01-29-2014, 03:57 PM
PeterB wrote:The big problem, at least here in Birmingham, is that local weather forecasters were only predicting a light dusting of snow here with accumulations much further South... right up until the serious snow hit 100 miles further North than expected. By that time kids were already at school and people were already at work, and all heck broke loose when authorities realized just how bad it was getting and everyone tried to get home at once during the heaviest part of the snowfall.
I wasn't blaming the lack of snow plows. I was more thinking of pre-planning of telling people to stay home, etc. But then, I don't live there, and I don't know exactly how this went down. If people were silly enough to venture out when they were told not to, then of course it's on them.
Also, the temperature was in the 50s Sunday and Monday so most of us expected what little snow fell to melt away from streets and even sidewalks as soon as it hit because the ground was warm. Instead, we got reminded of what we saw in 1982 and 1993: If you dump enough snow on warm ground, it'll cool it down real well and leave a nice thin layer of ice for the snow to build upon.