Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

From Georgia FIRST:

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

As someone in Michigan I always find these things a little funny, but I had my perspective properly set a couple years ago. I was traveling for work and was in Sweden working with some great people over there. We were making small talk at lunch (their English was great, my Swedish is non-existent) no communication difficulties at all until I mentioned that after speaking with my kids I found out that they had a "snow-day" after getting about a foot of snow (I was even fancy enough to say about 30cm). Lots of puzzled looks at the table, some back and forth in Swedish, when they smiled and said:

So it really is all about what you are accustom to, and prepared for -- be safe and good luck.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

South Carolina cancelled their event too - but we can't pick up our KOP until WEDNESDAY. :ahh:

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

This thread got me curious. Just got confirmation from our RD, despite three snow days in a row, Boise Kickoff is a go!

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

It does seem a little silly to cancel based on speculation. But most schools north of Atlanta have canceled weekend events. That creates a lot of liability if you choose to travel with you team regardless of how bad the roads really are.

But just as a point of reference, Most of the snow related traffic issues in Atlanta come from northerners who "know" how to drive in snow. Any self respecting southerner is at home with his 5 loaves of bread and 2 gallons of milk. :yikes:

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Man, I give up my post as Kickoff Coordinator and everything goes to hell...

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

NC Kickoffs have been cancelled as well.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

I was working remotely with some people in Huntsville, AL a few years ago. After not hearing from a guy for a couple of days, I got an apologetic email with a photo. There had been a snowstorm, road closures, people stayed home from work. "Look", he said, "you can't even see my driveway, it's covered in snow!" There was maybe an inch of snow on the road in the photo. I laughed. I'm from Ottawa. The snowbanks at the end of my driveway right now are taller than my car.

But, I also recognize we're a city that expects snow and prepares for it. We spend a ton of city money on plow equipment, and most people prepare themselves with snow tires, scrapers, etc. It's a very different (and dangerous) game if you weren't expecting it!

Stay safe everyone! Have a great kickoff weekend!

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

You are in Indiana now. No snow days for you.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

For all those getting snowed in this weekend - Stay safe. Set up Skype/Google Hangout/whatever to let your team communicate and watch the stream from home. It's truly amazing how much you can accomplish (in terms of planning and initial design) remotely like this - it forces everyone to stay on point, practically eliminates side conversations that distract people. Use this time wisely and safely!

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

From Michigan where snow never phases anyone, and taught in Maryland where any mention of the stuff closes the state (and creates headaches for mentors), I totally understand. As I looked at the weather sites, it looks to be a legit nasty snow/ice machine. Hope everyone is able to watch kickoff online.

Be safe! PLAN and CREATE... Build tomorrow.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

We got a foot of snow in Colorado. The Denver Kickoff is still a go! :D

In all seriousness, though, stay safe down south. I know you all don't get snow often, so be careful on the roads and whatnot!

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Do you know when you are able to pick up your KOP? Hopefully it's sooner than 4 days after kickoff.....

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Not yet. Let me create a separate thread.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

As someone from a smaller town in Michigan that historically has not been prompt in their snow removal efforts (though it's been much faster in recent years), I can say that even just using All-Season tires and dropping your speed is pretty much all you need to do in the majority of cases of winter weather. It's a bit more difficult with smaller cars and/or rear wheel drive but even unplowed/salted roads are usually still traversable as long as you're not going up/down large hills or driving too fast.

Slow down, plan extra stopping distance, and don't use dry-road tires. :rolleyes:

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

For Georgia teams, Kit pick up is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at the Atlanta DE Field. From the GaFirst Email

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Yes it is! Our school system has shut down official activities for the weekend. We are setting up a web conference to hold a strategy session Saturday afternoon. It will be a great introduction to virtual meetings for our students. I might loose a few hair follicles in the process though...

David

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

In Atlanta, pretty much if you are not going a hill, you are going down a hill. We rarely have dry snow. It is a mixture of water, sleet, snow, & ice. Even when patchy you have black ice in shady areas. Invariably on corner apexes after a stretch of dry road. Much different than dry snow pack that exists further north for most of the year. But on the plus side, we actually have a summer that lasts for more than a weekend. :)

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Oh joy, 100 degree heat for 3+ months out of the year. :rolleyes:

In all seriousness, I hope that if anyone drives, they follow Chris' advice. Leave extra space, slow it down, and don't take corners like you're in Formula One.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Virginia is officially joining the list of cancelled kick-off events.

https://www.firstchesapeake.org/news...d-va-cancelled

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Winter storms in Atlanta can shut the city down. Cars pile up in icy depressions, due to daytime thawing followed by overnight re-freezing. Southern drivers are generally less experienced with wintery road conditions, and southern cities are generally less equipped to clear ice and snow. Those of us who lived in Atlanta during SnowJam82 recall these factors well.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

As someone who grew up in the North East and now lives in the south, I find it crazy how bad people here are at driving in the snow, but any time there is snow on the road, I can guarantee I will see 5+ cars off the side of the road or in the median on my 10 mile drive to work.

