OMG! I-85 in Durham looks like Atlanta last week:

[Are_grits_groceries]

@Ginger_Zee: OMG“@LizHortonABC11: @Ginger_Zee
I-85 is a MESS down here. Check out this cam in Durham. #NCSnow


This will not end well for some.

[calimary]

1. Yikes! My boys have taken I-85 while on tour, many times.

Be careful out there!

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. A man and his dawg or out of their car:

@Ginger_Zee

Stay in your car you fool. Get in another one if someone will let you. You better be very close to home.

[nobodyspecial]

10. No kidding!

If this happens to you, STAY IN YOUR CAR! Even if you get hit again, you have the protection of your vehicle.

[MineralMan]

3. Not a pretty sight.

[DURHAM D]

4. Durham schools were in until noon today. BIG MISTAKE

They created the same problem as Atlanta. I just talked to a friend who had to abandon her car and walk home. Someone gave her a ride for 5 miles and then she had to walk into her neighborhood the final 3. She had to leave her groceries in the car.

[theHandpuppet]

7. Unbelievable

What genius in Durham decided it was better for the kids to squeeze in three hours at school so all that midday traffic could be set upon the roads during a monster storm? I would have told TPTB to go fuck themselves and kept my kids at home.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. What genius in Durham decided ..........

someone with a VERY short learning curve, apparently.
Or who had no tv to watch Atlanta last week.

[Triana]

25. WTF. Don't they EVER learn? They've done this before..

..make the kids go to school when they KNOW a huge storm is coming, then send the parents out into this kind of shit to pick them up early when they close down early. It once took me FOUR HOURS to go ~5 miles home in RTP during a damned snowstorm -- because they did this same thing. Normally, it was a 5-10 minute drive. That day, it took FOUR HOURS. I left at 2:00, got home at 6:00 p.m.

A friend of mine just said it took her 1.5 hours to get to 9th St in Durham from Duke, then she had to abandon her car and walk the rest of the way home.

It's BAD out there.

I stayed my ass home today. No way was I going out in that. Now, just have to pray the electrical power Gods are not angry as Ma Nature seems to be.

[DURHAM D]

30. I was in Walgreen's early this am and

one of the clerks (a friend) told me she was getting off at 11:00am to pick up her kid at school. I shopped and when checking out she told me that management just told her she could not leave until 12 to get her kid. She works in north Durham and lives in south Durham so I am guessing she is in this mess. She was very worried and I can not imagine what it would be like to not be able to get to your kids.

I hope your friend was dressed for the walk. The rapid accumulation is really shocking.

I am getting calls from all over the country because cameras in the Triangle are on constant feed to CNN. I could have gone without the call from a sibling in Florida who thinks this is all very funny because they retired there to avoid the cold weather.

[Triana]

35. You and me both...

..I have relatives in California - one of whom mocked the idea of closing schools and workplaces down early due to impending snow (he has no CLUE) - and the other whom bragged that they don't get that kind of weather out there.

Very UNhelpful. I coulda done without that, too.

[marions ghost]

42. Invite them to NC in February

[reusrename]

28. At least the groceries will stay frozen.

I hope she has enough to eat at home, though.

[DURHAM D]

31. She does but she is really worried

about losing power, as is everyone.

[reusrename]

33. That ice storm about 5 years back had my cousin's power out for over a month.

In hindsight, they should have probably just left the state. I know that isn't practical as suggestion, but they really had a rough go of it. Hope she fares much better than they did.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

53. exact same crap that they did in ATL just two weeks ago

i guess maybe this sort of idiocy is contagious. hope everyone is ok... and is ready to overnight in their car or nearby Target...

sP

[supernova]

5. Southpoint Mall is open as a shelter

for anyone stuck near there on Fayetteville Road and I 40 and environs.

[marions ghost]

40. Good idea

altho that would be a really strange place to spend the night. Would get seriously old in a hurry.

All-night poker?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. Ugh. An announcer on WCPE just said it took him 40 minutes....

to get through 3 traffic lights in Rolesville to get to the station. Meanwhile, in Raleigh, I'd say we're at about 4" and it's coming down steadily.

[dsc]

11. It took me an hour to get from

Hodge Road in Knightdale to Rodgers Lane in Raleigh, a distance of maybe one mile and all of two lights. It was a total, utter, nightmare.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. Yikes. Glad you made it to where you were going...

and hope you don't have to venture back out!

[dsc]

21. yep got home and am staying in until tomorrow

[marions ghost]

41. Yikes--congratulations

[Lex]

8. Traffic *is* moving though.

Thank goodness for that.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. They are in the middle of this crap.

It is coming down hard. It is going to create even more problems as it builds up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Grits, I gotta tell you..

I keep rooting for that optimistic rabbit in your pic.

and..I copied and saved the black cat gif, opened into my browser so that I could easily enlarge it, and showed it to Mr. Dixie a few weeks ago.
Looks even bigger in large screen.....ploof!!!!
cracks me up every time.

[G_j]

12. video

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/321383/166/Heavy-snow-snarls-traffic-in-Charlotte

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Duke is having problems getting to UNC for their BB game.

http://on.si.com/1iPOCPU
I hope they aren't on the road yet.
They are morons if the go.

