again because they're catapulted these idiocies every election cycle?

[Hippo_Tron]

72. In Atlanta, no... they vote solidly Democratic in every election

In rural Georgia, it's a different story.

[BainsBane]

48. It costs money to have that stuff on hand

and when ice and snow are nearly non-existent, there is generally no need. Think for a minute about what WI has in terms of hurricane preparedness. I would assume nothing, whereas Georgia does. States prepare for the climate events that tend to impact their states. As the climate change becomes more extreme, what was once non-existent may become occasional and what was rare may become common.

[pnwmom]

63. Bingo. I read somewhere that 1/3 of Montreal's budget is for snow removal costs.

I'm sure that isn't true in Atlanta.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. They don't have enough equipment there.

They have very few snow plows, salt or sand trucks, etc. It's not that they didn't call them out in time; they just don't have them. Where they did mess up, I think, was having everybody head for home at the same time.

[liberal N proud]

52. You assume southern states have the same equipment that northern states do

Salt trucks/snow plows are not something they need very often in Georgia and Alabama. They don't even have a stockpile of salt as Wisconsin keeps.

This is a once in a 100 years event.

If this changes with climate change, they will have to learn how to deal with these events and procure the salt and salt trucks.

[markpkessinger]

69. Atlanta may not get that much snow . . .

. . . But ice storms are not all that uncommon there. You would think they would at least have some supply of salt and a few salt trucks.

Then again, this is the South, where people tend to not to want to pay for things like municipal services!

[Brainstormy]

53. We don't need 'em

Odds are this won't happen again for years. Sure, you guys live with this all the time. But I wouldn't trade our weather for yours, even given the chances of being the occasional national laughingstock, for anything.

[QC]

54. Tell us about your hurricane evacuation plans,

or at least give us some sense of how you prepare for a smaller storm, like a CAT 1 or CAT 2.

[Skittles]

81. they're probably right up there with the tornado plans

[QC]

83. Or the plague of locust plans.

[Skittles]

84. STOP IT QC

[ForgoTheConsequence]

56. Jesus Christ, it's not difficult to understand.

Would you guys in Wisconsin have a plan for an earthquake like California? I live in Iowa but all these dumbass Midwesterners who don't get that different regions have different infrastructures and preparedness for different situations is really aggravating. And every time it snows here there are numerous SUVs and trucks in the ditch.



It's not diffult to understand.

[NCTraveler]

59. I'm from Tampa and I can't believe what I'm seeing.

2.5 inches of snow. What the hell are these people doing getting in their cars in the first place. Once anything over 1" falls outside your front door you are suppose to dial 911. That is a serious emergency. You think this is gridlock, you should see the malls in Tampa when the temp drops below 50.

Driving around Atlanta is a mess. I spent three hours going around it just over a month ago. 7:30 in the morning and their was an accident taking up the shoulder. It put everything at a standstill. The roads around Atlanta are one step away from an emergency every day at rush hour.

I think the fact that you are from WI is exactly why you can't believe what you are seeing. This would be a walk in the park for you. In Atlanta it is very rare. Here in Tampa we absolutely freak out when it drops into the 30's. The country is large enough that it experiences a wide range of weather patterns. There are too many cars going around Atlanta, that is the problem. It isn't just for Atlanta commuters, it is a major travel corridor.

[pnwmom]

62. How much of your city budget goes to snow removal costs every year?

I bet it's substantial. I read that 1/3 of Montreal's budget went to snow removal.

I bet that very little is in the Atlanta budget, because it would be a huge waste of money to maintain a snow removal fleet that is hardly ever used.

[Taitertots]

71. "Huge waste of money" = Only thing that would have prevented this cluster fuck of epic proportions

How much do you think the last few days have cost them?

Selling your parachute cables while you're still in the plane, because it is a huge waste to have them just sitting around.

[pnwmom]

73. Our city shuts down for a few days when we have an unusual storm. It's cheaper

than having a snow removal budget for snow that hardly ever comes.

[Taitertots]

75. Is your city comparable to Atlanta (size, density...)?

[pnwmom]

76. I was talking about Seattle, which is bigger than Atlanta. And which has an additional problem --

all the hills make driving on slick streets especially dangerous.

As far as not getting work done . . . these days many people here are online at work and bring their laptops home. So it's not such a huge deal for many of us to get stuck at home for a couple days.

[Taitertots]

78. Seattle has snow removal equipment

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/Winter%20Weather%20Map%202013.pdf
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/winter_plan.htm


The city you selected is NOTHING like what is happening in Atlanta.

[pnwmom]

79. So does Atlanta. But neither has enough equipment for a major snowstorm.

Seattle, like Atlanta, has far less than comparable cities in the snow belt.

What will often happen is that only the main roads get plowed or sanded, and the bus schedule is cut way back. We don't have the equipment around here to keep the whole city open, nor should we. It would be a waste of money most years.

Atlanta has snow removal equipment, too. Just not enough for this particular storm.

And snow removal equipment isn't a whole lot of help on streets of ice, which is what Atlanta has been dealing with. We often get black ice here, too, and it's way worse than snow. After a snowstorm, it warms up, everything melts -- and then it all freezes. This is far more treacherous than the snowy winters I remember from New England, or even the snow-covered towns in the mountains to the east of us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

66. Let me tell you, if we had any of the white stuff

fall on downtown San Diego, and chiefly STICK, you would see the exact same thing.

How's your budget for swift water rescue though? Perhaps wild land fire fighting?

I don't begrudge them not having all the gear. What I begrudge them is (the guv mind you) blaming the NWS when the NWS gave timely warnings. I mean, the local "weathermen" got their info the same place all news media gets it, the NWS.

[NutmegYankee]

70. I know how you feel.

We got 2 inches from that same storm system in Southeast Conn. No warnings or advisories were issued by the NWS. I woke up, brushed the snow off the car, and drove to work. And I was only 5 minutes longer on a 25 minute (14 mile) commute.

[mstinamotorcity2]

80. You forgot where they are.

They are in a repug controlled state. It wouldn't matter if they had salt and trucks. The Governor is a republican. http://gov.georgia.gov/biography-2

They do not believe in Science. You would need to believe in Science to trust the Weather Service.

[B Calm]

82. All those Georgia Republicans wanting smaller government are all

crying their eyes out now.

[TheKentuckian]

90. When you are accustomed to little or none, a couple of inches may as well be a few feet.

It is hard to budget for conditions when you go years and decades with almost no need.

I'm not saying there should be no contingency plans, I'm saying your perspective may make you quick to roll the eyes when there are probably conditions you may not be well prepared for and if you are it is because on the whole you folks have much bigger thinkers governing than most in the Union.

Reason to take a little pride despite recent set backs but why spike the ball in someone's face? A little grace and compassion go a long way.

[lithiumbomb]

92. It's actually far more complex than "they should have called a snow day"

The last time we had this exact confluence of events was 1982. It's very difficult to be prepared for an event that happens every 1.5 generations. This article sums it up pretty well:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/atlanta-snow-storm-102839.html#.Uuna9PldXO9

Also, the gridlock started well before snow started sticking. We get snow all the time, we're actually not bad in the snow. Start our 6 hour long rush-hour all at once at 1pm and things are going to fail horribly regardless of the weather. The Atlanta Mayor has authority over a pretty small area. The city of Atlanta is a fraction of the Atlanta metro area, which is dozens of other governments. The morning after, my City of Atlanta roads are actually in pretty good shape...