Winter Weather Frenzy

Snow hit North Georgia on Thursday. This storm was much like the one last year, which was a short-lived phenomenon. It snowed through the night. There was around 2 inches on the ground by morning. Schools in the area were closed or delayed. By Friday, there were only isolated patches of snow left.

On Friday, though, the news stations were filled with reports of the massive storm to come; round 2. Moisture was streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico. A huge mass of cold air was lumbering in from the north. They were supposed to meet in Atlanta, and the storm was to rumble north into the Carolinas.

I am generally pretty skeptical about advance weather reports. In my experience, they are wrong more often than right. But, lo and behold, the snow started about 11 a.m. - big, wet flakes obscuring visibility. The flakes were visible proof that the predictions may be right this time.

Of course, we had errands to do - a Wal-Mart trip, go to the Post Office, and then grocery shopping. Life in a small rural county is just hectic. By the time we got to Ingles, the grocery store, winter storm panic was raging among the citizens of Habersham County. The last time I encountered such storm frenzy was in Mobile with a hurricane bearing down.

We had to park in the lower south 40 of the parking lot - out where the bad employees of the month have to park. Inside the store, all of the grocery carts were gone. A crowd was waiting for the employees bringing in the wet and cold carts from the lot. Navigating the aisles was worse than driving on the freeways in LA. It was made worse by the fact that it seemed entire families and all of their relatives came together - Mom and her kids, cousin Sally and her kids, Dad and Grandpa all together. It was bad enough trying to negotiate a passage through the mob, but they would not stay in a compact group. They stretched side by side across the aisle, and, at least, 15 feet from front to back. Waiting for them to clear the aisle was like waiting for the 4th of July parade to go by.

Now, of course, at 3:30 p.m., the snow has stopped. The weather predictions have been revised. Calm has been restored.