Snow and Ice paralyses the Southeastern U. S.

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I am one of the luckiest people in Birmingham, Alabama!! ! It only took me 2 and a half hours to get home Tuesday--and that's with a trip to the grocery store. I managed to get almost all the way home. Only had to walk one block.

Many people I know were trapped on the freeway and had to spend a night, or even 2 in their cars. Several of my co-workers were trapped at work. Joe90 would have lost her Sh!t!! !

Northerners were making snarky comments and poking fun at us, but really, storms like this happen so rarely that snow removal equipment and the training of people to use it is not fiscally important.

If I hadn't overslept Tuesday, I might have taken my son to preschool, which is on a twisty, hilly road out in the woods, I might have ended up drowned run off the road in the Cahaba River trying to fetch him home.

In Birmingham, we were only supposed to get a "dusting". And we'd had several false alarms about winter weather last year, so a lot of us were blasé about the whole thing.

We had an ice storm so bad a few years back it took out the cell towers and the land line phones.Took ot the whole power grid.I had no power for two weeks.When the weather man says ice here,there is a run at the store and food even sells out and even batteries.We get ice enough to take it seriously.FEMA had to come here for two different ice storms and clear the roads.The kids missed weeks of school because the back roads were too bad to drive on.
The local doctors office was flooded with broke arms from people slipping.You needed crampons to walk,most people put screws in the bottom of their shoes or you could not stand up.Even the birds were sliding on it at the feeders.We called it "the glacier."

This winter has been brutal here in Hoosierland. I don't wish it upon anyone. We have had polar temperatures, constant snow and ice, and now a propane shortage. Our propane supplier is limiting its customers to only 150 gallons of propane and will only fill a tank when it reaches 15% capacity. Indiana drivers are generally horrible on snow and ice. Some awful accidents have occured this winter which could have been prevented if drivers would simply quit speeding. What doesn't help is the abysmal snow removal here in the Hoosier state. So, Southerners, many of us in the North are very unprepared for brutal winters.

meanwhile, in Canada.....

The roads and highways up here make Americans go home in fear. Then winter comes.....

In the winter here all our vehicles are electric, we all plug them in to turn on the engine block heaters. It's a thing.

I drive on this crazy Canadian highway every two days, 110kmh (70mph) on ice. -35C ish average. 1 hour each way. In a big rear wheel drive diesel 1 ton van. 250hp, 450-ish ft-lbs of torque... I have taken precautions and prepared the vehicle for these conditions. 20 50LB bags of sand in a fame that holds them over the rear axle (tied down with 5 tiedown straps) and brand new studded winter tires.

Its not always covered in ice, but mostly it is, it always has car/trucks in the ditches

They always pass me going waaaay too faaast. I have been passed by people going triple digits beyond the posted speed limit, ON ICE!! !


Driving on ice is easy.

Drive for the conditions. This includes staying off the roads if you are rolling on 5 year old bald 22" all seasons... such a baller...

Stop frickin tailgating!! ! ZOMG! Sooo dangerous, and dumb.

Drive for your skill level. I cannot deal with driving in the city at sunset after a rain... everything is shiny and people turn their headlights on.. so I pull over. No shame... better then overloading behind the wheel. Heavy snow as its falling really screws me up too, so I stay off the highway.

Do not pin the gas on ice from a stop, you will go nowhere and you just glaze the ice for the next driver. Your automatic car will get better traction if you take off in second or even third gear on ice. Just Glide away from the stop. If you drive a manual, you already know this, good for you, here is a cookie.

If you do start to slip a little bit, DO NOT HIT THE BRAKES AND OVER CORRECT!! !! Just ease off the gas a bit and gently guide the vehicle to the traction. Traction might NOT be on the road surface, depends on the situation. YMMV

If you looked at any of the aftermath video or pics after the ATL storm, you will notice almost ALL of the vehicles are in the ditch backwards to the direction they were traveling in. This is because they ALL hit the brakes and over corrected when they started to lose traction. One or two really exciting spins later they are backwards into the ditch.

Take your time, be aware. Slow the hell down.

Let everyone else pass you, it is not a race. I do it all the time, I just let them whip right by me. I make a mental note of make, model and colour and when I see them backwards in the ditch later I toot "Shave and a haircut, two bits" on my horn as I roll by.

If the highway you are on has those ruts from the big trucks driving on them. Do not drive in the ruts. The ruts will upset the balance of the car even when dry. When wet and cold, ice tends to form in the bottom. making for treacherous driving. Just straddle the ruts. Keep all the wheels up out of the ruts as best as possible, more traction, better, safer.

Lane changes on ice. Do as few as possible. If you have to change lanes, do it as gradually as possible.

All common sense stuff.

Poor ATL, I mean, the powers that be really dropped the ball, but so did the commuters... People sleeping overnight in grocery stores? Chillin's staying overnight at school not once but two nights in a row? Over two inches of snow and ice?

.....2"?!?!?

The street out in front of my house has had at least 6 inches of snow/ice on it since late OCTOBER!! !! !! !

Better yet, just ignore everything I said before and take this next piece of advice, it might save your life...: If they ever forecast snow for ATL again, STAY HOME!! !

LOL

Back to T Shirt weather, three nights of 28 degrees, it was brutal!

This is all due to "Global Warming", as the world gets hotter and hotter you are going to feel colder and colder with more snow and ice worldwide, even in places like Egypt that has just seen its first snow in 114 years.

(At least that's what the men in the white coats tell us, and scientists would never decieve for money because all they are interested in is scientific truth).

Well, I had fun out in the snow! It almost NEVER snows around here, which is why I spent plenty of time outside. Sadly, there were those who were stuck out in the weather. (Atlanta being a prime example.) I wonder if something like that happened in my state? Probably not...