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Atlanta is Closed

#81
The pictures make the snow look pretty pitiful - but pictures don't tell the whole story. It's difficult to see ice, and that's what makes the driving treacherous. Snow is an occasional feature over here, but we tend to have trucks spreading salt and grit (most of the time, not always) when freezing weather is forecast.

I spent a week in Atlanta in October, doing quite a lot of driving with the air con battling against the heat. I can appreciate how easily those roads could clog up, and how these temperatures are not what you guys are used to. Stay safe.
 
#82
I hope my previous "wow crazy" comment was not taken as a laughing at Southerners thing. I really empathize with you guys. Just so you know, these icy conditions are nothing special for the area where I live. While we have a LOT of snow/ice removal/prevention equipment, snow does not get plowed immediately and we get such an amount of snow that it tends to turn into ice no matter what the temperature is. Add to that the fact that we will get multiple snow storms and ice storms in the span of a week, it can sometimes take a couple of weeks before it gets a nice and clear again.

That being said, we are used to driving on snow and ice and real winter tires are mandatory here from December to March. And, I'm not talking about four season tires or off road tires. Real snow/ice tires are made of a very soft compound that does not harden in the extreme cold and stays soft and grips the ice in a much better way than chains and/or studs would.

So, what I am getting at is the fact that you have to be experienced and equipped for this kind of thing. I am definitely not laughing at you guys, and again, I do empathize.

On a lighter note, I'll have you know that my street gets extremely icy in winter since I live in a lower priority zone of the city. So, I have pulled many cars with NY, Philadelphia, Maine, and Massachusetts plates out of the snow bank.

Anyway, stay safe everyone.
 
#83
fhm555 said:
Don't know what happened in ATL but over here in Birmingham here's what happened.

About a half hour before the snow started to fall, ambient air temp was hovering around 45 degrees. When the snow started to fall the temp dropped to 18 degrees in about 15~20 minutes. The roads already warm from both air and use, instantly melted any snow that landed on them, then the super frigid air instantly turned it into ice. What we wound up with was a 2~3 inch sheet of very solid ice on the roads. I drove in it from around noon until almost 9PM before I gave up getting constantly turned around by blocked roads and wound up at a wally world less than 5 miles from my destination.

The forecast was for a light dusting for about a half hour before the (fast moving) front passed so there was no warning when everyone at work, school, etc., suddenly found they had about 10 minutes to get home before every road in the area was covered in a nice thick sheet of ice. That the temp never rose above 20 until around noon today just made it worse as ice melting from being run on just kept on refreezing.

I've driven all over America and as far north as Victoria BC and it was a serious challenge to keep my pickup truck on the road yesterday. Typical of this situation, in a 2wd with street tires, coming from a dead stop is the most difficult part and if you are on an upgrade it just gets harder, until you reach a point where you just can't overcome the combination of grade and wheelspin to get moving. You can move all day long going slow and steady but once you stop it could be your last until the ice goes away.

To be perfectly honest, considering we get this kind of weather once every 30 years or so, I was surprised it didn't go bad a lot sooner and didn't get any worse than it did. When you factor in the fact that everything in this town is on the side of a hill or smallish mountain, it just made a bad situation worse, but again, I was really surprised at how well most folks handled it, but it only takes one panicky driver to block a lane, then before you know it the road is blocked by cars that can't get moving on the ice. I was lucky in being able to keep my speed adjusted constantly so I never had to stop my forward motion, even if it was just above a crawl. I got caught a couple times but managed to work my offside tires on to the dirt or grass to get enough traction to get moving again. Had it not been for stalled vehicles I believe I'd have got home fine, but it just was not in the cards.
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almost got stuck in birmingham 16 years ago. the day we were supposed to head home to PA they got a dusting of snow and closed the highways. We had to explain to the state police that the weird looking thing on the front of our truck was a snow plow hook up and our truck had 4 wheel drive. the radioed ahead to let the other police know we were okay to be out there.
 
#84
fhm555 said:
I did a little unauthorized drifting last night to break the boredom when conditions allowed. :D
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48 F here in Houston right now, expected to be back up to 72 F tomorrow. Chances are the past few days just made the mosquitoes and red ants angrier than usual.


