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A nearby school playground, within the first 45 minutes.
So, we have lots of snow here. We haven't had snow where I live in a few good years, save for flurries that never stick. I'm in the southern United States, where it's not supposed to get very cold here to start with. Well, starting around 11:30AM yesterday, we got snow. Not a little bit, but it started falling faster than rain. And it was cold outside, too. A bitter 15F/-9C, which meant that the snow stuck to everything. All over the top half of my state, we have 3-4 inches of snow. It snowed for hours at a time. Driving distances that should have taken 10 minutes took an an hour and a half. People who left downtown at 1:00PM didn't arrive home until 3:00 AM, if they were lucky. Some people still aren't home yet, and it's been a day and a half. People ran out of gas and had to abandon their cars everywhere. Their were over 150 car accidents within my city and the surrounding cities, within the first several hours. Many buses carrying children home from school were stranded overnight or crashed. The roads are so packed everywhere that driving is nearly impossible. All schools in the area didn't call off school until around noon, which is also when most businesses discharged for the day. With everyone scrambling home at once, severe traffic was inevitable. Many parents couldn't get to their children, who ended up having to spend the night at school with teachers, some of whom are still trapped in schools. People are unable to drive at all in hilly areas, and the state is almost all hills. We're at the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains. I myself am trapped in my neighborhood currently. Two big hills are cutting off the back half of my neighborhood (where I am located) from the main road, even though trying to drive would be stupid anyway. Thankfully, we're fairly well stocked on all we'll need for a few days. It took three hours for me to get home from school (which I live 5-10 minutes away from) yesterday, and none of my family has attempted to drive since. People have had to shelter overnight in gas stations and grocery stores, as all hotels are completely full (though some people sleep in the lobbies), and I assume it will be the same tonight. Thankfully, my family and I all made it home safely, but I know a lot of people who are stranded or have abandoned their cars and tried to walk to somewhere to stay. Some of my neighbors have been stuck or left their cars. One of my neighbors spent all night helping push cars that ran out of gas, and had to stay at his mother's house. All schools and businesses are closed, and will be until conditions are stable once more. Earlier today, my neighborhood friend and I observed black ice form from snow on the street in under 30 minutes. Black ice is incredibly dangerous, and should never ever be driven on. Things are just going from bad to worse (and they were already worse). And being that we never get snow, people panic over frost. This is a heck of a lot worse than some petty little frost. The Department of Transportation has all but banned people from going out on the roads if they aren't already stuck out there. The highways are brutally dangerous, and diving anywhere is nearly impossible, because the ice clings to peoples' windshields and then, one can't see (which is kinda necessary for driving). Rock salt isn't dissolving the ice anywhere, and it won't matter once it's all gone black. Rebby, you'd better hope it doesn't come over there next. The governor declared a state-wide state of emergency yesterday. Between the abandoned vehicles, empty streets, and marooned people sprinkled about, it looks like a war zone.
Snow isn't always fun.
