Alabama Snow & Ice Event January 2014

Fox6 WBRC coverage of the January 2014 snow and ice event.

Certainly a mess out there.

And our big problem--

a lot of times, we get snow,
and the temperature sometimes

will even go up
after the snow ends.

But, in this
particular case, we're

going to stay well
below freezing.

So it's almost like a tundra
out there with respect

to the temperatures and the
air mass, extremely cold.

We've got one of those
dry, powdery snows.

And as it settles on
some of these roadways,

we're getting the ice
that's developing.

And it will probably stay
there for quite a while.

A lot of folks, they just need
help out there on the roads.

Right.

And I'm not sure that that
help is coming anytime soon.

Just be careful.

Take care of each
other out there.

You were just talking
to your husband.

Yeah.

We had been kind of telling
you, we're here with you.

My husband's in traffic
trying to get to our son.

My son texted me that
they were starting

to serve lunches at their school
because the kids are stuck.

Their parents can't get to them.

And my husband said
he had picked up

a couple of parents who had
gotten out of their cars who

had gotten stuck too.

So it is happening
all over the place.

I mean, we haven't seen the
northern band really fizzle

much.

It just keeps re-intensifying.

So if we can go to our
VIPIR, we can see the radar,

and we can see the
temperatures overlaid.

You can see it's
definitely cold enough

for this to continue to stick.

And we've seen the one intense
band that moved through.

We were out interviewing Bart
Starr, the former great NFL

quarterback with the
Green Bay Packers,

about an upcoming interview
for "Good Day Alabama."

And so, now, all of a
sudden, the snow comes down,

and you see what 280 looks
like going eastbound.

A lot of people, like
this young lady here--

maybe you can see way down
there, far side of the--

in the middle of
the road there--

Kerry Nivens, if you can see
that-- people have abandoned

their cars at this point, just
getting up, losing patience,

and realizing they're not
going to get anywhere.

So they've now
abandoned their cars,

and they are going on foot.

We see a lot of people do
that up and down this road.

We've seen a couple of
fender-benders here.

Luckily, there was nothing--

--cars, I mean, move over here
to the side, and cars trying

to get back on Lakeshore.

A lot of these cars have been
turning around in front of me.

So I'm not sure what's
ahead of me exactly.

But I've been on the road
for about 30 minutes,

and I've gone less than a mile.

I'm at the Jefferson County
Emergency Management Agency.

What I'm hearing from people
downstairs is, a big problem.

County and city
sand crews are out.

They're trying to get to
those roadways that need sand.

But cars are jamming
the roadways.

They can't go down those
roads because vehicles

have jammed them up.

Authorities are out trying
to move the vehicles off

so the sand trucks
can do their job.

But it is a tedious
process right now.

And they're doing what they can.

People are being
asked to be patient.

If you're out--

--enjoy themselves.

Let's get an update now.

Let's go to Britton Lynn.

She has been looking at
the traffic conditions.

We know it's a mess, but
she has specifics for us.

Yeah.

And this is a look.

I'm just going to take us
through a few cameras real

quick and try to tell you what
I know as fast as possible.

Red Mountain Expressway
at University

continuing to look the same.

It is not moving.

And I'm surprised I'm
even seeing cars--

this is the
southbound by the way.

But I'm surprised I'm
even seeing cars over here

in the northbound lanes.

I've barely seen any.

It is very, very
slick right here,

Red Mountain
Expressway northbound.

I've been watching cars
slide off the roadway.

Got a lot of black
ice in this area

you really want
to watch out for.

Another spot, this is
I-65 at Alford Avenue.

I haven't seen a car come
through in the past 30 minutes.

I've been just sitting,
watching this camera.

At one point, there was
a jackknifed 18-wheeler

in front of here.

I've seen dozens
of people walking.

I've never seen so
many cars stranded.

So this is I-65 northbound.

You cannot get on I-65
northbound right--

The neurosurgeon at Trinity
Medical Center, Dr. Zenko

Hrynkiw--

hope I said that right, Doctor--

he walked six miles yesterday.

He got a call when he
was at Brookwood Medical

Center about a
patient at Trinity

who had a brain hemorrhage.

He started to drive to
Trinity Medical Center.

Couldn't get there.

Roads were all
messed up, obviously.

So he just left his car--

hoped it wouldn't
get towed away--

and he hiked it.

He walked about six miles over
to Trinity Medical Center,

did the surgery.

And the surgery, from what
I understand, went well.