Polar Vortex wtf???

[grapico]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Don't make me drive up there and kick your Jake Bugg lovin' ass

[Zip City]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Don't make me drive up there and kick your Jake Bugg lovin' ass

You can't hurt me from the ditch you'll be in within the first 2 miles

[PonyGirl]

Remember to drive slowly, brake gradually and keep your distance from other cars...

I will also pass on these words of wisdom bestowed upon me by a kind and smart country tow truck driver after he pulled me from the ditch: "If some bastard in an all wheel drive 4x4 tries to intimidate you to go faster, you stay at a pace you are comfortable with and make that rude motherfucker wait... Don't let anyone push you back in the ditch."

Also eat lots of poutine. It was invented for this weather.

[Zip City]

[Smitty]

We ended up with 4". The forecast called for a light dusting.

[Cole Younger]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Well I'm from Georgia and I went to work today,

Just how big a boy are you?

[Zip City]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Well I'm from Georgia and I went to work today,

Just how big a boy are you?

I've been going to work in sub-zero temps for two weeks and I'm not crying about it

[Smitty]

Why the South Fell Apart in the Snow

I get it. Two inches of snow shuts down major metropolitan areas (not just Atlanta). It's funny! It's funny because when it snows two inches where you live, it's nothing, you might as well be in West Palm Beach. Southerners lose their shit, though! Hilarious.

It's fine if that's how you want to process what happened yesterday and today. But if you do, you are wrong, and you are an asshole.

[Zip City]

If people are making fun of the lack of infrastructure, then they are idiots. Or assholes. Or both.

But for northerners, four inches of snow isn't that much to deal with, even unplowed. If we get four inches in Columbus, the roads definitely are NOT salted and plowed before I wake up for work. The highways may be, even some of the main city streets. But side roads and neighborhoods aren't. Miraculously, we can navigate our way through this without turning the roads into bumper cars.

So to quote your article, "If you can't swim, stay out of the pool". That means don't drive in he snow if you can't drive in the snow

/assholery

[beantownbubba]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Well I'm from Georgia and I went to work today,

Just how big a boy are you?

I've been going to work in sub-zero temps for two weeks and I'm not crying about it

Don't you live in Ohio? You've got a strange, oddly intolerant view of the world.

That was written before your last post, but I'm posting it anyway because, well, you've got a strange, oddly intolerant view of the world.

[Zip City]

It started with some Cortez-patented ball busting (do I owe him royalties now, too?), but then some southern panties got bunched. If I cried about it being hot and muggy, I'd expect our southern friends would remind me that they live with those conditions half the year and for me to toughen up a bit

[Cole Younger]

I thought you guys were all southern badasses down in 'Bama. Sack up and go to school, kids

Well I'm from Georgia and I went to work today,

Just how big a boy are you?

I've been going to work in sub-zero temps for two weeks and I'm not crying about it

I work outside and whatever the weather is I deal with it. You work inside don't you? What difference would it make what the weather is like?

I doubt your candy ass could make it to lunch time on my job if it was sunny and in the 70s.

[Zip City]

I love the heat , actually. The cold can suck my balls. I'd move to hotter climes in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. Ohio winters can pound sand

[Iowan]

I'm a little torn. I see, and somewhat agree with Zip's point that while they don't have the infrastructure to deal with snow, the amount of snow they had was barely enough to even trigger Northern snow removal infrastructure. Point being: the four inches of snow that triggered Armageddon in Birmingham would cause mild delays and a couple of fender benders in Minneapolis. That is true. In theory, they didn't need to have that four inches removed to safely navigate those roads.

However, that's coming from someone who has lived in a place where extreme weather happens constantly for their entire life. We are used to this. Repetition has built competency, and would in the south. If a baby earthquake hit Iowa, people would totally lose their shit too because we never fucking deal with it. If the same earthquake hit Cali, it wouldn't make much of a hassle. If I travel on a crowded highway moving less than the speed limit, I become enraged, because I never deal with it.

