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I agree with almost everything Zimbochick said except the National Guard. Calling up the Guard is a major step. Doing it before closing schools, gov't, etc is tough. It also takes time because you don't call up all the guard you generally call up certain units with certain capabilities. That means notifying th ememberes, getting them to come in (They have jobs and families to notify, arrange coverage for, etc) Get them to activate their equipment (often most of it is in some type of storage and needs to have batteries installed, chains installed, fuel tamks filled, etc) All this takes time (probably 6-12 hours for the first wave)
I think the reluctance to close schools in anticipation was wrong, but they don't have much experience with that. Now if they were not to close them ahead of time if they had a similar storm in the next couple of years it would indicate incompetency. It is the rareness of the event that causes the problem. They don't have to practice the particular emergency plan often enough t test things that are written before the details are forgotten.
The school districts in Atlanta should contact school districts in places that do close for snow re: how they decide to close. My district does not make a decision until the morning of, at 6 AM. I think this is a good policy. There have been many storms predicted that never materialized; they went north or south, or whatever. Closing school is a mess for families who have to then find day care. Our district also never closes once school starts for the day, as I said upthread. Again, that can be problematic for families, and you certainly don't want kids literally left "out in the cold". Of course, there can be some flexibility for extenuating circumstances, and it's always OK for parents to pick up their kids and get an excused absence.
But there’s a problem with funneling. When the funnel clogs, it reduces the number of alternate routes, causing a “traffic heart attack.” Think of how you can get around in Chicago—if someone wipes out and blocks an entire major artery, there are multiple routes to another one, usually in three or four directions.
The grid is a robust system; the street hierarchy is not.
Regarding school closures it's worth bearing in mind that a few weeks ago schools were closed during the polar vortex and the school districts were ridiculed for that. I think they were a bit gun-shy this time.
I don't disagree with the past closure as many kids here do not have appropriate gear for -10 with the wind-chill when walking to school or waiting for the bus. There are many temporary classrooms that don't have appropriate heating to deal with such lows, and school buses are stored outdoors, and getting them up and running in that cold is an issue.
Regarding school closures it's worth bearing in mind that a few weeks ago schools were closed during the polar vortex and the school districts were ridiculed for that. I think they were a bit gun-shy this time.
I don't disagree with the past closure as many kids here do not have appropriate gear for -10 with the wind-chill when walking to school or waiting for the bus. There are many temporary classrooms that don't have appropriate heating to deal with such lows, and school buses are stored outdoors, and getting them up and running in that cold is an issue.
Local issues always have to be taken into account, agreed.
But there’s a problem with funneling. When the funnel clogs, it reduces the number of alternate routes, causing a “traffic heart attack.” Think of how you can get around in Chicago—if someone wipes out and blocks an entire major artery, there are multiple routes to another one, usually in three or four directions.
The grid is a robust system; the street hierarchy is not.
I live in Chicago, the Grid only helps so far. If you need to go great distances you need the expressway system and there are fewer easy alternatives to that. Without an expressway it would take about 1-1.5 hour to get from the far south side to the far north side on a good day. A regular old snow stormed that is handled well can double your commute. Basically with that kind of ICE and no snow trucks forget about it.
With School closures they really should not have closed once they opened. That forces parents to come pickup their children which in turn causes more traffic. If they had closed some parents would have stayed home missing work but helping the traffic problems.
I live in Chicago, the Grid only helps so far. If you need to go great distances you need the expressway system and there are fewer easy alternatives to that. Without an expressway it would take about 1-1.5 hour to get from the far south side to the far north side on a good day. A regular old snow stormed that is handled well can double your commute. Basically with that kind of ICE and no snow trucks forget about it.
Never heard of the Chicago ever being paralyzed by a couple of inches of snow. A full-stop blizzard now and then barely brings things to a temporarily lull in the Windy City.
Oh, but then, Chicago has an excellent grid, a robust transit system and a lot of options to get from just about anywhere in the city to just about anywhere else in the city.
Never heard of the Chicago ever being paralyzed by a couple of inches of snow. A full-stop blizzard now and then barely brings things to a temporarily lull in the Windy City.
Oh, but then, Chicago has an excellent grid, a robust transit system and a lot of options to get from just about anywhere in the city to just about anywhere else in the city.
The city has lots of plows, otherwise we would have the same problem. Busses need clear streets to run. The city also has plans that are used when there is a possibility that snow or ice will impact travel. In snow only major streets will be plowed, which makes reroutes an headache. IN ICE the stairs down from the el can become dangerous not to mention walking itself(I once fell right on my back walking home from the bus in freezing rain).
The grid can give reroutes but the road itself has to be safe first.
If I had lots of time and nothing to do I would go back through this thread and count the number of times the OP has written "two inches of snow" or "a dusting" and also how many times he has ignored requests from posters to acknowledge that it was the ice, not the two inches of snow, which created the problems.
A further issue is that the ice-related problems occurred in many places over the south, not just in Atlanta; I-10 and I-12 in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area were closed for two to three days, for example, stranding hundreds of big rigs.
"Two inches of snow" is a straw-man argument. Like a presidential candidate once famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". Well, it was the ice, stupid.
With School closures they really should not have closed once they opened.
And I believe that is what Gwinnett County did, and there wasn't massive traffic problems out that way. I would know; that day's drive home only took 30 minutes longer than usual.
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Intellectual dishonesty
