At Monday night’s County Commission meeting, County Engineer Jeff Mckinney said they had sand trucks ready and operational, able to take care of any bridges that may ice on Tuesday. Likewise, County Emergency Management Agency Director Kirk Smith said he would be in the office starting at 4:00 a.m. waiting for calls from anyone having issues related to the snow and ice forecast to come overnight.

The only ice seen on my lawn today came from a blue tray from the freezer.

But, nothing really happened, did it? Kids stayed home from school, businesses closed, some people missed work, and for what?

Some will criticize the closures, criticize the meteorologists, and generally complain about it no matter what decisions were made. Times like these, though, we need to remember with some seriousness the outcome of the “Snowpocalypse” in February 2014.

Highway 280 through Birmingham in 2014. Stuck and abandoned vehicles were a common sight that week.

Gridlock in city centers, kids stuck on stranded school buses and sleeping in school gymnasiums for days. Abandoned vehicles covered Highway 280 in Birmingham as though it was the Zombie Apocalypse. Many people were unprepared because the forecast was for a mild “maybe a dusting” and no one took it seriously. So, we were all caught off guard. People went to work, children went to school, and businesses stayed open. Not this time. Perhaps not since 2014, have EMA and decision makers in Alabama taken forecasts for snow and ice so lightly. They learned their lessons. Perhaps it’s the rest of us that have forgotten already?

 

Centreville City Councilman Calvin Elliott had this to say of the day:

Centreville City Councilman Calvin Elliott

“To those of you complaining about the snow not living up to your expectations and fussing at/about the forecasters prepping you for something much bigger and much worse.
….Chill….
Remember a couple of years ago when it was not expected to be a big event but they got that one wrong the other way?
I do.
I remember the cars being abandoned on the interstates and side roads. I remember the stories of school kids being stranded. 
It was a much bigger mess and as we told ourselves…a learning experience. Well we learned and I guess we have forgotten.
As a parent, from the deep south, I appreciate that when there was a good chance of my child being in a bus on potentially icy roads that the people in charge thought that might not be a good idea.
And as for the meteorologist, they are forecasters, using the best data available. They don’t control the weather, just offer an educated guess at it.”

Not having a better way to put it, I’ll just leave you with that. I will also add a thank you to Kirk Smith, Jeff McKinney, and all First Responders who stood ready to help in case this had been Snow-mageddon 2019. Maybe next time.

 

SOURCEThe Bibb Voice
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A father, creative professional, and an alumnus of Bibb County High School, Jeremy has found his way back to Centreville after many years away. He studied Finance and Economics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and almost a decade ago left the "normal" business world for audio and video production. A freelance writer, photographer, sound engineer, and film and video producer/director/editor, his work has appeared online for Southern Living, People, Health, Food & Wine, Sports Illustrated, Cooking Light, It's a Southern Thing, and This Is Alabama, as well as for independent musicians and filmmakers across Alabama.

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