Snow snarls morning commute in Atlanta

AccuWeather

Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reports from downtown Atlanta, Georgia, as snow begins to hit the region on Jan. 10.

Transcript

00:00Our coverage continues with storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.

00:03And Aaron, if it wasn't for that little banner

00:05right next to one of your elbows there

00:07that says Atlanta, Georgia, I mean,

00:08if I could guess what city was behind you,

00:10it looks like Cincinnati maybe where you were just

00:12earlier in the week or was that last week?

00:14My days are getting confused here.

00:15I think that was earlier this week, was it not, Aaron?

00:20Yeah, absolutely, guys.

00:20I feel you on the days of the week thing.

00:22This year has already been off to such a busy start.

00:24I've just lost track of what day it is anymore.

00:26And I tell you guys, I am very impressed

00:29at the amount of snow accumulated already.

00:31I mean, the original forecast was about an inch,

00:35maybe an inch and a half before we see that transition

00:37to freezing rain and sleet.

00:38And I tell you, I think we're going to exceed that.

00:40I mean, the roads are just completely covered

00:42in this slushy snow.

00:43I can see a sheet of ice underneath of it.

00:45And I've already seen issues all across the Metro,

00:49cars trying to make their way up little hills

00:51and then having to back up or just sliding backwards.

00:53The highways are completely snow covered

00:55because kind of like how we talked about

00:57a couple hours ago, is they're just not equipped

00:59to deal with this kind of snow.

01:01And honestly, this is falling at a much heavier pace

01:03than even I was expecting for the storm system

01:05before it transitioned to freezing rain and sleet.

01:08They can surprise you there, Aaron.

01:10Yeah, and I will say the dark blue's setting up

01:12right over you right now in Atlanta.

01:14So you're going to get a little bit more of that

01:16here to come.

01:18As guessing now, we're kind of in the throes

01:20of what would be a typical morning rush hour.

01:22How has this fared, at least as you've been

01:25out and about towards downtown?

01:28Well, you know, for a normal day,

01:29I can tell a lot of the businesses and school districts

01:32have closed down because for being at this hour

01:35in the major metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia,

01:37I can definitely tell there's less traffic out,

01:39but kind of like how we talked about before,

01:40we have a lot of essential workers out,

01:42hospitals have to stay open,

01:43grocery stores have to stay open,

01:45and it's been a very slow commute.

01:47And I'm starting to really see a lot of those issues

01:49start to stack up, especially on the maps.

01:51I'm starting to see a lot more backups

01:53that I'm going to be investigating here

01:54across the next half hour to an hour or so

01:56and documenting those as they come in

01:58and keep everyone informed on those road conditions

02:01and keep as many people off the roads

02:02as we possibly can with those real-time updates.

02:05Aaron, what kind of vehicles are you seeing out there?

02:07I would think if you live in Atlanta,

02:08the first thought is not,

02:09oh, I need to get all-wheel drive,

02:10I need to get four-wheel drive.

02:12What vehicles have been kind of struggling

02:13in the snow there?

02:16There's definitely been a lot of front

02:17and rear-wheel drive sport cars

02:19that have been really having a hard time,

02:22you know, making their way up those hills

02:23and sliding all across those roadways.

02:25And, you know, out in Colorado,

02:27where I live now, we have a lot of snow tires

02:28and all-terrain tires.

02:29And if you live in Atlanta, Georgia,

02:30that's probably the last thing on your mind to have.

02:32So, you know, a lot of those folks

02:34are going to be, unfortunately,

02:35dealing with those kinds of conditions

02:37for pretty much the latter part of the day

02:39and into the evening hours.

02:41And you've talked about this a little bit earlier,

02:42but we have had a cold week there in Atlanta.

02:45We have another cold week coming up

02:46for a city that's known by its nickname as Hotlanta.

02:49How have people been preparing for this?

02:54Yeah, absolutely.

02:55So in Northern Georgia,

02:55as I was making my way down here last night

02:57before stores started to close for the evening,

02:59a lot of the bread and non-perishable foods

03:01had been flying off the shelves

03:03and were virtual ghost towns,

03:04almost similar to what we see with hurricane preparations.

03:07And one thing I noticed too, especially down here,

03:10is a lot of the space heaters

03:11were completely empty off of the shelves.

03:13So not only folks are preparing

03:15for the current snowstorm ongoing,

03:16there's going to be a shot of cold air

03:18coming in behind this.

03:19And I think a lot of folks are taking it very seriously,

03:21hunkering down and watching over their loved ones,

03:24especially the elder folks,

03:25which we talked so much about.

03:26They're especially prone to these cold conditions

03:29that are going to be making their way

03:30into the Southeast as the week continues.

03:32And Aaron, we can only hope

03:33that people are using those space heaters,

03:34and if it comes to the generators,

03:36safely here to prevent any more issues

03:39after the storm leaves.

03:41We appreciate your reporting live in Atlanta,

03:43where you could think it would be

03:45a city much farther north,

03:46as we can hear Aaron surprised too

03:48by just the amount of snow that's coming down

03:50right now in Atlanta.

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