All this from 1 Inch of Snow???!!: N.C. Declares Emergency After Snowstorm

[ScoobMaster]

RALEIGH, N.C. ? A surprise 1-inch snow that turned to ice on frigid roads crippled North Carolina's capital, trapping motorists in epic traffic jams and stranding some 3,000 pupils overnight at schools. The governor urged people to stay home Thursday while crews clean things up.

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Up here in NY, we don't even consider 1 inch significant snowfall

 

[chrisms]

That's white power for you...

 

[Tremulant]

Heard about it on the radio this morning. Apparently the roads were frozen too, but I still think 1 inch of snow is rather insignifigant.

 

[Adul]

I wonder how NFS4 handled it

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: chrisms
That's white power for you...

 

[aircooled]

even though it doesn't sound like much, it took us by surprise, and it stuck to the roads and really did create dangerous road conditions. everyone was at work/school when it happed so it created gridlock on the roads so the limited equipment we have to clean them with could not do alot.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Tremulant
Heard about it on the radio this morning. Apparently the roads were frozen too, but I still think 1 inch of snow is rather insignifigant.

Ya, it's certainly believable if the roads were frozen over. Portland(Oregon) is much the same, as that kind of weather happens so infrequently that they don't own enough equipment to deice the roads if something like that does happen. In the end it's easier to deal with that then shell out millions of dollars for equipment that will get used maybe every other year.

 

[Kelemvor]

Bunch of wusses in the rest of the country... We're hoping for 10" of snow today here in WI. Woo Hoo!!

 

[rudeguy]

come on up to MI and we will teach you how to deal with snow

 

[Jeraden]

Many years ago I worked in N.C. for a while. I remember they always panicked when there was snow or freezing rain and what-not. We got out of work early once because a "snow storm" was coming. It was just a light dusting really, but people were still driving like it was a white-out. One car somehow managed to flip over by the side of the road, I never understood how the guy accomplished that since the roads were completely fine.

 

[Gibson486]

meh, come to MA and see some real snow.

 

[Amused]

The problem is, NC doesn't have the infrastructure needed to deal with snow and ice.

The only reason the same thing doesn't happen in MA (or any other Northern or Midwestern state) is because MA has snow plows and salt trucks to keep the roads ice free. The Southern states just do not have enough of this kind of equipment to deal with frozen roads on a large scale.

The result? When a storm like this hits ALL the roads turn into impassable ice sheets.

Also, driver experience has a lot to do with it. It's the same thing in CA with rain. They all freak out when they get what is an average rain in the midwest or east.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Tremulant
Heard about it on the radio this morning. Apparently the roads were frozen too, but I still think 1 inch of snow is rather insignifigant.

Ya, it's certainly believable if the roads were frozen over.

 

[Red Dawn]

At least it's sunny here:shocked:

 

Originally posted by: Amused
The problem is, NC doesn't have the infrastructure needed to deal with snow and ice.

The only reason the same thing doesn't happen in MA (or any other Northern or Midwestern state) is because MA has snow plows and salt trucks to keep the roads ice free. The Southern states just do not have enough of this kind of equipment to deal with frozen roads on a large scale.

The result? When a storm like this hits ALL the roads turn into impassable ice sheets.

Also, driver experience has a lot to do with it. It's the same thing in CA with rain. They all freak out when they get what is an average rain in the midwest or east.

I can deal with 3-5 feet of snow before a single plow truck hits the roads.
Some of these people are ridiculous, spending the night at grocery stores, children spending the night at school. I understand that some bridges were closed, but comon, can't people walk?

Their roadways are poorly designed, most arn't crowned, and have very bad drainage. This happens to NC EVERY YEAR, you would think they would at least consider some sort of minimal extreme weather management for the future.

 

[blakeatwork]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
At least it's sunny here:shocked:

Where I live

I plan on suing the Sun for false advertising this morning...

 

[captains]

if eveybody had an suv none of this would ever happen

 

[aircooled]

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Amused
The problem is, NC doesn't have the infrastructure needed to deal with snow and ice.

The only reason the same thing doesn't happen in MA (or any other Northern or Midwestern state) is because MA has snow plows and salt trucks to keep the roads ice free. The Southern states just do not have enough of this kind of equipment to deal with frozen roads on a large scale.