You can forget about anyone having snow tires, in VA you can pass inspection with 1/16" of tread, and it is good for a year, so there are people on the road on tires that had almost no tread a full year ago.

The worst offenders though are people with lifted pickup trucks and tires with chunky treads, they are great for playing in the mud, but they are useless in the snow at highway speeds.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

That's the thing though - most all of our roads are hills and curves! In the foothills of the Appalachians - a flat straight road is the exception. :cool:

I lived in Utah and there was a lot of snow - and the driving was easy. Most of the Provo - Salt Lake - Ogden corridor is relatively flat.

And, the snow was different. In Utah, it is a nice, dry, powdery snow. Even when it was packed down on the road, it generally wasn't like a sheet of ice. Here, the snow is wet and and seems to get icier....

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

That just shows you there are "bad winter drivers" from the north too.

Usually up here in New England, the first storm usually shakes up 50% of the people until they get back into it for the season.. They "forgot" how to drive in the snow for the first day.



Be Safe.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

I'm not surprised the Georgia kickoff event was cancelled. Georgia Tech has closed their campus today starting today at noon (actually right now). If they don't want their college students going to classes, they certainly don't want thousands of high school students who don't really know where they're going flooding onto campus.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

We actually don't have class until Monday:P

Campus being closed Friday was a big concern because of KoP delivery. The loading dock we were going to had to be staffed so we couldn't use it because no employees. Thankfully we were able to come up with the back-up plan and get kits to teams before the Tuesday "tell FIRST you're missing something" deadline.

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I don't buy northern drivers are better. It is all relative.

I moved from the south to Milwaukee WI. The first miner snow fall of the winter always cause havoc on the roads. This would occur mid October when the temp would fluctuate above and below freezing. Refreezing any melted snow to ice like it does in Atlanta. I would wait an hour or so before trying to go to work, and would see dozens of cars in the ditches and median and say, “This looks just like Atlanta”.

One year the first snow struck at about 3 in the afternoon. As everyone piled on to the roads to get home, the plows could not plow the roads. Hundreds of down town office worker were stuck in down town Milwaukee in their cars. They had to spend the night in gas stations and mini marts. This was all for less than 2 inch of snow.
Think Lake Shore Drive Chicago 2011.

When these Wisconsinite would poke at me about Atlanta drivers in show, I would ask them what is the Milwaukee annual snow fall? They would say around 50 inches. I would ask what would happen if half of that all fell in one 24 hours. That is exactly what happens when Atlanta gets 1 inch of its 2 inch annual snow fall. It all relative.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

As a northerner living in the south, I know how to drive in snow. I know that you don't drive up or down hills, so when I drive tomorrow I'll stick to the flat roads.....er....hmmm, flat roads, where are they at? :ahh: .....as a northerner I'll be staying inside. ::yikes:

Brian

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Depth of snow is a poor guide to the effect of snow. Powder snow, at -10 C is much different from the sloppy, mucky, icy slush that falls when temperatures are near zero.

The challenge isn't snow... it's safety, and that is mostly based on friction.

Jason

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

Just as long as you get that snow stuff out of the way before the Colorado Regional this year. I'm not sure how sane I will be if I'm driving up there from Albuquerque after giving up on getting a direct flight from Phoenix again. Good thing that I had an AWESOME FTAA and crew (and Andy Baker to make some phone calls for help from his FTAs) that got the field built while I was still on the road south of Colorado Springs waiting for the freeway to open up again. That blizzard was nuts!

The event was amazing though and I have a good story to tell about my first solo FTA assignment!

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

How, er, apt. I certainly can drive in 4" of snow - I've been doing it all my life - but all the other idiots here in Atlanta can't. So either I risk getting walloped by some yahoo who thinks 4-wheel-drive includes 4-wheel-stop, or stuck behind some yahoo who thinks slowing down going up a hill is a good idea. And oh do we have hills....

Then there's the ice. Georgia doesn't have snow plows, and they are awful darned proud of their 30 (!) salt trucks. For the whole state. :ahh:

I'm staying home with a 6-pack. Of Dew, of course.

Re: Georgia Kickoff Event Cancelled
 

... and only 3 of those have the ability to salt the roads.