A well-predicted and historic winter storm impacted the Deep South this week. I am staring out of my office window at a frozen landscape and 14 degrees F temperature in my part of the metropolitan Atlanta area. Most schools and many businesses are closed. As a meteorologist with over thirty years of experience, there were things about this storm that even made my jaw drop. Here are four fascinating takeaways from the storm with a few lessons sprinkled into the mix too.

Historic Snowfall In New Orleans

In the past three weeks, I have visited New Orleans twice. I attended the Sugar Bowl and the American Meteorological Society conference, respectively. The world’s top meteorologists barely missed a historic snowy backdrop for our conference by a week. 8 inches of snow officially fell in New Orleans, and there were unofficial reports that approached 11 inches. This shattered the previous record of 2.7 inches, which stood since 1963. The National Weather Service noted that prior to the official record station, there was a storm in 1895 that produced similar totals.

Blizzard Conditions Along Interstate 10

In another example of things that I have not seen before (more on that later), the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana issued its first-ever Blizzard Warning. For context, here in the South we often misuse the term and refer to any snowstorm as a blizzard since they are relatively uncommon. That’s not what we are talking about here. Parts of the Gulf Coast along Interstate 10 actually experienced blizzard conditions as defined by the National Weather Service. Conditions included wind gusts over 35 mph, reduced visibility, and blowing snow. This region is certainly accustomed to major hurricanes, tornadoes, heat and floods. I honestly did not have “Blizzard” on their bingo card.

Wintry Precipitation In Florida And Coastal Regions Of Georgia, Alabama and Carolinas

One of my Forbes editors lives in coastal South Carolina. She told me that her child was very excited about the prospect of snow in the Charleston area. I am a three-time Florida State University alumnus, so it was amusing to see current students and former classmates frolicking around like kids in the Tallahassee snow. I even saw a video of a student climbing a tree on campus. While a bit odd, it was a moment of unfiltered joy. Joy is a good thing. My friend and noted hurricane chaser Josh Morgerman shared a great picture of his Mississippi-based, hurricane-resilient home that I previously wrote about in this format.

While places like Mobile and Destin received snow, Florida State University weather expert Brad Johnson said, “The rain-ice-snow line made a home in Tallahassee last night.” This wintry mix scenario was common along the Interstate 95 corridor from Florida to the Carolinas.

Atlanta Snowmageddon 2.0

Here in the Atlanta area things played out exactly as we expected. The weather forecasts were spot on. For days now, experts warned that the most significant snowfall would be from the Atlanta area southward. On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a Winter Weather Advisory and a Winter Storm Warning for appropriate counties. As expected places south of Atlanta hit the snow jackpot, but smaller amounts fell in the metropolitan area along and south of Interstate 85. I was particularly fascinated by a picture shared on social media by Augusta-resident Jennifer McGhee Mote. Like many places in the Southeast, this region was devastated by Hurricane Helene and is still in recovery mode. Her picture above shows debris from Hurricane Helene covered with snow. It is a vivid reminder of the tenuous line between violence and beauty inherent to weather events.

The forecast for this storm was quite good in my professional opinion, yet the Atlanta area still experienced some challenges though not to the extent of the “Snowmageddon 2014.” I saw numerous news reports of stranded drivers, four-hour commutes, and icy crashes. The graphic above shows traffic patterns Tuesday evening in the Atlanta area. It is pretty obvious where the snow fell. So what happened that we can learn from?

The Public (And Businesses) Still Struggle With Winter Messaging

The meteorological setup for this winter storm in Georgia was eerily similar to the 2014 event that paralyzed Atlanta. Temperatures were extremely cold (for Georgia) and snow potential was greatest within the southern part of the Atlanta area. Pre-storm conditions were quite dry, which introduces the potential for evaporative cooling as the snow machine gets started. In 2014, a relatively small amount of snow fell, but with temperatures well below freezing, road conditions became hazardous almost immediately. This left schoolchildren and workers stranded for hours.

In the aftermath of that event, city and state officials convened taskforces to learn from that event. I actually served on Mayor Kasim Reed’s taskforce. With the current storm, I clearly observed examples of lessons being applied. The state prepares more brine to treat roads, and some institutions were preemptively responded to the risk. Many school systems closed or pivoted to digital learning days even though snowfall was not expected until the middle of the afternoon. Here are the problems that still loom.

Because snow was predicted to fall later in the afternoon, many people ventured out or had to go to work. This left several people (and a few isolated school systems that did not close) in a precarious situation because forecasters (including me) warned for days that afternoon conditions would deteriorate. People often misunderstand that it is not the “amount” of snow with these storms. It is how fast what does fall freezes in frigid temperatures.

I am also convinced that winter weather advisories confuse people. I saw a person complaining on a popular Georgia social media page that her county was not in the Winter Storm Warning so they did not take action. That county was in the Winter Weather Advisory, which called for accumulations up to an inch (see graphic above). One inch of snow (or even half of that amount) freezing quickly is a recipe for a traffic nightmare. We need to continue educating the public about advisories or consider new approaches. From my perspective, many people or businesses do not consume advisories in the same way they do warnings.

Extreme Cold Events and Climate Change?

Even as climate warms, we will always have winter and everything that comes with it. Scientific studies have shown extreme cold events have generally declined in recent decades. Cold events and winter storms are breaking news when they happen these days. It is important to convey that no individual weather event affirms or refutes climate change. Weather is your mood, and climate is your personality. However, there are studies that show climate warming must be examined for its impacts on polar vortex processes and availability of water vapor to snowstorms.

While such notions are counterintuitive to some, the physics is not. Writing in PBS News and The Conversation, Matthew Barlow offered a compelling summary of where the science is on this topic. He wrote, “More recently, we have shown that for large areas of the U.S., Europe and Northeast Asia, while the number of these severe cold events is clearly decreasing – as expected with global warming – it does not appear that their intensity is correspondingly decreasing, despite the rapid warming in their Arctic source regions.” Scientific studies will be needed to firm up our understanding and provide challenges too. We’ll certainly need to know if more Gulf Coast Blizzards are in our future, especially given all of the sensitive petrochemical infrastructure there.