February 12th, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^
From the look of things being tweeted out right now, you should still be OK if you just bring a heavier jacket and some ice cleats. If you'll be near a beach or any place that might be prone to minor freezing, sand or kitty litter for some extra traction in the parking lot of the hotel.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:44 PM ^
I'd suggest purchasing snow shoes and maybe even a snowmobile.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
and people are kind of freaking out. (The Michigander in me is excited)
February 12th, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^
Here in NY they are talking about up to a foot of fresh snow by Friday, which given the paucity of salt available because everyone decided to carpet-bomb the sidewalks in December, it should be interesting. NYers seem to handle the idea of snow better, but they still don't quite understand how it works in reality.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
I'm getting pretty sick of these winter storms hitting the city. Some of these sidewalks are getting tough to navigate, with a lot of them having like a 6 inch wide clearing surrounded by piles of old snow that's been trampled into a bumpy ice sheet. Yesterday I was walking around and hit a few blocks that clearly have had no snow removal all winter; it made for some slow, gingerly, and certainly silly looking walks.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^
I like it just for the pure amusement of watching people step off the curb thinking they navigated the ice and snow only to watch their foot plow into a 3 inch deep puddle of standing water at each corner of every intersection.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
I really wish the city would crack down on owners of buildings who don't shovel. I know several buildings where the front is a sheet of ice.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
Like these?
February 12th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
There is a nice little trail around our whole building that has become filled with doop pee, food wrappers, and whatever else tends to accumulate during a snowy season. I figure by June it'll be gone.
February 12th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^
had a guy standing on the corner warning people of the ice that developed on an otherwise clear sidewalk. Now on a packed Acela headed to DC. (Running towards the trouble?) Not quite the last days of Saigon; Penn Station was civilized for once. (Perhaps due to the lack of a Ranger game that night.)
February 12th, 2014 at 3:08 PM ^
I got a picture of the blizzard that's brought dixie to its knees. Oh the humanity........
February 12th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
Not that Atlanta's recent freak out wasn't a completely avoidable, total over-reaction that made the city look like it was filled with idiots, but a friend passed along THIS article that was a pretty interesting incite into Atlanta's total melt down in the face of 2 inches of snow.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^
IIRC, Houston was gridlocked a few years ago with Hurricane evacuations. Some people wait too long to leave. And when you put too many people on the road, you have a recipe for disaster.
However, being from Chicago, which has been in the midst of a brutal winter, I'm a bit confused. We have close to 10 million people in the metropolitan area. This comprises a seven county area, with more than 200 suburbs surrounding the city proper. Even with the need for each different governing body to take care of snow removal, salting of roads, etc., they seem to manage. What is the difference between this area and Atlanta? Obviously, there are more resources to deal with snow and ice here (than in Atlanta.) Still, you would think that Atlanta could figure this out better then they did.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
I remember that Houston gridlock. People were abandoning their cars on the highway as they ran out of gas from idling for too long. What a mess.
I'm not sure why metro Atlanta is so bad at coordinating amongst all the different towns. Maybe because they just generally don't have to very often. Also, I don't know about Chicago, but I believe Atlanta is notorious for being really poorly laid out and having terrible traffic/transit even in good weather.
February 13th, 2014 at 3:34 PM ^
To be fair, Chicago has the infrastructure in place to accomodate winter weather, while Georgia does not.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^
Sissy ass southerners.
Toughen up.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^
Living here in the Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees (and foreign tech workers) aka Cary, we get along OK until some real Southerner (or aforementioned foreign tech worker) comes flying through an intersection or across the road into you. That said the roads have 2" on them in the past two hours even though they salted.
Unfortunately someone invented the internet and telecommuting, so I still have work to get done. Otherwise I'd hop in the Jeep, drive up to Boone, and go skiing. As it is the kids have dusted off sleds and will head out to the hills.
Beyond that, there are Olympics to watch with hot cocoa in hand while DMV figures out how to use those snow plowy things or the sun just melts it off over the weekend.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:29 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
Hey, I live in Cary also. Yep, it took 1 hour 20 minutes for my typical 20 minute commute today. The roads were slippery but not that terrible. Some drivers were doing 5-10 mph on relatively clear roads. People were terrified I guess.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^
We are burried deep down here in Carolina.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^
Someone check those cars for survivors!
