Snow Day Slows Down Atlanta

Brenda enjoys the snow in our driveway after we were both home safely and settled in.

The weather forecast was for snow starting about 1pm, but schools and GSU were not canceled, so I headed out for Atlanta shortly before 7. The photo at right was taken when I crossed Peachtree Center Avenue last Thursday, and gives and ideas of the kind of student crowds we get at class-change time.

On this morning the schoolhouses were running and there was a full expressway of cars. Everything was dry - I thought the sky looked different, a bit eerie, but perhaps that was suggestion from the forecast. I taught my class with probably 80% attendance and headed out for Microcenter off of I-75 at about 11.

This is very unusual in Atlanta, but the road was fine. I was able to travel about 60mph down 75 and around 285, and thought I might be in the clear, but at Hollowell I ran into a solid line of cars and trucks headed for I-20 and just inched along for probably 20 minutes.

I was relieved to finally reach the off ramp to Six Flags Drive, even though it was solid ice and I could feel the front tires spinning a bit. I had it in low range, kept it straight and tried not to accelerate. I felt for those folks who had to travel further on that sheet of ice called I-20. This picture is really a tribute to the sanity of those drivers in view, because they were traveling about 20mph on solid ice with sensible spacing between them.

Any slope was a challenge on the ice, so we inched up Six Flags Drive and along Factory Shoals Rd at about 15 miles per hour. In this view I am approaching the traffic light on South Gordon Road.

I turned on South Gordon Road feeling that I was on the home stretch, but as we topped the hill at Mt. Pisgah Church, we came to a dead stop, and of the dozen cars ahead of me, over half of them turned around and headed back. Assessing my alternate routes home, all of which were longer and as steep, I decided to press on. There were moments when I doubted the wisdom of that decision, for when I topped the hill it was obvious that the downslope was solid ice. I had the little Toyota in the lowest range and was inching along, but it was obvious that I was sliding as much as rolling down that hill. One car trying to get up the slope was totally stalled, and I slowed enough to give a gap for one pickup to get past that car.

At that point I called Brenda and told her that I doubted I would make it all the way home in the car, but I was close enough to walk. Despite my skepticism, the line of cars did make it down the steepest slope. I was sympathetic with the line of cars that was trying to get up that slope, which included one ambulance. All the drivers except one were very responsible, and it was that slow pace and responsible spacing that made it possible. One crazy came along up behind me and passed three cars on a blind hill, but on the whole I was very impressed with the drivers.