A Blizzard Hit Birmingham

The 2014 Blizzard

  Yesterday Alabama was hit by a winter snow storm. We saw it coming, the weather forecasters knew that snow would be falling across the state, but where it would fall was not so well foretold.

  I live and work around Birmingham, AL. and our area was expected to only get a "dusting" of snow. Unfortuneately this forecast was off by a bit and Birmingham recieved about 2 inches. Also it came in quickly around 10:30 am and on a school day, so the kids were by that time in school and the parents and everyone else was either home or at work. Needless to say the timing of the storm's arrival put quite a monkey in the wrench for the people around Birmingham.

  The school kids, a lot of them, stayed in school overnight although many parents tried to pick up their children. And many people tried to drive home in the blizzard that was quickly setting in and putting the city into a deep-freeze. This recipe created a real problem with every road becoming jammed with cars that could barely move and many becoming stuck in ice and snow. Thousands of people were hopelessly stuck in their cars overnight still trying to make it home while others simply abandoned their vehicles and walked.

  I ended up stuck and iced in at work and couldn't make it home. I work for O'Reilly's Auto Parts doing deliveries and have 2 HUB stops on my route. I'd made it to my first store when the weather became too bad to continue on and so I relented to stay and spend the night there at the store. As time wore on other people walking by stopped in to get out of the cold and were welcome to stay to keep warm, which they happily accepted. About a dozen or so people thus spent their night with us.

  It was a rough night, but we made it through and today-with the help of my manager and his 4X4 pickup truck and some thankful melting of snow and ice on the roads-we managed to drive back to the HUB store. From there I drove my own vehicle back home, where I gratefully took a hot shower and settled in for a much more comfortable evening and wrote this post.

  I heard of many people who helped others in their time of need. I truely hope that no one died while sitting in their cars overnight or otherwise. I took a few photos of the snow yesterday. Here are some: