Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reports from downtown Atlanta, Georgia, as snow begins to hit the region on Jan. 10.
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00:00Our coverage continues with storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.
00:03And Aaron, if it wasn't for that little banner
00:05right next to one of your elbows there
00:07that says Atlanta, Georgia, I mean,
00:08if I could guess what city was behind you,
00:10it looks like Cincinnati maybe where you were just
00:12earlier in the week or was that last week?
00:14My days are getting confused here.
00:15I think that was earlier this week, was it not, Aaron?
00:20Yeah, absolutely, guys.
00:20I feel you on the days of the week thing.
00:22This year has already been off to such a busy start.
00:24I've just lost track of what day it is anymore.
00:26And I tell you guys, I am very impressed
00:29at the amount of snow accumulated already.
00:31I mean, the original forecast was about an inch,
00:35maybe an inch and a half before we see that transition
00:37to freezing rain and sleet.
00:38And I tell you, I think we're going to exceed that.
00:40I mean, the roads are just completely covered
00:42in this slushy snow.
00:43I can see a sheet of ice underneath of it.
00:45And I've already seen issues all across the Metro,
00:49cars trying to make their way up little hills
00:51and then having to back up or just sliding backwards.
00:53The highways are completely snow covered
00:55because kind of like how we talked about
00:57a couple hours ago, is they're just not equipped
00:59to deal with this kind of snow.
01:01And honestly, this is falling at a much heavier pace
01:03than even I was expecting for the storm system
01:05before it transitioned to freezing rain and sleet.
01:08They can surprise you there, Aaron.
01:10Yeah, and I will say the dark blue's setting up
01:12right over you right now in Atlanta.
01:14So you're going to get a little bit more of that
01:16here to come.
01:18As guessing now, we're kind of in the throes
01:20of what would be a typical morning rush hour.
01:22How has this fared, at least as you've been
01:25out and about towards downtown?
01:28Well, you know, for a normal day,
01:29I can tell a lot of the businesses and school districts
01:32have closed down because for being at this hour
01:35in the major metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia,
01:37I can definitely tell there's less traffic out,
01:39but kind of like how we talked about before,
01:40we have a lot of essential workers out,
01:42hospitals have to stay open,
01:43grocery stores have to stay open,
01:45and it's been a very slow commute.
01:47And I'm starting to really see a lot of those issues
01:49start to stack up, especially on the maps.
01:51I'm starting to see a lot more backups
01:53that I'm going to be investigating here
01:54across the next half hour to an hour or so
01:56and documenting those as they come in
01:58and keep everyone informed on those road conditions
02:01and keep as many people off the roads
02:02as we possibly can with those real-time updates.
02:05Aaron, what kind of vehicles are you seeing out there?
02:07I would think if you live in Atlanta,
02:08the first thought is not,
02:09oh, I need to get all-wheel drive,
02:10I need to get four-wheel drive.
02:12What vehicles have been kind of struggling
02:13in the snow there?
02:16There's definitely been a lot of front
02:17and rear-wheel drive sport cars
02:19that have been really having a hard time,
02:22you know, making their way up those hills
02:23and sliding all across those roadways.
02:25And, you know, out in Colorado,
02:27where I live now, we have a lot of snow tires
02:28and all-terrain tires.
02:29And if you live in Atlanta, Georgia,
02:30that's probably the last thing on your mind to have.
02:32So, you know, a lot of those folks
02:34are going to be, unfortunately,
02:35dealing with those kinds of conditions
02:37for pretty much the latter part of the day
02:39and into the evening hours.
02:41And you've talked about this a little bit earlier,
02:42but we have had a cold week there in Atlanta.
02:45We have another cold week coming up
02:46for a city that's known by its nickname as Hotlanta.
02:49How have people been preparing for this?
02:54Yeah, absolutely.
02:55So in Northern Georgia,
02:55as I was making my way down here last night
02:57before stores started to close for the evening,
02:59a lot of the bread and non-perishable foods
03:01had been flying off the shelves
03:03and were virtual ghost towns,
03:04almost similar to what we see with hurricane preparations.
03:07And one thing I noticed too, especially down here,
03:10is a lot of the space heaters
03:11were completely empty off of the shelves.
03:13So not only folks are preparing
03:15for the current snowstorm ongoing,
03:16there's going to be a shot of cold air
03:18coming in behind this.
03:19And I think a lot of folks are taking it very seriously,
03:21hunkering down and watching over their loved ones,
03:24especially the elder folks,
03:25which we talked so much about.
03:26They're especially prone to these cold conditions
03:29that are going to be making their way
03:30into the Southeast as the week continues.
03:32And Aaron, we can only hope
03:33that people are using those space heaters,
03:34and if it comes to the generators,
03:36safely here to prevent any more issues
03:39after the storm leaves.
03:41We appreciate your reporting live in Atlanta,
03:43where you could think it would be
03:45a city much farther north,
03:46as we can hear Aaron surprised too
03:48by just the amount of snow that's coming down
03:50right now in Atlanta.