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Atlanta Snowpocalypse 2014


DeltaPilot

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The impact may have been worse because Jan 9th, 2011 was a Sunday and this obviously started on a Tuesday. Again, you are correct, if improvements were made they certainly were not obvious based on the results regardless the day of the week.

I agree. Planning for improvements should be focused on the weekdays when people are at work and children are at school. That's where the greatest vulnerability/potential impact lies. Moreover, excepting for weeks with holidays, those days encompass 71% of the week.

 

Atlanta's hilly topography argues that anything less is an invitation to major problems. For those who are not familiar with Atlanta's terrain, below are two topographical maps:

 

http://www.howardmodels.com/0-topographic/topographic-map-models/scott-road/scott-road-07.html

 

http://www.atlantamodels.net/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=http://www.atlantamodels.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/military-topo-fs.jpg&target=tlx_new

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Apparently, they're starting to put blame on the truckers now LOL. Atlanta is a vital region where truckers have to go through due to it's central position in the Southeast as it connects Florida with the rest of the country. Savannah is also a decent size port so truckers are coming from there too. It's one of the logistics capitals of the country.

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Anybody watched Gov. Deal's press conference on the storm where's he's basically slamming our NWS office and prasing the local mets on their forecast. Is he serious? I love how the reporters are grilling him and he's getting defensive.

 

Did you read my post from just 6 minutes ago? The guy is utterly irresponsible with his statements.

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LOL!!!

 

“There are certain things we don’t have control over and one of those is the weather. This came rather unexpectedly. The time frame in which it hit was a very short time frame,” said Deal. “And I think we’re better prepared now than we were in 2011.”

 

Unexpectedly, LOL

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Just damn. Nathan Deal is actually blaming the NWS for not following the lead of local Mets that were "trying to persuade the NWS to change their forecast further north". Just wow. I have seen no indication that ANY of the local Mets took the lead on this storm.

Yep, that was total bullsh*t. Every one of the tv mets were calling for "tenths of an inch". But hell they just had one official  who said the roads weren't that bad at 3:30 to 4pm and deal disagreed with him. The media in the room was like "what?!"  I mean they are blaming and disagreeing with each other at a news conference. Unreal.

 

 

The media is just hammering the mayor and governor and the sure deserve it. They both have embarrassed themselves and the state.  But again, I think some blame goes to the tv mets. A lot of people in government listen to what they say and when they kept going on the air, even that very morning, they were continuously saying only a dusting in atlanta. No one, not a single one, ever emphasized the potential impact on the roads in atlanta or to the north of atlanta because of how little people on 2, 5, 11 and 46 were forecasting.

 

Then you have the mayor actually attacking reporters! He actually said that compared to 11 their response was better..that it only took ONE day instead of three to do what was necessary. I mean seriously, he is bragging about it took an entire 24 hours to mobilize resources?

 

There is so much to talk about with this it's hard to keep up. So many aspects of this mess and this press conference going on is absolutely amazing.

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LOL!!!

 

“There are certain things we don’t have control over and one of those is the weather. This came rather unexpectedly. The time frame in which it hit was a very short time frame,” said Deal. “And I think we’re better prepared now than we were in 2011.”

 

Unexpectedly, LOL

 

Exactly the worst spin I have ever seen and this Mayor is a complete a-hole. Deflect and blame. He obviously has no capacity for criticism.

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Yep, that was total bullsh*t. Every one of the tv mets were calling for "tenths of an inch". But hell they just had one official  who said the roads weren't that bad at 3:30 to 4pm and deal disagreed with him. The media in the room was like "what?!"  I mean they are blaming and disagreeing with each other at a news conference. Unreal.

 

The media is just hammering the mayor and governor.They both have embarrassed themselves and the state.But again, I think some blame goes to the tv mets. A lot of people in government listen to what they say and when they kept going on the air, even that very morning, they were continuously saying only a dusting in atlanta. No one, not a single one, ever emphasized the potential impact on the roads in atlanta or to the north of atlanta because of how little people on 2, 5, 11 and 46 were forecasting.

 

Then you have the mayor actually attacking reporters! He actually said that compared to 11 their response was better..that it only took ONE day instead of three to do what was necessary. I mean seriously, he is bragging about it took an entire 24 hours to mobilize resources?

 

There is so much to talk about with this it's hard to keep up. So many aspects of this mess. Just wow.

 

Chris, I am appalled at the blame game here. There is more focus on covering their own ass than looking forward. No lessons will be learned here because they are too busy spinning and politicizing.

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Just damn. Nathan Deal is actually blaming the NWS for not following the lead of local Mets that were "trying to persuade the NWS to change their forecast further north". Just wow. I have seen no indication that ANY of the local Mets took the lead on this storm.

He's on drugs or living in a different reality.