You can't expect people to just instantly and competently react to something they don't deal with. While the idea of mass destruction being caused by 4 inches of snow seems comical at face value, like being terrified of puppies, it caused a very real and very harsh problem for a lot of people, and reveling in that is totally dickish - and par for the course for ol' Zipper.

[Iowan]

Well I'm from Georgia and I went to work today,

Just how big a boy are you?

I've been going to work in sub-zero temps for two weeks and I'm not crying about it

I work outside and whatever the weather is I deal with it. You work inside don't you? What difference would it make what the weather is like?

I doubt your candy ass could make it to lunch time on my job if it was sunny and in the 70s.

Ohio is about as close to Alabama as it is to me, but 70 degrees ain't exactly hot here. Most of July and August is north of 90 and we usually get a few triple digit days.

[Smitty]

When I heard about a heatwave in Milwaukee (where a huge portion of my family lives) a few years back, I didn't make jokes about it, despite the fact the temperatures were normal for us for months at a time; I understood that folks not accustomed to it might not be as prepared as we are down here and felt bad for 'em. Cuz I'm not a dick, maybe, I dunno.
If I do seem a lil overly sensitive, part of it's just an inherent southern defense mechanism against smug fucking yankees. The other part is being in the thick of it, I got a lil more perspective than you, Zip.
Ask TC if his opinion of Southerners & snow changed since he's been down here.

[Zip City]

Smug northerner? Yeah, I probably am sometimes. But smugness isn't contained to the cooler weather states ( see the college football thread for starters)

[PonyGirl]

I'm just going to weigh in here as a Canadian. I've been walking to and from work, for 40 minutes each way and riding my horse pretty regularly and it's been pretty chilly up here. I am pretty tough, but that's not really the point. I have the gear for it. I have the down coat, cashmere sweaters, wool socks, hats, mitts, scarves, warm boots, the whole kit for regular life, where you want to be warm AND cute and a whole other kit for equestrian life, where you wanna be able to train and stay warm. My horses have snow gear and spikes on their shoes so they won't slip. All that stuff is so expensive. SO expensive. If I had to deal with a snow storm, for a few days, every five years, I wouldn't have any of it, because why would I want to spend thousands of dollars on stuff I don't really need the vast majority of the time? If that were the case, I'd be struggling too.

And the driving is scary. I find it takes me a while to get used to the driving every year, especially if there's a snow storm before I have time to put my snow tires on. Black ice is treacherous for everyone. I don't think condemning people for not driving if they don't have to is very smart. If you aren't used to driving in winter conditions and you don't have to, don't. And if you do, be careful.

[Cole Younger]

I mentioned70 degrees because I figured that was pretty ideal by anyone's standards. I can't tell if you are being genuinely obtuse or if it is just a clever way of messing with me back.

[Iowan]

I mentioned70 degrees because I figured that was pretty ideal by anyone's standards. I can't tell if you are being genuinely obtuse or if it is just a clever way of messing with me back.

Giving you shit.

[Smitty]

Smug northerner? Yeah, I probably am sometimes. But smugness isn't contained to the cooler weather states ( see the college football thread for starters)

I actually had folks like Al Roker in mind when I made that comment...

[Cole Younger]

I mentioned70 degrees because I figured that was pretty ideal by anyone's standards. I can't tell if you are being genuinely obtuse or if it is just a clever way of messing with me back.

Giving you shit.

Well it was dang original. I like that.

[grapico]

see the college football thread for starters

Smuggles,
We are not being smug about college football, just factual.

[Slipkid42]

If I travel on a crowded highway moving less than the speed limit, I become enraged, because I never deal with it.

I can tell you that I deal with it all the time (D.C. worst traffic in country), and I still become enraged every time.

I hate fuckin' snow. It's only pretty in postcards. I also hate hot muggy weather. I'm a tweener. An air-conditioned gypsy.

