They started out in a warmer part to the day and after the melt froze they were lost.
“They started out in a warmer part to the day and after the melt froze they were lost.”
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No, it has to be more then that. I spent my first 55 years in Memphis, where we had similar situations on numerous occasions. I learned how to drive on ice as a teen. It was great fun for us teenagers, as we drove to various city park lakes to go ice skating on the ponds.
The park commission set up barrels of burning wood to keep us warm.
It does appear that the longer an area goes without such weather, the harder it is for citizens to adapt.
Add to that the rapid growth in Atlanta’s population over a rather short period of time. There were obviously many that had never experienced driving in severe winter conditions.
This event happens in many other parts of the country too.
Understandably, southerners generally, don't know how to drive on ice or snow.