 

Anybody watched Gov. Deal's press conference on the storm where's he's basically slamming our NWS office and prasing the local mets on their forecast. Is he serious? I love how the reporters are grilling him and he's getting defensive.

This is one of the most amazing press conferences i've ever seen.

 

Did you read my post from just 6 minutes ago? The guy is utterly irresponsible with his statements.

Agreed and the mayor comes across as an *sshole.

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The NWS in Peachtree City (which covers Atlanta) issued a winter storm watch at 4:53am MONDAY morning. This watch was upgraded to a warning at 3:38am Tuesday morning. There was plenty of time. Deal with it Govener Deal, it wasn't unexpected!

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The NWS in Peachtree City (which covers Atlanta) issued a winter storm watch at 4:53am MONDAY morning. This watch was upgraded to a warning at 3:38am Tuesday morning. There was plenty of time. Deal with it Govener Deal, it wasn't unexpected!

 

Don't let facts cloud this equation. This is textbook horse**** that our state elected officials are spewing.

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Thank you for starting this thread Delta. I'm here if anyone has questions about the NWS side of things. I worked the mid last night doing grids and am here again tonight. My only comment at this point is our forecast for the ATL metro issued at 455am Monday when we pushed the Winter Storm Watch into much of metro said "Tuesday...Chance of snow in the morning, then snow likely in the afternoon. Colder. Snow accumulation up to 1 inch."  I contend that even advisory level snow (~1")would have caused the same impact based on how cold the temps were through the event.  None of our graphics ever said "dusting", perhaps 0.5-1.0" is considered a dusting.

 

Obviously there is a lot of work to do. Ironically, we hosted a very well attended (over 150) and seemingly successful Integrated Working Team meeting on winter weather back in December which was attended by GDOT, GEMA, several county EMs and *all* the TV mets. Good presentations, but how society reacts to forecasts, warnings and actual snow/ice is complex with no hard science or facts to support actions. All of us here know the Atlanta Snow Jam history. Its happened before several times and it will happen again. We are more vulnerable than ever now that we've added another million or two to the metro population since 1982. The impact will only grow with time as population continues to grow.

 

Our hearts go out to all those stranded. I've read the blogs and stories on the 1982 Snow Jam. This one may turn out worse than that one.

 

Steve

 

i do not think the nws messed up. its politicians playing the blame game and CMY as others said.  common sense folks, it starts snowing.  temps are in the 20s.  its going to stick.

 

1" is not a dusting for us georgians lol.  i cannot believe that at noon this is still going on in atl.  yall did the watches, warnings, amounts, it could be more, etc.  its not like a surprise 8" snow storm hit.  it was just a lot colder than most snows here so we didnt have the snow falling with marginal temps keeping the roads wet.

 

CNN is all over this (btw happened in alabama too).  i think yall taking the heat is a pass the buck from politicians instead of "the buck stops here" i mean that idiot mayor said "oh much better than 2011.  that year it took two days to get trucks out. this time one day"?? come on that is ludicrous.

 

any way, i feel for yall. this is not fair. if people had an iota of common sense anymore they should have known.  as a matter of fact one of our esteemed posters MariettaWx posted just before 8 AM that he could see a traffic nightmare with all the people driving and yalls forecast for some snow

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FWIW, last night I ran some numbers on Atlanta's snowfall. Basically, a 2" or greater snowfall occurred once every 2.3 years over the past 30 years and an extreme 6" or greater snowfall occurred once every 30.0 years.

 

This morning, I went back to 1930. Here are the numbers (1930-2013):

 

2" or More: Once every 3.0 years (most recent: 1/28/2014: 2.6")

3" or More: Once every 4.9 years (most recent: 1/9-10/2011: 4.4")

4" or More: Once every 7.0 years (most recent: 1/9-10/2011: 4.4")

6" or More: Once every 21.0 Years (most recent: 3/24/1983: 7.9")

 

Atlanta's 6" or greater snowfalls were:

 

1/29-30/1936: 8.0"

1/23/1940: 8.3"

1/12-14/1982: 7.0"

3/24/1983: 7.9"

 

IMO, the goal of a comprehensive snow management plan should be to enable the city to deal with, at a minimum, a once-in-five-year type of snowfall and, if resources allow, a once-in-a-decade kind of snowfall.

 

Great info here.  I'm so tired of Atlanta saying these events are so rare, its a pathetic excuse.  At the very least there should be a plan to salt the interstates well before a storm hits.  

 

One other thing here, these numbers do not include the ice storms that can happen every year as well.  I'll bet if those were factored in you would almost be looking at a once a year type situation.  

 

I lived in Georgia 20 years of my life, 8 of those were in the metro area, it snowed at least, at least a half inch every single year, and freezing rain every other year.

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The NWS in Peachtree City (which covers Atlanta) issued a winter storm watch at 4:53am MONDAY morning. This watch was upgraded to a warning at 3:38am Tuesday morning. There was plenty of time. Deal with it Govener Deal, it wasn't unexpected!

