Accumulation

It rarely snows in Atlanta. We occasionally get a few flakes which melt on their way down, but a real snowstorm is fairly rare. The last time I remember any winter weather of any significance was a severe ice storm three years ago - it really hasn't even been cold since then.

But this year it's been unusually cold. It actually got down around -15C a couple of weeks ago, which is about as cold as it ever gets here. And today, we got smacked by our once-or-twice-a-decade snowstorm.

Which, on the face of it, and certainly by the rest of the more northern world's standards, isn't really much. Maybe 6 inches at the most (~15cm). Not a huge deal, right?

Well, the problem is, white stuff starts falling from the sky here, and no one knows what to do. It flips a switch in people's brains, apparently, that makes them suddenly believe that traffic laws no longer apply, and even common sense is forthwith jettisoned from the nearest window.

The end result is complete and utter gridlock. First, everyone apparently decided to leave work at exactly the same moment this afternoon (all 6 million of 'em), so traffic wasn't moving very well from the sheer volume. Then, frustrated that things weren't moving faster, people started running stop lights and blocking intersections, trying to move that extra five feet, ultimately causing a cascade of blocked streets and deadlocked intersections that brought the entire city to a standstill.

It took me 2 hours to drive the 5 miles (8km) to my house.

And meanwhile, the snow is already falling, quickly and heavily, and the streets are rapidly icing over. You can see where this is going....

But I'm home now, and I've spent the evening listening to people who decided this was a grand night for a joyride in the old Civic get stuck or spin out or slide into the sidewalk on the street outside my window. As entertaining as that is, I was glad when the police finally shut the street down.

It won't get above freezing tomorrow, so I don't think I'm going anywhere for a couple of days.