Our fun winter storm yesterday. I'm not saying who messed up, but they decided to have school, even though the storm watch had turned into a storm warning the night before, and even though the surrounding counties cancelled school the night before. Our county gambled that they could get in a school day before the snow started. Then, when the flurries began about 10am nothing was announced. By 11:00am they said we'd dismiss an hour early. Then the bottom dropped out and by noon snow was sticking to the road and sidewalks. They announced another dismissal time, but by the time we had kids lined up for cars and buses it was 1:30 and there was a half-inch layer of ice on every road.
Note: Here in Georgia (not including the mountains) it usually takes a very specific set of conditions for snow to occur. First, you have to have a temperature between about 30-34 degrees f. Any warmer or colder and it usually won't work. Next, you have to have cold, dry air in place and moist, warm air slowly moving over it from the Gulf of Mexico. The moist air goes through sublimation and turns to snow, gently falling to the ground. Nine times out of ten it won't stick because the ground is in the 30s.
Yesterday was very rare in that it started snowing and the ground temperature was 25 degrees. Very rare. This meant that the snow was sticking from the very beginning. Usually we have several hours of snow until it accumulates enough to stick. This time is started sticking immediately.
Back to the School: We finally got most kids on buses and half the car riders on their way. But with a school of 750 kids, things didn't work out too well. Roads started closing, preventing parents from picking kids up in a timely manner and several buses had to turn around and bring the kids back to the school. Then, we had to get on the cell phones and call the parents one-by-one to get them picked up. It was about 4pm when all the kids were finally home.
Unfortunately, there are several people who live in my town (Peachtree City) that were still stuck in Atlanta this morning. Most of them left work between noon and 4pm yesterday. Such a bummer.
These pics are from the EOS-M, and the last pictures it will take while in my ownership. I'm boxing it up today and mailing it tomorrow. Shooting snow is difficult. I rolled down my window occasionally on my hour-long drive home (6 miles) from work to take a photo. I don't have experience with snow photography, so the pics are a lot of gray and funky contrast.
This is one of the many school buses that were stranded. For some reason the road conditions were worse for heavier vehicles. Trucks and buses were sliding more than cars. But cars were sliding off the road too. I slid a few feet several times on my way home (one time as a result of me taking a picture and not paying attention. I know, dumb. Usually I'm a very safe driver).
The clubhouse and entrance to my neighborhood. This was about five hours after the snow started. It's extremely rare to have this much buildup within a few hours. The roads were all ice with no exposed asphalt, just a gray color from a half-inch sheet of ice and an inch or two of snow.
I want a Jeep. I love Jeeps. I've never owned one but will someday. This week a Jeep is the best thing going. I also heard a report on NPR talking about cars one day. The announcer said, "Cars are often an indicator of social class, but there's one vehicle that transcends all classes and is loved by rich and poor alike." Before he could say it, I said out loud: "Jeep." Sure enough, the show was about Jeeps.
And finally I arrived home. Three inches of accumulation on the ground five hours after the storm began. It ended about five hours later. I'm glad I was home safe. I woke up this morning at 9:30 am after a good night's sleep. A few of my neighbors still hadn't made it home yet from Atlanta. Many spent the entire night in their cars, stuck on various interstates. Some kids in buses stayed the night on buses. What a mess.
The reason we make such a fuss of snow down here is that it's very rare. We sometimes go years without snow, and usually it's a one-day thing that doesn't stick. About once every three to four years we get what happened yesterday, but usually we are prepared and everything shuts down the day before. This one was much stronger than initially thought. The state (apart from the mountains) has very little equipment to work on roads. There's no reason to invest in the equipment needed for snow management. It's much better to just shut down for a couple days.
