PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
CavemanCharlie wrote:
a local weather forecaster from here in MN posted this on how he thinks we could avoid another Atlanta type snow storm problem
It's pretty bad when a professional shows he is as completely clueless about what really happened as that blog post.
I've not seen such an inaccurate description of what really happened with the weather as his.
Snow was not a problem in Atlanta.
What was a problem is that the falling snow ALL melted when it hit the roads, and turned into glaze ice.
Driving in Atlanta had absolutely nothing in common with driving in winter weather in Minnesota. People up north simply don't experience the type of ice storms we get along the freezing limit line.
The ground down here is very warm and we get ice, lots and lots of ice.
The only comparison I could make is if all the roads in MSP turned into hockey rinks over a couple hours.
Nothing but glazed ice. Before the traffic ground to a standstill - there was two to four inches of ice on overpasses and elevated roadways.
Now, yes, Atlanta had a lot of issues.
One of the biggest is the lack of an emergency control system like most northern cities have.
Neither the mayor of Atlanta, nor the governor, have to power to order the schools closed. Several dozen individual school districts make that decision on their own.
Neither can they close municipal offices or other government offices except for their individual workers.
Metro Atlanta is about the size of the entire state of CT.
There are over 40 different municipal, county and state governments - each of which makes their own decisions.
The mayor of Atlanta has no authority or funding for sanding freeways. That is the state highway department.
They deployed their limited sanding and anti-icing capability to the middle part of the state - where all the weather forecast predicted the worst icing.
Despite the false claims in the blog - no one predicted an ice storm to freeze-up metro Atlanta during the day. The storm arrived a few hours early.
At almost all the schools, the government offices, and the various companies - managers viewed the weather predictions - and expected a near normal day.
Then as the weather turned bad - almost everyone was sent home at the same time - doubling normal commuter traffic, with school traffic mixed in.
Freezing belt metro areas - like Atlanta, Dallas, etc - need to develop a comprehensive area wide plan for central control of such emergencies.
Though that will never happen, because the next Winter Weather Warning - will be a non-event.
It takes about a one or two degree change in actual temp - between the gridlock ice storm like Dallas/Fort Worth experienced in December and Atlanta just experienced - and just a cold rainy day. Even one or two degrees colder might have been better - giving the snow a chance to stick rather than melt immediately.
I've never seen a private forecasting company, or a TV weatherman, willing to bet on their predicted temps being exact - no more than two degrees off.
That's all it takes between major ice storm or cold rain.
So nobody is in charge of anything down there??? No wonder your disasters always turn out to be worse then they would have to be. Here in MN the governor can call school off for the entire state and he did once this year when it go to cold. He can also order the DOT to be out or, to come in. And if he orders them in he closes the roads. Or, the local sheriff can order the roads closed under the advice of the DOT. That also happed here a couple of weeks ago when the visibility got too bad. Many people were stranded so the local Red Cross and Salvation Army worked together to open up a building and put down cots and bring food and water for people. If you get caught driving on a closed road it's a big fine. If you get stuck in your car there is a charge to send a road grader out to rescue you.
I understand the lack of equipment because it's not often needed, and I understand the weather is unpredictable, but, it sounds from what your saying a lot of the problem is because there is no one in charge.
