My parents are still in Birmingham, along with the majority of the people I grew up with. At 10:15 am, I received a text from a friend with a picture of the snow as she drove to pick her two year old up from daycare. "Ummm, it's a blizzard in Bham!!" she wrote, and sent a picture of falling snow. I chuckled and told Mike, "It's snowing in Birmingham!" He smiled and said, "You wish you were there, don't you?" And I did. The South is known for panicking during cold weather, and I guessed my friend would pick up her child and enjoy a few snow days snuggled up with her loved ones. I was actually a little bit jealous.
But my friend kept texting and I could tell by her words that things weren't so funny anymore. "It's awful. I'm sliding all over the place and can't get to [her child's] school." Traffic was a mess because Birmingham is in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and there are hills. LOTS of steep, winding hills that were now covered in ice. Between 10:15 and 12:30, my friend inched along in her car, waiting to get to the school. She arrived home with her daughter, and a bonus child, her nephew. My friend's sister had been unable to get to the school and her husband was stranded at Wal-Mart. As far as I know, he's still there. Two hours in the car ended up being a short trip.
I pulled up Facebook and saw dozens of updates from people who were stuck in traffic. EVERYONE was on the road, trying to make it home from work, pick up their kids from school, or both. I emailed my father and asked him to please be careful. He wrote back, "It's hardly snowing." He's from Virginia and tends not to worry when there is white precipitation coming down. My "Yankee" father ended up walking 3.5 miles home from work last night because the street was a strip of ice. No hat, coat or gloves because this sort of thing just doesn't happen in Alabama. Luckily, a sweet lady at his office loaned him a scarf that he used to wrap around his neck.
Y'all, it's bad. People are stuck on the roads, in drug stores, and at work. Hundreds of children, teachers and parents spent the night in schools last night. A lady gave birth on the highway. Thousands of people braved single digit temperatures in their cars because there was no place else to go. People are dying.
This has nothing to do with Southerners overreacting. It's not funny. When I moved to St. Louis, my first winter was tough. I did not own scarves, hats or gloves because I had never needed them before. Most of my coats had only been purchased to accent an outfit. It would have been a waste of money for me to purchase these items and let them sit in the the closet, year after year, "just in case" snow came to Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama. Similarly, Birmingham, Atlanta and many other Southern cities have not invested in hundreds of snow plows and salting trucks. Our money and knowledge is focused on keeping people safe during hurricanes and tornadoes. That's what we're used to. I have been shocked by the nasty comments I have seen in response to these events. This morning I read this, in response to a CNN article focused on the Atlanta city shut down:
"People have no sense. Keep a kit in your car, and get off the road if you're not moving. Sleeping in your car, or waiting it out in a hotel is much better than paying your insurance deductible and going through the claims process. Slow down and take it as a time for some personal reflection. I have waited out tornados in K-mart, Severe rain storms in Walmart, and traffic jams in restaurants. Stop being in such a hurry to get where your going, you'll get there eventually, and will be less stressed than sitting in traffic fighting for those precious inches to get home."
I am amazed. People HAVE been waiting. They are not in a hurry. They have been stuck on the road for TWELVE hours! I don't recall anyone saying such ugly things when tornadoes hit Moore, Oklahoma or Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey. You know why? Because people are hurting, and making fun of the situation does not help anyone. It is not funny when a natural disaster hits an area that is unprepared for it. No amount of sarcasm is going to improve the situation.
Fortunately, most people are nice, particularly in the South. Put a National Disaster in front of a group of Southerners and they turn into saints. Many people opened their homes to strangers last night. Facebook friends reported where they lived and that their houses were open - for anyone. Chili, hot chocolate and stiff drinks were ready and waiting as people who had never met were ushered into each other's homes. Men were out on four-wheelers rescuing people who were stuck in cars. (Who's laughing now at those red necks who go muddin'?) Kindness prevailed. Love wins.
This is not anyone's fault. This is not the meteorologist's fault, or the school's fault or the government's fault. Meteorologists are getting nasty, nasty things written to them. Birmingham's own James Spann apologized in a blog post this morning, writing:
"I guess I know how Cade Foster feels (the University of Alabama place kicker who took heat after the Auburn game).
If you are know anything about college football, you know how badly he must be feeling.
There is no one to blame. It is just a huge mess and people need help. People need to be supported. People need to be loved. So please, stop making fun and see what you can do to help. If there is nothing you can do, that's ok. Just be kind. Be empathetic. Believe me, the people in the Southeast are wishing they were "snowed in" with a half inch of fluffy white stuff too.