The result? When a storm like this hits ALL the roads turn into impassable ice sheets.

Also, driver experience has a lot to do with it. It's the same thing in CA with rain. They all freak out when they get what is an average rain in the midwest or east.

I can deal with 3-5 feet of snow before a single plow truck hits the roads.
Some of these people are ridiculous, spending the night at grocery stores, children spending the night at school. I understand that some bridges were closed, but comon, can't people walk?

Their roadways are poorly designed, most arn't crowned, and have very bad drainage. This happens to NC EVERY YEAR, you would think they would at least consider some sort of minimal extreme weather management for the future.

For something that typiclally only happens once or twice a year, it would be a bad investment for NC to spend the many millions of dollars to do much more than they already do. They hit the main arteries first with sand, salt and plow until they are acceptable, then they hit the secondary roads. Not much more they can do without spending more than it's worth.

 

[AmigaMan]

It was bad here, but I left work at noon and watched it all unfold on tv in my underwear drinking hot cocoa. ok maybe that was too much info...

 

[LTC8K6]

This snow was not predicted until the last minute. NCDOT was totally unprepared as a result. Many of the DOT workers were still collecting leaves and yard debris. They took a while just to get started with the snow equipment.

This just caught everyone by surprise.

It had been very cold the days preceding this snow, so when it fell it turned all of the roads to ice immediately. They then let everyone out of work and school all at once, and people were unaware of how bad the roads had gotten in such a short time.

This resulted in a number of accidents which clogged all of the main roads, making it impossible for school buses, snow plows, police, tow trucks, etc., to get where they needed to be.

The major problem was that people were unaware of the road conditions when they started out. They were surprised by the ice and that's why there were so many accidents.

You will drive differently when you know you are facing slick roads.

 

[Pacfanweb]

All you folks that move here from where it snows all the time are the main problem here in NC. You think all you know how to drive in the snow, because the northern states have the equipment to clean it up in a hurry, so you're not driving on the same thing we have here.

Ask any tow truck driver after it snows here who's getting stuck/having accidents, and he'll tell you mostly Northerners. And he's correct. Go to a body shop a few days after it snows here, and take a poll of where the people bringing cars in came from....up north, where they supposedly "know how to drive in the snow".

The one thing about the Triangle area of NC is, it's one of the hardest places to predict the weather, so say the meteorologists. I guess because we're so close to the mountains and the beach or something.
Whatever, they hardly ever get it right. What happened Wednesday was supposed to be at worst, a "passing flurry". But it was cold, snowed an inch, and turned into a sheet of ice on the road. I don't care where you're from, you're not used to driving on that.
If you're from up north, you get real snow, not ice/slush like we do.
Anyway, the problem here Wednesday was, the weather folks said nothing to worry about, and the DOT believed them....so they had ZERO trucks ready with salt/sand/chemicals in case something did happen. So everyone left work and the roads had not been touched.
The traffic jam was unprecedented, the worst ever in NC, and was simply a freak occurence.

Took me almost 8 hrs to get home from 7 miles away.

 

For something that typiclally only happens once or twice a year, it would be a bad investment for NC to spend the many millions of dollars to do much more than they already do. They hit the main arteries first with sand, salt and plow until they are acceptable, then they hit the secondary roads. Not much more they can do without spending more than it's worth.

That is true to a point. Though the same thing happens up here.

All you folks that move here from where it snows all the time are the main problem here in NC. You think all you know how to drive in the snow, because the northern states have the equipment to clean it up in a hurry, so you're not driving on the same thing we have here.

Ask any tow truck driver after it snows here who's getting stuck/having accidents, and he'll tell you mostly Northerners. And he's correct. Go to a body shop a few days after it snows here, and take a poll of where the people bringing cars in came from....up north, where they supposedly "know how to drive in the snow".

The one thing about the Triangle area of NC is, it's one of the hardest places to predict the weather, so say the meteorologists. I guess because we're so close to the mountains and the beach or something.
Whatever, they hardly ever get it right. What happened Wednesday was supposed to be at worst, a "passing flurry". But it was cold, snowed an inch, and turned into a sheet of ice on the road. I don't care where you're from, you're not used to driving on that.
If you're from up north, you get real snow, not ice/slush like we do.
Anyway, the problem here Wednesday was, the weather folks said nothing to worry about, and the DOT believed them....so they had ZERO trucks ready with salt/sand/chemicals in case something did happen. So everyone left work and the roads had not been touched.
The traffic jam was unprecedented, the worst ever in NC, and was simply a freak occurence.