[KamaAina]

15. Forfeit!!

Longtime Dook hater from CT here.

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. lol

Always a rilvary. Through everything. I feel the same way about the U of South Carolina. Coots.

[notemason]

43. Grits, grits, grits

They were true Gamecocks this year; I mean, 4th in the nation!

[Lex]

32. Duke team sat around all day and didn't go ahead to Chapel Hill

and are now frightened of the weather.

[marions ghost]

36. Of course they are on the road

--and UNC cancelled the game because of that around 5:30. Why did they think people were going to be sensible about it?--it's the traditional annual showdown. I remember being young--you do stupid stuff.

[Politicub]

16. I feel sorry for those folks

1" of snow or 1/4" of ice doesn't sound like a lot, but it can be horrible if you're not prepared.

It's great that Atlanta learned from its own mistake, but we only were ready this time because of the experience from two weeks ago.

[struggle4progress]

24. We don't have many plows or much salting equipment around here

When they scrap the roads, they often leave a compacted layer and don't salt it, so we end up with a sheet of ice

Nobody has snow tires or chains

There's three inches on my porch rails now. I've lived in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, so I don't regard this weather as particularly tricky, but I generally stay home days like today because of the other drivers

Something like this happens only once every few years, and hardly anybody knows how to drive in it

If I go poking down the road, folk will tailgate me and toot, until I slow gently for a curve, at which point they'll go into a skid, and I'll hold my breath waiting to see if I get rammed from behind

[marions ghost]

38. It's more like 4-8 inches snow

accumulation now across central North Carolina.

It went from dry roads to treacherous in about 1-2 hours. Very fast buildup because it was already so cold.

[struggle4progress]

19. Here's the traffic cam page

http://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/RegionSummary.aspx?co=32

[Jesus Malverde]

20. Thanks S4P!..very neat..nt

[dembotoz]

26. i do not mind this use of cameras

[malaise]

23. Damn

Stay safe all

[bravenak]

27. Please stay safe!!!!

If you're at home stay home, don't try to be an ice road trucker!! Those people have special training.
Sending good vibes from north to south!!

[marions ghost]

39. Thanks for the laugh

About the last occupation on earth I could imagine myself doing is Ice Road Trucker. That comes right after "law enforcement officer."

I watched that show once when I was sick. They really are some tough individuals.

[BKH70041]

29. Maybe 3" in Asheville where I live

Here's hoping we don't get too much more.

[ecstatic]

34. If the storm had come early, that could have easily been Atlanta again

Everyone was out and about last night buying "last minute" supplies. Luckily, the weather didn't dip below freezing until 3 or 4am. I think this is a problem of people thinking they have time when they don't. Personally, I've learned my lesson. Sort of. I'm not really prepared but at least I'm home. I just hope my power stays on.

[struggle4progress]

37. Sleet this afternoon, light rain now. Precipitation expected through the evening, with low 25

Roads tomorrow may be ugly

[chillfactor]

44. I will never understand why people....

do not stay home in weather and road conditions like this...I grew up in Minnesota and when I had children of my own no way did I send my kids to school when we had weather like this...what is wrong with parents?

[Lex]

45. People were expected at work. Not all businesses just say "stay at home"

and so that's why people don't just stay home. They don't want to lose their jobs.

[etherealtruth]

48. ... and losing their job is a distinct possibility

I wish the governors would declare a state of emergency ... I believe (but it may be a mistaken belief) .... that folk CANNOT go in to work under that circumstance

[Jenoch]

46. Weather like that in North Carolina does not close schools in Minnesota.

We have enough trucks for ssalting/sanding and snow plowing.

[CTyankee]

47. nor in CT. We will have street plowing in the a.m.

I actually THROW handfuls of salt ice melter onto the snow/ice from my kitchen door onto my driveway, so I can get to my car without stepping on a sheet of ice when I am getting to my car. It works!

[Jenoch]

50. I guess we're fortunate to have an attached garage.

The contractor who built our house was an idiot. There was a downspout that emptied about 6 inces from our front sidewalk. We had to salt that a lot, but it was a PITA. last summer I finally moved the downspout to the lawn side of the sidewalk.

[Are_grits_groceries]

52. If it was ONE INCH of ice,

you would be closed.
That is a fact.

[Jenoch]

54. This weather activity was forecast.

The raods would would have been prepared ahead of time with a solution. Then road salt and ice would have been put down. Besides that, the temperature wod more than likely not stay warm enough for a kong enough oeriod of time to lay down that much ice.

Are you sure that much ice, and not a conbination of snow and ice combined to fall in Raleigh?

Edit to add: on October 31, 1991 there was an ice storm in the Twin Cities followed by a snoestorm that produced 33 inches of snow in about 36 hours and our freeways were not littered with cars like wgat happened in Atlanta and Raleigh.

[Glitterati]

49. OMG, folks it's been snowing in Georgia for 48 hours and STILL coming down

and it's headed for you in NC.

This is awful, just awful. I hate what I am seeing here.

[aquart]

51. Stay warm. Stay safe.

Our world has changed and we have plans to make.