Winter storm

[Ford Blue blood]

Hope all of you that are covered up in the ice and snow storm here in the Mid-south are doing OK.  A large stretch of the south is frozen in time right now.  Ice on the roads, cars and trucks on the ice and almost no traffic moving at all.  I am snuggy warm in the house, wife is snuggy warm at her doctors office 24 miles from the house, can't get here from there.  Several stretches of major roads are clogged up with abandonded cars, 18 wheelers jack knifed and folks still hunkered down in their cars.  I-65 is closed down just south of Birmingham proper, Atlanta is having much the same problem.  Not going to get above freezing today but the sun is due to poke it's head out so between it and the salt/sand things may improve slightly.  Mean time, enjoy your day!

[LAUDY57]

I was just watching morning news showing highway closures in S. Ontario and in Georgia and sure hope you guys come out of this OK. To see such hazardous weather is shocking for us here, it's no Calif or Arizona here but freezing is rare and we are thankful for what we have but at the same time we certainly sympathize with all the hardships across the whole continent right now and hope everyone stays safe.

[hiball3985]

I was reading they were sending the Nation Guard in to take food and water to kids stranded on school buses in Atlanta..

[Ecode70D]

   It is especially tough for those people in the locations that do not normally get snow because they do not have the equipment to deal with the snow.   My heart goes out to them.

[JPotter57]

You would have thought that south Mississippi was under 10 ft of solid ice.  I went out today, my bank was closed.  None of the restaurants I wanted to eat at were open.  The cops were escorting people across overpasses at 5-10 mph.  Get this: the roads were clear.  All the bad stuff was yesterday, today everything was basically gone.  A 30 minute trip to Gulfport and back took me three hours.  Ridiculous.  No wonder yankees make fun of us down here.  Everytime I would approach 70 on the interstate, flashing signs along the side of the road began saying, "Slow down".  So, I just rode along, wasting time with everyone else.  What a joke.

[Frankenstein57]

I think the media is partly to blame here, they pound us with all the bad news and coverage, it affects the way everyone drives and carries on. At least around here, I realize you guys don't have the response and equipment for it. Man today we had 5 crashes on the freeway in a short stretch from the South side to downtown Milwaukee. What a waste of time, pavement was dry.  Mark

[Ford Blue blood]

Wife is still at the doctors office.  Roads were thawing out today....but....too much ice and too many abandoned cars.  Told her to stay there as it was/is going into the teens after sunset and it did.  Looks like ALDOT is getting a handle on the treatment situation, all the interstates have at least one lane open now and the Gov ordered the National Guard to move cars and trucks off the road way so that all lanes could be treated starting at 3 AM.

Being a "Yankee" having moved here from VA Beach but having been born and raised in WI and living most of my adult life in the south I have to admit I do find most of this mildly entertaining.  But remember...there is no snow removal equipment here, there are no "salt huts" along side the roads, there are no plows and most of all there are no experienced "winter" drivers.

To be fair to the locals here the weather service blew this one out of the water...and they all admitted it.  Atlanta is a different story.  They had several hours notice this storm was further north then predicted.  Folks here were great, opened their homes, businesses stayed open, churches opened their doors, schools kept the kids safe, hotels put stranded folks on the floor with pillows and blankets and fed them, and I have had a two day vacation .

[Zapato]

We don't really have any weather to complain about, does get old to go thru 2-3 months of rain and grey skies. what we do get that really shuts everything down is freezing rain. Really builds up on everything and starts pulling down powerlines. Few years ago we had some and the whole town was dark for a couple of days. Or so we thought, we walked up the hill and found there was one place with lights on. The local biker bar never lost power. They were open and being as it was day 2 they were running out of food, So the choices were limited to burgers and fries. We ate and then went sliding home , landed on my arse a couple of times.

Zap-

                    So what's the forecast for Super Bowl ?

[Jeff Norwell]

The Media is Satan.

opps! thats my biz!

[Jeff Norwell]

This our little world up here,

http://www.orangeville.com/news-story/4340565-state-of-emergency-declared-county-asks-for-help/#.UumiSRqhX_U.facebook

[Ecode70D]

This our little world up here,

http://www.orangeville.com/news-story/4340565-state-of-emergency-declared-county-asks-for-help/#.UumiSRqhX_U.facebook

When they have to keep the kids in school at the end of the day because the buses can't run, that's real serious.  WOW!

[Frankenstein57]

Wait till Bill gets the doctors bill for having his wife there all day,

[Ford Blue blood]

Wife's home, the building she and 35 others were in was very good.  They are a multi used office suite type of set up.  Lawyers, real estate offices, doctors and a computer training facility.  The facility manager agreed to leave the doors open but refused to turn the HVAC system off it's night time program so it got a little "coolish" in the evening.  The doctors handed out all the blankets and pillows that were needed and the folks that were stuck did a good job keeping the place clean.  Only draw back was no food, plenty of water and bathroom facilities, and the vending machines were full.

On a side note, one hotel across the street refused to let anyone stay in their lobby.  One gal wandered into the building my wife was in after being turned away and told of being asked to leave after she just wanted to warm up.  So I told the wife I would not stay in one of their places even if it meant sleeping in the car.  It was the La Quinta Inn at River Chase.  I did call another La Quinta in the same general area and the manager there had a full house.  Folks sleeping on the floor in the hall ways and lobby and she fed them breakfast for two mornings.  She was in the same boat as the rest of the people in our area, unable to move because of the iced roads, abandoned cars and truck and of course the multiple wrecks and jack knifed 18 wheelers.

But all is well, into the lower 50s today and 60s tomorrow..

[modifieddriver]

We got iced in for awhile here.  Not as bad as Atlanta.

I read about all the DISCOMFORTS of folks caused by the ice and snow.

Then I watch the History channel and see how the 101st lived in a winter environment at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.  My wife's uncle was there.  Fox holes, a blanket, frozen fingers & toes, meager food rations, no bath for weeks AND on top of that the other guys are trying to kill ya'.

Sorry, but I don't feel much sympathy to those that experienced such extreme DISCOMFORT during the recent storm.

Part of life, just not a fun part of it.  Think about all the sun shine days instead.

What would some of these folks do if there was a REAL DISCOMFORT problem?  Like watching their house carried away by a tornado?

AND, I agree with those that say the media is to blame for the hype.  Reporting on pain and suffering is their MO.   

[wildhog]

I know were getting of the subject, but it wasn't a 57 Ford subject any way, so no foul. My Dad landed first wave at Normandy  beach and ended up at the battle of the bulge. He was wounded at St. Vith a few miles from Bastone. Said he laid in the snow all night before he was found. I always think of that when ever someone talks about the terrible time they had in the snow!