10 years later: Do you remember the time ‘Snowmageddon’ brought Atlanta to a stop?
Do you remember the Snowmaggedon in 2014?
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It was one of the biggest events in Georgia’s history that happened a decade ago on January 28, 2014.
The snowstorm and its aftermath paralyzed metro Atlanta for days.
Some may have said it was the perfect storm of events but it was also called the Snowpocalypse.
The storm only produced about two to three inches of snow. But throughout the late afternoon and evening, the snow became slush -- and then sheets of ice.
Once frozen over, the metro’s interstates turned into parking lots.
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“Authorities told us that they responded to more than 200 accidents this afternoon,” Channel 2′s Justin Farmer reported throughout our coverage of the storm.
Some drivers slept in their cars. Others ran out of gas. Many abandoned their cars and just walked home.
The storm also had a major impact on schools and children. Some bus trips were delayed for hours.
“I was super scared. I was like if I don’t get home to my parents, like, I’m going to freak out,” one student said.
Other buses were flat-out stranded. Metro Atlanta was paralyzed for days.
Thousands of flights were canceled because of the winter weather. Many people were unable to even get on the roads to get to the airport.
NewsChopper 2 got a bird’s-eye view of the frozen carnage on Georgia’s interstates, showing hundreds of abandoned cars.
“Within a very short window of time, many more motorists got on the roadways and during that same timeframe is when the amount of snow continued to come,” then-Gov. Nathan Deal said about the storm.
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Since 2014, there have been major changes on the state level, including the creation of a state meteorologist position to monitor our forecast and coordinate with state agencies.
Also, there is more pre-treatment of the state’s roads.
Another big change, the state installed a network of road sensors across Georgia providing a precise measurement closely monitored by Severe Weather Team 2, the state, and GDOT.
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