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#87
nshuman said:
...I have pulled many cars with NY, Philadelphia, Maine, and Massachusetts plates out of the snow bank.
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Philadelphia likes to believe they're the entire state of PA, but they're not ;-)

Good point on the tires. When I lived in the sunbelt, half the cars lived on 'high performance summer' tires and the other half had miniscule amounts of tread remaining.

I hate being stuck, so all our vehicles are AWD/4WD and shod (in the winter) with Nokian Hakkapellitta R's.

And yes, no matter how good our traction is, if someone ahead is stuck sideways, we're stuck too.
 
#91
bluesblaster said:
actually you can, you just have to do it slower to keep the vehicle under control, it helps to have front wheel drive as well, but most modern cars are anyway.
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I will say that we definitely disagree. If your car is perched at the top of a 10 degree sloping hill and the road is pure ice, your car is potentially a bobsled , do not attempt to "drive" down this hill. Simple physics VS stupid decisions. A lot of people make stupid decisions during ice storms and wind up with trashed vehicles or worse, trashed bodies.
 
#93
BboogieXVII said:
I will say that we definitely disagree. If your car is perched at the top of a 10 degree sloping hill and the road is pure ice, your car is potentially a bobsled , do not attempt to "drive" down this hill. Simple physics VS stupid decisions. A lot of people make stupid decisions during ice storms and wind up with trashed vehicles or worse, trashed bodies.
Click to expand...

I have driven on roads that were completly iced over going up and down hills of 10 degrees and probably more at a very cautious speed, maybe 20 mph without incident, if your going say 45 or 60 mph, well thats just asking for it. Tires will grip on ice if they have decent tread, I mean c'mon what do you think a zamboni rides around on. 35 or 45 degrees would be out of the question but 10 doesnt seem that extreme providing were talking a straight piece of road
 
#95
I lived in hotlanta for 8 years and most of this **** happens because no one in Atlanta will slow down!!!!!!!! rain, ice, snow, mean, slow the frell down people!!!!!
 
#96
Thats pretty much it in a nutshell, the unexperieced with this sort of weather dont seem to make the connection that you cant drive on the stuff the same way you do on dry pavement, it takes a different approach. Living in the northern part of the midwest most of my life its a skill you learn early, sometimes you learn the hard way. I saw two rollovers this morning on my way to work, most likely going too fast or someone ahead of them did something they werent expecting and not enough room to stop, so in the ditch they go.
 
#97
bluesblaster said:
Thats pretty much it in a nutshell, the unexperieced with this sort of weather dont seem to make the connection that you cant drive on the stuff the same way you do on dry pavement, it takes a different approach. Living in the northern part of the midwest most of my life its a skill you learn early, sometimes you learn the hard way. I saw two rollovers this morning on my way to work, most likely going too fast or someone ahead of them did something they werent expecting and not enough room to stop, so in the ditch they go.
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Ain't that the truth! :hmm:
 
#98
Came very close to having to sleep in the car Tuesday night. Made it to a nearby relative's house after being helped out by a state trooper. He offered a bargain: "I'll tell you how to get there the back way if you'll promise to get off the road there." I said "Yes, sir." His advice and directions were true and I kept my end of the bargain and got to sleep inside Tuesday night. A lot of people weren't so lucky.
I haven't seen road conditions like that since Thundersnow in 1993. At least the power stayed on unlike 1993.
 
#99
BboogieXVII said:
I will say that we definitely disagree. If your car is perched at the top of a 10 degree sloping hill and the road is pure ice, your car is potentially a bobsled , do not attempt to "drive" down this hill. Simple physics VS stupid decisions. A lot of people make stupid decisions during ice storms and wind up with trashed vehicles or worse, trashed bodies.
Click to expand...

bluesblaster said:
I have driven on roads that were completly iced over going up and down hills of 10 degrees and probably more at a very cautious speed, maybe 20 mph without incident, if your going say 45 or 60 mph, well thats just asking for it. Tires will grip on ice if they have decent tread, I mean c'mon what do you think a zamboni rides around on. 35 or 45 degrees would be out of the question but 10 doesnt seem that extreme providing were talking a straight piece of road
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If this hill was 10 degrees and not 20 he would have made it up or down no problem. Considering he made it that close with what im guessing are "normal" radial tires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0FjntOZV58

It gets real funny around the 2:20 mark.
 

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