News: The real story you're not hearing about the Atlanta Ice Down

CainTV.com ^ | January 30, 2014 | Herman Cain

[Kaslin]

Bad storm. Terrific people.

The whole country is talking about the Atlanta Ice Down, and I know you've all heard the stories of people being stuck in traffic for 11 hours. The way the story is being told, it must sound like those of us in the Southeast have no idea what to do when a few snowflakes start coming down.

But the main national stories didn’t tell the whole story about what happened.

The problem was not that two or three inches of snow fell. Believe it or not, southerners can handle driving in two or three inches of snow. The problem was that, as the snow fell, it was melting upon hitting the ground and then freezing. Throughout the day, that was turning road surfaces into ice rinks.

[KC Burke]

In what way. I have been on the road a hundred times where good traffic movement after partial plowing and salt truck passage kept the road debris stirred up and the interstate was clear when a lightly traveled secondary highway that was plowed froze and didn’t clear as fast.

Good traffic movement helps — that is unless they are all stalled by congestion and then the road freezes as they sit there.

[tet68]

It would be enen more confusing if it was a Ford
Model A with three or four pedals and a spark
advance on the column.

[Hoodat]

For a Democrat, Reed has actually been a pretty good mayor, especially considering the corruption of the six or so mayors preceding him. But you are right, the bias of the press has been on full display here. In a press conference where the mayor and governor have both given statements, the press only went after the governor. It got really interesting when the governor reminded them of the forecasts of their own weather bureaus. And that's when the lying began. The press pointed out how their noon forecasts were accurate (while ignoring how wrong every other forecast they gave was).

I'm not a fan of our governor at all, but I will say that he came out looking better after all of this than he did going in. And he has the arrogance of the press to thank for it.

[Billthedrill]

And so right there, on the side of the road in the middle of the storm, the expectant father and the officer delivered a newborn baby. It even turned out it was the officer's birthday!

Not to hijack the thread, but that's cool. BTT

[Ole Okie]

I got out in this mess, but not on 75 or 85.

Where I was driving the snow was being packed down by traffic into the usual snow/ice mass. It wasn’t bad driving so long as you could leave about three car lengths space in front of you, so long as you had a feel for just how slick the road was at danger points, and so long as someone didn’t decide to turn their emergency flashers on and drive 9 miles an hour when 30 would have been a good speed to handle the hills.

And yes, you could see the little gray head peeping above the dashboard.

[Will88]

Georgia ice storms are amazing.

We have those in Alabama (freezing rain), also, every few years. They will bring down large limbs off trees and break power lines. It is amazing to look at a pine tree and every long needle will be perfectly coated in ice.

But this wasn't an ice storm in most of the South, but a snowstorm (as much as some don't want to believe it) where some of the first snow melted on the highways, then refroze into a sheet of ice and then was covered by more packed snow.

But now, after about 48 hours, it's all gone except in maybe a few very shaded areas and maybe further north.

[Hoodat]

Black ice is a killer.

Caucasian ice ain't no joke either.

[PA Engineer]

Don't be fooled, people. There is no suchathing as an all-weather tire.

I agree. There are no All-Season Tires.

We keep a set (4) of studded snow tires (on rims) for each car (all wheel drive). We also have summer tires that we put on from April until the end of October. My house is situated on a ridge in Western PA above a valley where the main road is. The driveway is over 350 feet long and I can attest to the difference in tire types from experience. Studded tires will get us up to our house in black ice conditions.

Heavy sleet accumulation is a different story.

[huldah1776]

me, too. Lived outside Chicago and in Vt, from eastern Pa and love driving in the snow. This is ice. It is still ice. Not as bad as the 6 inches of ice on the back streets of Springfield MO when I first moved there though. It was like driving a trolly down the tracks. Pretty weird. The nice part of it? The wonderful silence of no traffic. Saw snowbirds today too. Missed them.

[Resettozero]

I happen to think that God showed up in this...

One reason I find FR comments less and less useful as each year goes by is...
It took more than 70 posts on this thread before you stated the obvious truth of the matter. Fewer and fewer FReepers who post anymore seem to think firstly that God is always in control of such matters and has authority over what is permitted to happen. And, yes, He is always good, regardless what we may think of what He does.

[Hoodat]

Not once in the article was the word "salt" mentioned and only once in the comments where a guy said they didn't need salt trucks.

What's a 'salt truck'?

[PA Engineer]

Little on this thread seems to include much wisdom and/or understanding of how any travel situation quickly can snowball out of control. Perhaps it's time some FReepers give another (cursory) read to "One Second After"?

That is exactly what I was thinking.

[sarasmom]

“Snow that falls on untreated roads usually turns to ice. Herman made it sound like its unusual for snow to turn to ice.”

It is very unusual, here in the deep south, to see snow, much less ice.

Flirting with temperatures in the low 30s for a few hours at night, is usually a late February severe cold snap oddity. Freeze warnings go out, and people everywhere drape bed sheets over their plants and bushes.
Farmers desperately light smudge pots to save crops and groves.It lasts a few hours before the sun burns off what you might consider a brisk fall “frost”.

Most people of average means will all elect to have their mechanic bypass the heater coil on their vehicles, to salvage their AC systems.

And I encourage you to look at the number of 18 wheelers on the pictures of the clogged interstate systems and roads in the south.

Bet you can't drive on sandy beaches during a rainstorm...LOL!

[Hoodat]

I’m going into the fur-lined bikini business.

[Ole Okie]

Hoodat, may I add my “Amen” to what you wrote about the kindness shown by a lot of Atlantans to stranded motorists.
You have certainly pointed to the real stories.

[Cyber Liberty]

Gonna be 80 tomorrow. Aggh.

[exit82]

Wow—a real live snow bunny in their natural habitat.

Outstanding find.

[MortMan]

Atlanta doesn’t need salt trucks - until they need them. When it snows every 10 or more years in a place, buying and maintaining such capabilities is a big waste of taxpayer money.

But sometimes it bites a little...

[Kaslin]

They did take care of themselves

[PA Engineer]

Not as bad as the 6 inches of ice on the back streets of Springfield MO when I first moved there though.

Was that 1990 or there about? My wife was finishing her public health payback at the US Federal Medical Center. We were living in Willard when the sleet started. Six inches later and life was different for a month.