[Cole Younger]

On a serious note, when I hear Yankees talk about how much they love summer and hot weather I think, "not the kind we have you don't."

Barring so e bizarre twist of fate ill never leave Georgia but I HATE the summers down here.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Ask TC if his opinion of Southerners & snow changed since he's been down here.

It didn't take moving south to figure out the whole "winter storm cripples city" thing, all it took was the ice storm of 2011 which affected so many folks travels to Homecoming that year. Yeah, there were some funny bits like shop owners shoveling sidewalks with coal shovels and brooms, but what I saw on the roads and what Lurleen had to deal with driving though Atlanta in the meat of it that year wasn't funny at all, so I did a little research. One comparison I made was between the Atlanta Metro area and the Milwaukee Metro area as those two areas comp pretty nicely in terms of population. Milwaukee has about 100,000 more people in the city proper than Atlanta but Milwaukee's suburbs are less populated making both metros roughly 650,000. In 2011 Milwaukee had roughly 187 snow plows in the city plus another 60 in the burbs. Atlanta had 4, with another 6 in the burbs. So do that math and you get 247 to 10. Now that makes sense when you consider how many winter storms hit Milwaukee every year and that Atlanta averages one ever 3-5 year (that number has increased recently but more on that in a second). Also Atlanta buys a minuscule amount of road salt whereas Milwaukee spends a small fortune on it (they've since switched primarily to cheese brine which is nearly free having only to pay for pickup and delivery but that's a different story) Bottom line if three inches of snow hit Atlanta and temperatures start to fall, they are basically fucked. Even worse if it's its just ice and its get colder. The mixture of the two is the most deadly and that's what hit yesterday. Birmingham has even a worse situation getting much fewer of these events and almost resources towards them. This situation apparently affected a guitarist/songwriter Birmingham native of all of our acquaintance yesterday as well so I'm pretty sure he's not laughing. We were in Little Rock in December and it was the same situation, although they being further north were a little more prepared and salted the main roads. Bottom line the south is not equipped for this. Those of you in the north think on this a second, think about how people drive in the first winter storm of the year, every damned year. Bad huh? Now think about it if it happened once every FIVE years. Yeah, I think you get the picture. No resources and people don't see enough of it to learn how to deal properly. Explains yesterday pretty well huh?

Here's the one criticism I have about the Atlanta situation, well ok more than one. First they've had 5 of these in the last 10 years with the frequency on the rise. They should probably be a little better prepared. Road closure plans, maybe a few more trucks for the interstates, etc. Still that's nitpicking and I understand there are other factors to consider. My second complaint I don't get though and that's the blaming. Atlanta's mayor blamed the Governor, the Governor blamed local school boards for not letting kids go earlier and I even heard blaming of the meteorologists. Folks, it's a storm, no one is equiped and the last thing that people who elected you want is finger pointing at each other and, in the case of the schools, essentially blaming the citizens. Yeah, fuck that. They should have had a united front, explained their situation and explained that they would study some other plans going forward. Would that have been hard? What happened happened. Blame later. Anyway that's my primary beef and it's solely on the ATL Metro area. Birmingham's situation was different.

Anyway if you have any doubt that winter storms fuck shit up and catch up with the unprepared in the north, consult The Google and search Michael Bilandic-Chicago. Cost him his job. Winter sucks in terms of transportation of a great many people, when you get it all the time and gain knowledge about it every year and devote resources to it, it gets easier. If it's twice in 20 years, not so much. Ok I'm done.

[Markalanbishop]

Most people don't want to take the next step when deciding who to blame for large portions of the South being shut down by a freak (for us) winter storm, lest they end up with the conclusion reached by that great philosopher, Ray Wylie Hubbard: "God throws us down in hell for all our sins; burning in a fire and it never ends; The decision is made at the highest level; Seems God outsources his work to the devil; Like he's an employee on the vice squad; Appears like the devil is working for God; Oh, I can't believe I said that."

[brstigerfan]

Ask TC if his opinion of Southerners & snow changed since he's been down here.

