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Subscribe to RSSWest Virginia motorists were urged to use caution as conditions from a winter snow storm left roadways hazardous. WVVA's Josh Frketic reports.
Parts of the Southeast were digging out Friday from a winter storm that dumped up to a foot of snow around the region and played a role in at least one death.
In central Alabama, hundreds of people spent a cold night trapped on Interstate 65 in Cullman County after snow caused a series of wrecks that snarled traffic for miles.
Hundreds of cars and 18-wheelers were at a standstill on the highway early Friday, County emergency management director Phyllis Little said.
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The backup began Thursday afternoon as a winter storm blanketed the area with as much as 4 inches of snow. Little said 120 motorists made it to a shelter in Cullman, but many more couldn't.
Officials hoped rising temperatures would thaw the snow and ice and get traffic moving sometime Friday.
In Virginia, the areas hardest hit Thursday and Friday were in the southwest, where the National Weather Service says 13 inches were reported in Giles County, while Grayson County and the Galax area received about a foot.
Road crews in that part of the state were out in force early Friday to plow and treat roads. Hardest hit was Interstate 77. The highway still had snow cover and there were reports of disabled vehicles along the roadway.
While the winter storm wasn't as severe as initially feared, icy roads remained a concern Friday morning and some school systems decided to open late.
Parts of Mississippi saw 2 to 4 inches of snow on the ground Thursday. In Lowndes County, Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl. Criss Turnipseed said Johnnie A. Matthews, 64, of West Point died when his car collided with a downed tree about 5 a.m. on Mississippi Highway 50.
Turnipseed says the large pine tree in the roadway appeared to have been uprooted by wind and ground saturation due to excessive rainfall. The winter blitz follows days of heavy rain across much of the Southeast.
No other fatalities were reported but thousands lost power.
Virginia State Police say they were swamped with calls at the height of the storm. Dispatchers fielded more than 760 calls reporting crashes and disabled vehicles.
In Bland County, Virginia, heavy snow, downed trees, disabled vehicles and numerous crashes partially closed I-77, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. Traffic was moving slowly Thursday night and Geller said officials would work through the night to reopen all lanes.
In Alabama, scores of schools, businesses and government offices as far south as metro Birmingham pushed back their opening times for Friday because of the threat of icy roads after freezing temperatures overnight.
Dusty Compton / Tuscaloosa News via AP
A vehicle that slid off Highway 86 near Carrollton, Ala. is seen Thursday.
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Well they said that water is needed because of the drought down south. You need it, you got it.
A couple of long-time friends of mine (as a matter of fact, they're getting married this afternoon), both of whom are NorCal natives through and through, are moving from here in Sacto to the Charlotte area in the next week or two. They're gonna love this kind of weather-type action.
Name the storm after a sailor. he gives 6+inches before heading out to sea.
Only if he's lucky or got enough money to purchase it.
What can we do about this global warming?
I don't think it's global warming as much as it's climate change. Are the two poles re-aligning themselves magneticly, or what? We know climate change does happen, and we have had, not too long ago, global cooling.
What ever it takes, people like Gore, and others, can always find suckers to buy into their BS. Heck, people have been buying into the tea baggers excretment for awhile. Someone once said, for everyone born, there is two to take him. Seems true when the weather changes.
I don't want to see anyone get hurt, of course, but I laugh until my ribs hurt when I see those southern rednecks trying to drive in snow and on ice. It's a demolition derby without the admission fee. Hell, most of them can't walk on it, let alone drive in it.
I don't want to see anyone die, but to see these yankees go through what they consider a heat wave I just have to laugh. Let it hit 95 and they whine like babies and drop like flies. Most of them don't even know how to go buy a air conditioner! God forbid they get a tornado! Their sphincter doesn't let go for a week.
Well, Cabbie, get your big old donkey laugh going, and then let's see you drive on ice. What a major dumbfu¢k you are. A Southern redneck would help your sorry a$$ out of a ditch, while the Yankees would drive by and not give a damn about helping you (and for you, that's likely what you deserve).
Not everyone in the south is a 'neck' but....we can be.
No, we do not keep snow equipment in the South, and we aren't very good at driving in it. We also recognize that 10 straight days of 90+ degrees during July is hardly a newsworthy event, even though it will be presented as the mother of all heat waves if it occurs in the Northeast. It cuts both ways.
And all you southerners will be putting on hats, coats, gloves, boots, wool socks, and thermal underwear when the temp gets under 50 because it is unbearably cold.
ahhh...no....what's a whatchamacallit...um...thermal undies? When it gets close to 50 degrees we just load up the sailboat and head over to the gulf coast or hit one of the Key islands. (Just NOT Key West!...please see my previous post of the 'burning of the retinas') So, go 'head...bundle up! Get your chains out and bags of salt ready. Tune up that snow blower and clack those knitting needles for scarves and hats! All I need is a fishing pole, a cooler and a good trade wind.
Bull@!$%# Karl we do that if it gets below 70!
It doesn't matter where it's at six inches is six inches.Some people are just bad drivers. I wish they would not plow the snow here in Washington them maybe the people that can't drive would stay of the road or get the hell out of my why. It's not uncommon for me to wake up to 15'' a night here in the north cascade. Have fun in your STORM. I like it when it snows allot it keeps some people off the road and that's a good thing because most can't drive when it dry pavement. This world is so full of stupid people.
LOL 6 inches is LOTS different on a hill and mountain than it is on a flat roadway. Size DOES matter in some cases.