February 12th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^
Georgia is supposed to go from 28 degrees to 70 in just a few days. That is some weird and wild stuff.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^
Northern Georgia looked slated for 2/3" of ice or more, that's an incredble amount even for areas with the means to take care of it up north.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^
Snow is one thing, ice is another. If Georgia gets close to an inch of ice, there will be serious power issues.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^
I'm worried about the ice myself. In the event we lose power due to ice/snow, I dont feel confident that our towns (Wake Forest) utility company has the resources to get us back up in running.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
I assume you mean a dusting of snow. Oh, southerners.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:55 PM ^
I think at least parts of this storm is more like inches of ice, rather than ices of snow, which is significantly worse, southerner or not.
I remember when I was living in Austin, there was a storm in which it hovered around freezing and just rained for like 2 days straight. I don't think I've ever seen ice coating that thick before. Plus, with no salt and long stretches of elevated roads, there was nothing to do about it other than just wait for it all to melt over the course of a couple of days.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
There was a Palm Sunday ice storm in Detroit in the late 70s or early 80s (I think). It made the whole city look like those Lake Michigan lighthouses during Polar Vortex I. There was a dazzling light show in the sky as transformers across the city blew up.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:39 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^
It sounds like people may not make the UNC vs Duke game, so the doors may be open for anyone willing to attend
February 12th, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^
gross
February 12th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^
Well, I've had more snow days this week from my job teaching at Mississippi State than I had in four years of high school in Northville. The ice storm predicted for this area was pretty much a no show. We are having some lovely sleet at the moment, though.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
I live in Durham and my wife works at UNC, it's taking her over three hours to get home from work today (we're both from Michigan, this is definitely about the area not having the infrastructure to deal with this weather). We talked about trying to make the game, but seems very unlikely (even though tickets are very very cheap).
February 12th, 2014 at 4:34 PM ^
I live in Durham and take classes at UNC, they shut down the University around noon today, and the bus getting out of campus that usually has 8 to 12 people was packed with people standing everywhere. Then my drive home from the mall that usually takes 5 to 10 minutes took about an hour.
My wife is a nurse and has to go to work tomorrow, I am hoping it clears up somewhat by tomorrow morning or her drive is going to be terrible.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:37 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 4:56 PM ^
Depsite the terrible conditions on the roads, and the fact that Chapel Hill has shut down all buses and encouraged fans to stay off the roads, the Duke/UNC basketball is still on for tonight. I guess the Duke team is going to take a bunch of snow plows to get from Durham to Chapel Hill. Apparently there are already fans abadoning their cars 2.5 miles from the arena and starting to walk.
February 12th, 2014 at 5:10 PM ^
It's like Road Warrior and Thunderdome.
February 12th, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^
Chicago gets snow every winter. They either have the equipment to deal with it or nobody goes anywhere for what, 3 months?
Snow is such an infrequent occurance down south, more of a once every few years event (even if we've had more than one storm this year) that it isn't economical to invest in much snow equipment. Plus, after a couple of days the weather returns to normal and the snow melts.
I moved down here from western PA 25 yeas ago. Maybe 5-7 snow events in N AL in that time? The worst was it stayed below freezing for about a week before the sun took care of it. And yes, I'm out of practice driving in the stuff, and no my car's not equipped for it. so like the locals I stay off the roads. Besides, the local response to precipitation (snow and rain) is drive faster!
February 12th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
Anything more than a quarter inch of ice is generally trouble...and it sounds like many places will be WELL above that mark, possibly up to ONE inch. An inch of ice means that power lines and large trees coming down is an inevitability, not just a probability.
February 12th, 2014 at 5:59 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^
We've also been getting hit pretty hard out here in the Silicon Valley area the past week. We've had a lot of clouds, and a couple of days ago it rained. This sucks, people are freaking out. We're all in this together, folks.
February 12th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
I'm in Raleigh and it is mayhem. I'm orignally from Michigan and was driving a 4wd Jeep and I was still sliding around like crazy, so these people down here don't stand a chance. No infrastructure for events like this.