It didn't take moving south to figure out the whole "winter storm cripples city" thing, all it took was the ice storm of 2011 which affected so many folks travels to Homecoming that year. Yeah, there were some funny bits like shop owners shoveling sidewalks with coal shovels and brooms, but what I saw on the roads and what Lurleen had to deal with driving though Atlanta in the meat of it that year wasn't funny at all, so I did a little research. One comparison I made was between the Atlanta Metro area and the Milwaukee Metro area as those two areas comp pretty nicely in terms of population. Milwaukee has about 100,000 more people in the city proper than Atlanta but Milwaukee's suburbs are less populated making both metros roughly 650,000. In 2011 Milwaukee had roughly 187 snow plows in the city plus another 60 in the burbs. Atlanta had 4, with another 6 in the burbs. So do that math and you get 247 to 10. Now that makes sense when you consider how many winter storms hit Milwaukee every year and that Atlanta averages one ever 3-5 year (that number has increased recently but more on that in a second). Also Atlanta buys a minuscule amount of road salt whereas Milwaukee spends a small fortune on it (they've since switched primarily to cheese brine which is nearly free having only to pay for pickup and delivery but that's a different story) Bottom line if three inches of snow hit Atlanta and temperatures start to fall, they are basically fucked. Even worse if it's its just ice and its get colder. The mixture of the two is the most deadly and that's what hit yesterday. Birmingham has even a worse situation getting much fewer of these events and almost resources towards them. This situation apparently affected a guitarist/songwriter Birmingham native of all of our acquaintance yesterday as well so I'm pretty sure he's not laughing. We were in Little Rock in December and it was the same situation, although they being further north were a little more prepared and salted the main roads. Bottom line the south is not equipped for this. Those of you in the north think on this a second, think about how people drive in the first winter storm of the year, every damned year. Bad huh? Now think about it if it happened once every FIVE years. Yeah, I think you get the picture. No resources and people don't see enough of it to learn how to deal properly. Explains yesterday pretty well huh?

Here's the one criticism I have about the Atlanta situation, well ok more than one. First they've had 5 of these in the last 10 years with the frequency on the rise. They should probably be a little better prepared. Road closure plans, maybe a few more trucks for the interstates, etc. Still that's nitpicking and I understand there are other factors to consider. My second complaint I don't get though and that's the blaming. Atlanta's mayor blamed the Governor, the Governor blamed local school boards for not letting kids go earlier and I even heard blaming of the meteorologists. Folks, it's a storm, no one is equiped and the last thing that people who elected you want is finger pointing at each other and, in the case of the schools, essentially blaming the citizens. Yeah, fuck that. They should have had a united front, explained their situation and explained that they would study some other plans going forward. Would that have been hard? What happened happened. Blame later. Anyway that's my primary beef and it's solely on the ATL Metro area. Birmingham's situation was different.

Anyway if you have any doubt that winter storms fuck shit up and catch up with the unprepared in the north, consult The Google and search Michael Bilandic-Chicago. Cost him his job. Winter sucks in terms of transportation of a great many people, when you get it all the time and gain knowledge about it every year and devote resources to it, it gets easier. If it's twice in 20 years, not so much. Ok I'm done.

Well said all around. The ATL government failed its citizens yesterday.
My state (South Carolina) catches hell, from it's own residents, sometimes for overreacting to these things (the state essentially has been shut down since yesterday morning) but I think Atlanta shows it is better to just err on the side of caution. We are just are not prepared for these things.

[Iowan]

TC is right about how Northerners always drive like idiots for the first snowfall of the year. The first snow always causes a ton of delays and fenderbenders. People just get out of shape for winter driving.

[Zip City]

TC is right about how Northerners always drive like idiots for the first snowfall of the year. The first snow always causes a ton of delays and fenderbenders. People just get out of shape for winter driving.

Shit, people here drive like idiots when it RAINS. I feel like every non-dry sunny day is like the first time for these people