In some areas of Virginia the roads are narrow, winding and curving. When you have the ice/snow mixture on roads like that, 1" or 6" is a big deal. It only takes a second to hit that ice, swerve off the road or into another vehicle. Snow is pretty to watch, just not from behind the wheel of my car.
where we live (the great northwest) it is very common to get all amounts of snow, from a little to a lot. now where there are a lot of cars like in the Seattle area which also get a lot of rain the road surface is different. then in the other areas on the east side of the state where there is i/3 of the traffic as to in the city., the road surface is deiced and sanded. more cars more wrecks, less cars (still dangerous) less wrecks, Truth is drivers just need to slow down and watch out for the other guy since you cannot control how that other person drives
I got half a day off of work from it!! YAY!!! Snow was beautiful last night, ice was nasty this morning.
I went from Ohio to Fort Jackson South Carolina for my son's graduation from boot camp near Columbia. It took us 8.5 hours to get there, it took us a hair under 24 hours to get home. When the storm hit we were almost to the North Carolina/Virginia border. 6-7 inches fell in a matter of 2 hours. Big flake clusters the size of quarters were hitting our windshield. You have to remember that in these areas, it isn't flat land, but hills and mountains that are traveled by semi after semi after semi. No it wasn't the same thing as possibly 3 ft in Minnesota or someplace else that is usually hit with a lot of snow, and no they probably don't have the same equipment, terrain or traffic as a lot of places that just take that amount of snow in it's stride. It is surprising to me that only 1 person is reported dead from what I saw. We were sitting in the right lane eyeballing an exit ramp that was 1.7 miles away in 3 lanes of stopped traffic for hours. Our exciting moment (ha!) was when a moron thought it would be great to take a 10 foot wide (guessing, but you get my drift) truck through an 8 foot space and go between the van behind us and us, AND the guardrail. He didn't make it, and he will be having a license revoked I bet for his stupidity. While some people threw snowballs and walked amongst the cars chatting and took everything in stride, you always have some idiot that ruins everything.
To Micheal the reporter: Carrollton is in Georgia not Alabama. (Eegads). Where are we getting these reporters.
ohhh , maybe is god to let the south's people know that climate change is real, this winter they got so far 6" of snow, next hope they get 20", who know?
Why would you wish 20" of snow on anybody? That's just rude.
I really have to laugh at how different points of view are presented here. I have had the opportunity to live in two completely different parts of the country. I grew up in western Washington. There an inch of snow is a big deal and will close schools and just about everything else. The snow is usually high in moisture content and makes roads very slick. Add to that the fact that the roads are up and down hill and not straight. I also lived in North Dakota for about 30 years. The roads tend to be straight and flat. The the snow also tends to have less moisture content. It doesn't get as slick. So, winter of 96,97. We were blessed with 127 inches of snow. As long as it didn't drift too bad, travel wasn't too bad.
Exactly Edward I live in Texas but we were stationed in Illinois for a bit, went and visited my cousin in ND while we were there, for New years of all things! My cousin had so much snow in his yard that my dog kept getting out because all he had to do was walk out and step over my cousin's fence! (5.5 ft fence) I've never been so cold in my whole life!
We've had a bit of snow here in FL a while back. I don't like the snow...don't want the snow but I can drive in it. Can drive in beach sand too. Hey! I got an idea! Why don't you snow lovers stay up there and leave our beaches to us? Nothing worse than enjoying a beautiful morning walk on the beach and having to look at pasty northerners with those big bag bellies hanging all out. Get some sun! I have to pull my shades down to avoid my retinas being burned out from the glare off your legs! Better yet, come down long enough to scrape up your crotchety relatives and take 'em back with you. We're tired of hearing them complain. It's a win/win!!
To the yankees that have a brain and have been supportive knowing we don't keep all the snow removal equipment, thank you. To the ones that make fun of their fellow countrymen because we had an event that is not the norm, piss off! Yall are the ones that we laugh at when you get caught out of breath saying, "It's soo hot out, I can barely breathe!"...when the thermometer is only at 98!
I agree
And just as such, we laugh like hell when you have to put on hats, coats, gloves, and boots when it gets below 50 degrees because it's "A frozen hell".
EXACTLY 100% agree. We have friends visit us from NJ that say the same and we say what it is not hot it is not over 100 yet
Dang it Karl it's 70 degrees not 50! lol Or maybe it's just me? I can NOT deal with the cold.
Someone better tell the "Global Warming" people to recalculate! hehe
According to the Ag Extension service in my state it would take 8 feet of snow to replenish the ground moisture shortage due to the drought this year.
I remember the great "Blizzard of '77" in Buffalo NY. We had snow drifts as high as the telephone poles. During the winter of '96-97', between Christmas day and New Years day we had 81 inches of snow fall. I know that the south doesn't have all the equipment that we have, but to close down damn near everything over just a couple of inches of snow.....REALLY!
Want a cookie Karl?
... and i gues you call a cat 1 hurricane a big bad superstorm lol.
learn to drive.
The main problem with any snowfall is the idiots in their suvs. "I have 4 wheel drive, I can go anywhere at any speed and stop on a dime."
Hey, maybe they can get some of those alleged "illegal" immigrants (ie., ALL latinos) to help dig them out?
great more inbred republicans
The nearer your destination the more ya keep slip-slid'ng away....
In our area, it actually DID start as freezing rain. Roads iced over, then snow on top of the ice.
And yes, southerners do tend to panic over snowfall. We don't have the resources, nor the experience, to handle it well.
On the other hand, in August when the heat hits, we don't go to malls to stay cool. We have band practice, football practice, work in yards, run, etc. Something that folks used to getting snow by the foot might not adjust to so easily.
Different regions of the country have different weather concerns. Why is that so hard to understand?
Because people aren't happy unless they can b*tch/ put others down?