The problem is that Alabama local governments do not have snow and ice removal equipment or supplies - no plow trucks, no salt trucks, etc. So the roads get really treacherous really fast, especially if it ices. I lived in northeast Alabama for 15 years and I've been through it. Everything shuts down until the ice melts, and power is often out as well. Also Alabama homes are generally not built with deep cold in mind, like in more northern areas. Lots of pipes will freeze, with no way to get it fixed until the weather warms up again. And lots of homes have heat pumps, which are close to useless under 40 degrees and totally worthless when power is out. I learned that lesson the hard way and had a heat intensive propane gas log installed in my fireplace and some propane space heaters in the rooms away from the fireplace after the blizzard of '93 knocked power out for 3 days and we had to abandon ship and stay with our neighbors. Oh, and natural gas service is uncommon in the rural areas so everyone has electric stoves, so when the power gets knocked out you can't cook, either, unless you can set up a camp stove or grill outside in the cold. So to summarize: frozen roads, no power and no water in many areas, especially the rural areas, and no way to cook a meal. State of Emergency is absolutely the right call and I appreciate Gov. Ivey, who seems comatose most of the time, calling it.
Oh sweet memories! The blizzard of ‘93. I never want to see such a thing again. The weather forecaster said the rain system earlier this week that brought us 3 to 4 inches of rain in a day, mimicked the system of ‘93 perfectly except without the freezing temperature. I was so glad to hear that the cold air stayed away until the system had moved up the coast.
The 93 blizzard paralyzed the south. We had 10 inches of snow, was without power for a week, and only survived in my house because of the wood stove. As I said, it paralyzed the south. All winter storms do. We so seldom have any measurable ice and snow so cities do not invest in sand trucks or snow plows and no one has snow chains on their tires. When it does arrive, it is better to just shut everything down until it melts.