There is zero doubt they did a piss poor job. They are a total embarrassment.

 

However, to be fair, before the winter storm warning was issued, the nws actually downgraded the winter storm watch from atlanta to just north of athens to a winter weather advisory in their mid evening update monday night. And the winter storm watch was only for a single row of counties. There was nothing issued for areas north of that iirc , which includes a lot of people.

 

  So that certainly gave an impression that things would be so bad at a particularly bad time since schools were trying to decide whether or not to cancel. And I think there should have been more emphasis on how bad the roads could be even if it was just going to be a half inch to inch because of how cold they knew it would be when the snow would come.

 

But that is no excuse for the lack of action on the part of the governor and atlanta's mayor.

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The NWS in Peachtree City (which covers Atlanta) issued a winter storm watch at 4:53am MONDAY morning. This watch was upgraded to a warning at 3:38am Tuesday morning. There was plenty of time. Deal with it Govener Deal, it wasn't unexpected!

I don't understand why the Gov is in CYA mode unless it's to protect the GDOT as if he feels it's a reflection on him. This is where you put on your big boy pants, address the media that mistakes were made they shouldn't have, move discussion towards making sure it doesn't happen again and make sure that for once that actually happens. There are also things individuals could have/can do differently to help the situation instead of looking towards one or two entities for direction, but due to the current anger, even though that important element in all this needs to be addressed, the current anger, vitriol and blame fans going on would make that an unwise thing to do at this point in time as it looks like another excuse.

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The NWS in Peachtree City (which covers Atlanta) issued a winter storm watch at 4:53am MONDAY morning. This watch was upgraded to a warning at 3:38am Tuesday morning. There was plenty of time. Deal with it Govener Deal, it wasn't unexpected!

And for those who want proof:

 

397
WWUS42 KFFC 270953
WSWFFC

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
453 AM EST MON JAN 27 2014

GAZ025-027-031>035-041>045-271800-
/O.EXA.KFFC.WS.A.0002.140128T1500Z-140129T1800Z/
JACKSON-MADISON-PAULDING-COBB-NORTH FULTON-GWINNETT-BARROW-
HARALSON-CARROLL-DOUGLAS-SOUTH FULTON-DEKALB-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MARIETTA...ATLANTA...LAWRENCEVILLE...
CARROLLTON...DOUGLASVILLE...EAST POINT...DECATUR
453 AM EST MON JAN 27 2014

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING
THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

* LOCATIONS...ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM HARALSON TO NORTH FULTON
              TO MADISON COUNTY.

* HAZARD TYPES...SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...1/2 INCH TO 2 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN AS EARLY AS MID MORNING
  TUESDAY AND LAST INTO TUESDAY NIGHT.

* IMPACTS...SNOW COVERED ROADS COULD MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

NOW IS THE TIME TO PREPARE FOR THIS WINTER STORM. BE SURE TO BUY
NON PERISHABLE FOODS. MAKE CONTINGENCY PLANS IF YOU PLAN ON
TRAVELING DURING THIS PERIOD. IF YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR TRAVEL...DO
SO BEFORE THE EVENT STARTS. NOW IS THE TIME TO PLAN...DO NOT WAIT
FOR THE WARNING!

&&
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The weather channel is slamming the Georgia Government.  Wow, he actually called out the governor by saying what he said was "BS".  

CNN has great coverage right now.  they are talking about the same thing. the govt didnt do what they needed to.  CNN said the blaming and lack of responsibility and accountability is horrid.  CNN has a met and they also were saying what was happening like the NWS. the govt and employers ignore it and blew it off. 

 

i am impressed with cnn right now for holding accountability and backing up the nws with their own info they were putting out.  i mean who wouldnt have heard on monday about the snow in ga? who doesnt listen to the radio or something to see?  anyone waking up after 5 AM would have heard the watches, advisories and warnings. 

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I'm so disgusted in how Atlanta and GA handled this whole situation. The mayor of Atlanta and Governor of GA should be ashamed. Here is what Gov Deal said :

 

Gov. Nathan Deal says the local meteorologists were more accurate than National Weather Service in predicting this winter storm.

He apologized for people's situations, but he cannot promise to always be correct about what mother nature will do 

 

 

I guess the meteorologists at the NWS in Peachtree City are not considered "local meteorologists". And also, didnt the NWS issue Warnings BEFORE the snow started ? Very poor planning all the way around IMO by state officials.

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Treating the roads doesn't really do much.  They treated a secondary road by my office and RDU yesterday and it's still a solid sheet of ice right now.

 

It's when people get on the roads and the exhaust melts the snow which turns to ice just like we had in Raleigh in 2005.  I know everyone wants to play the blame game but their isn't really much you can do. 

 

What will happen in the future is that school will be canceled for every little hint of winter weather like yesterday here when it didn't even start until 6pm.  

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