Took me almost 8 hrs to get home from 7 miles away.

Most of the time up north the plows arn't out until a major amount of snow/ice is on the ground. We have the exact same issues when were not "prepared" for a storm. But when were not prepared, we don't just get some ice and 1 inch of snow, we get ice and 3 feet.
There really is no excuse for over 1000 accidents because of this.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: SampSon

I can deal with 3-5 feet of snow before a single plow truck hits the roads.
Some of these people are ridiculous, spending the night at grocery stores, children spending the night at school. I understand that some bridges were closed, but comon, can't people walk?

Their roadways are poorly designed, most arn't crowned, and have very bad drainage. This happens to NC EVERY YEAR, you would think they would at least consider some sort of minimal extreme weather management for the future.[/quote]
Boy, you really don't know what you're talking about. How do you figure most of our roads aren't crowned?

This does NOT happen to NC every year, it's never happened before in NC's history.
There's no reason at all for NC to have as much snow-removal equipment as say, West Virginia. It would sit unused 363 days a year.

You can deal with 3-5 feet of snow, unplowed? Not unless you have a big-ass 4x4 you can't. If it snows 5 feet you'll will be sitting at home just like everyone else.

People like you are the ones who are the most dangerous when we get road conditions like we see here when it snows. You think you know how to drive in the snow.....and what we get here most of the time ain't snow.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: SampSon.

Most of the time up north the plows arn't out until a major amount of snow/ice is on the ground. We have the exact same issues when were not "prepared" for a storm. But when were not prepared, we don't just get some ice and 1 inch of snow, we get ice and 3 feet.
There really is no excuse for over 1000 accidents because of this.[/quote]
You get ice AND 3 FEET. Big difference. We get ice.

Put what we had up North, with no road treatment, and you'll get the same thing we have here......many, many accidents.

BTW, one of the main problems was not accidents...it was the fact that so many cars just couldn't move. However many accidents there were, there were several times as many cars that just were parked or stuck because they couldn't get up or down a hill.

I don't care where you're from, the conditions that were present Wednesday were really, really tough to drive in. There were massive delays anywhere there was a hill.

 

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: SampSon

I can deal with 3-5 feet of snow before a single plow truck hits the roads.
Some of these people are ridiculous, spending the night at grocery stores, children spending the night at school. I understand that some bridges were closed, but comon, can't people walk?

Their roadways are poorly designed, most arn't crowned, and have very bad drainage. This happens to NC EVERY YEAR, you would think they would at least consider some sort of minimal extreme weather management for the future.

Boy, you really don't know what you're talking about. How do you figure most of our roads aren't crowned?

This does NOT happen to NC every year, it's never happened before in NC's history.
There's no reason at all for NC to have as much snow-removal equipment as say, West Virginia. It would sit unused 363 days a year.

You can deal with 3-5 feet of snow, unplowed? Not unless you have a big-ass 4x4 you can't. If it snows 5 feet you'll will be sitting at home just like everyone else.

People like you are the ones who are the most dangerous when we get road conditions like we see here when it snows. You think you know how to drive in the snow.....and what we get here most of the time ain't snow.
[/quote]
From what I understand most of the roads in the south arn't crowned. When I lived in SC most of their roads weren't crowned, so when it rained, it just collected on the flat roads.
This happens to NC every year, ever year you hear about how NC got hit with a storm and a large number of motoroists got in accidents etc. Mabey not to the degree of this past storm, but from what I see every year in the news, it happens down there. I'm not fabricating this because it happened last year too.
I drive over 1000 miles a week, I live in the most snow ridden area in the country, I know how to drive in winter conditions. Yes I do have awd, so that does make a difference. I have never wrecked my car in the snow, never got in an accident in the snow or winter conditions, I drive about 3x as much as most people. I also do a lot of driving on country routes where the snow control is extremely minimal, meaning the county plow goes through once, and that's it.

No storm last year right?

I guess it didn't happen in 2002 either right?