New thread about the weather Down South....

[graylocks]

rgG wrote:
Yep, it was mostly a bad forecast, as far as the Atlanta area was concerned.
They said most of the snow/ice was going to be south of the metro area, but we got hammered instead.

this part of the forecast is part of the reason my son though he'd be fine venturing to kennesaw. not.

[rgG]

graylocks wrote:
[quote=rgG]
Yep, it was mostly a bad forecast, as far as the Atlanta area was concerned.
They said most of the snow/ice was going to be south of the metro area, but we got hammered instead.

this part of the forecast is part of the reason my son though he'd be fine venturing to kennesaw. not.
Yep. That is why my husband went off to Roswell about 10:30 yesterday. He later regretted that, a lot.
At the time he left there was nothing happening and they were still not saying we would have much snow.

[DP]

One problem with forecasting is that the weather can change quickly. Here in MI, I was told by Weather Service forecasters that the most accurately they can predict is 6 hours in advance. They do long range forecasts because people want them to.
Even with the latest technologies, weather can simply just change too quickly.
Yes, I would walk too if I had a 9 minute commute. But some of these people may also have physical issues which precludes them from walking.
Y'all stay safe down there!

[rgG]

Also, as far as walking, it might be OK in the city, but out where we live, it would be next to impossible, without walking in the street, and of course, that would be a really bad idea.
There are no sidewalks out where we are and in a lot of places basically no shoulder either, so walking would be tough.

[Thrift Store Scott]

billb wrote:
they were forecasting the 2nd worst polar bubble of the year for days.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/winter-stor...met/nc3yx/

heck, even up north here we were hearing about the nasty Winter weather coming to areas down south that don't experience it for days.

Yep, we were well-warned that it was gonna be bad South of here. We just didn't know it was gonna be bad here.

For whatever reason, perhaps geography, Birmingham is almost always right on the line of snow/no snow in weather forecasts. Generally if it's okay outside here when you get up in the morning then it'll be okay the rest of the day here... except in extraordinary weather situations like yesterday, the "Perfect Storm" of 1993, and the ice storm of 1982.

I can't speak for Atlanta except to say that they usually get the same weather we do except that they get it a couple of hours later than we do, so it does seem reasonable that when conditions started to deteriorate in Birmingham officials in Atlanta should have taken that as a clear warning and acted accordingly.

As a side note, there are 12 abandoned cars on the street in front of my apartment building that couldn't make it up the hill (normally no-one parks on the street here), including a late-model Maserati Quattroporte. When someone is forced to leave their Maserati behind and walk, you KNOW it's serious!

[deckeda]

Just got an email from the Superintendent's office. They're monitoring 150 students stuck in 11 schools in the Cherokee County District. No doubt other school districts are in the same situation.

They based their decisions on the National Weather Service, who we now know didn't predict what happened.

No school Thursday, either. Even with melting snow and ice it'll be a mess out there with people trying to retrieve vehicles.

[rgG]

Governor Nathan Deal just said people should telecommute tomorrow and stay off the roads, so they can get them cleared up.

[Bill in NC]

Here any snow was supposed to start no earlier than mid-afternoon, and only be a dusting.

Instead some schools ended up feeding their students lunch @ 9am, right before putting them back on buses to go home as everyone watched it snow steadily throughout the day.

Got a couple of inches, not enough to plow, and nobody bothered to brine/salt any of the secondary roads (we'll be able to skate on most secondary roads tonight).

[mikebw]

Grateful11 wrote:
Atlanta I-285 yesterday.

or Maryland/DC/VA I-495 EVERYDAY.

[steve...]

I tuned in an Atlanta radio station in iTunes. It's kind of interesting to hear what people are going through.