Apparently lots of people needed to find their snow legs.

This little clip from the local paper shows that I wasn't the only one having a little trouble with the weather on Tuesday. There must be some happy medium between the hype and needless closings we frequently saw in Atlanta and this:

A little snow causes 650-plus traffic accidents in Wichita area
Source: Kansas.com: Local12-11-2008 6:32 PM
The first winter storm to hit Wichita this season delivered less than 2 inches of snow to the area -- but more than 650 accidents.
Authorities didn't hide their frustration Wednesday.
"It was a tougher storm than we thought it was going to be," Kansas Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hein admitted. "Twelve inches of snow is probably easier to deal with than that was."
While Tuesday's snowfall total was meager, north winds gusting above 40 miles an hour reduced visibility and kept reglazing streets and highways that had just been treated.
Many motorists seemed to pay no attention to the weather at all, Kansas Highway Patrol Lt. Roger Baughman said.

Trying to Find my Snow legs!

Yesterday was kind of exciting. Monday the high here was around 60, but the forcast for Monday night was a cold front moving in and the arrival of some snow. Sure enough, shortly before I left for work on Tuesday morning, the temperature had dropped to about 28 degrees and the snow was beginning. I was a little nervous because it's been a while since I've really driven in this stuff. Once the snow started, it came pretty steadily and accompanied by a strong and steady wind, with gusts up to about 30mph - that part I'm definitely not used to! Anyway, I usually only work 1/2 day on Tuesday, so when I got to work I asked if it would be ok to email the files I was going to work on to myself and work at home - permission granted with a little snicker at how concerned I was about the weather. I left work at about 10:30, thinking to myself "I used to drive in this stuff all the time, I should be fine". Well, 12 years of living in a city that shuts down at the thought of snow had made me a little rusty. Trying unsuccessfully to stop for a traffic light that was turning yellow and literally sliding through the intersection and the turn as the light turned red got my attention, quickly. I gripped the wheel and SLOWED DOWN. I drove about 25 mph the rest of the way home, paying close attention to the traffic lights ahead and making sure I had little or no momentum when it was time to stop or turn. Thankfully I made it home without anything else to raise my blood pressure again! Later, I had to take Kim to her class. The roads were quite icy, and the news was reporting about 300 accidents (mostly very minor fender benders) around town - but only a little cancellation of events or activities. Driving Kim to class felt like living in a world moving in slow motion - the roads weren't too crowded (but not empty either) and EVERYONE was driving about 20-25 mph and leaving PLENTY of space between travelers. I guess with a city this size, no hills, no blind curves, life can go on in this weather - just in slow motion! Atlanta most definitely would have been completely shut down! We only ended up with about 2 inches of snow. I'm not sure I completely understand how the roads got so bad (in my opinion, anyway) so quickly - must have something to do with that wind. Anyway, with temperatures getting down to about 14 degress over night, the roads are still pretty icy this morning and since schools are not cancelled, neither is my bible study - so I guess I'll leave plenty early and crawl along with everybody else to my morning destination. Fortunately it's only about 2 1/2 miles away, and it's supposed to be sunny and warmer today, so the roads should be better by the time I come home. I used to laugh at the way Atlanta shut down so easily, but I'm scratching my head a little wondering how a city that supposedly gets a lot of this kind of weather this time a year doesn't do more to take care of the roads and yet seems to carry on with life despite conditions that allow 300 accidents! I guess I need to carefully work on getting my Snow legs back!