00:00All right, we continue our live coverage right now with AccuWeather's Bill Waddell in Atlanta,
00:06Georgia. Atlanta's always been a tricky call. The AccuWeather forecast has always said
00:11we're going to get below freezing. We're going to get ice. And Bill, you have some ice to deal
00:16with this morning. Yes, we do, Bernie. Anna, good morning to you. Your forecast nailed it,
00:23Bernie. I mean, look at this. We're in downtown Atlanta. You could see the ice accumulating
00:27on these tree branches here. I picked this up on our walk over here, snapped on the ground. You
00:32could hear when the winds start picking up here a little bit, Atlanta, you could hear those frozen
00:36tree branches creaking. This is not what we wanted to see this morning, Bernie. Traffic on Interstate 85
00:42going through downtown Atlanta, despite all of the emergency warnings, all of the notices for people
00:49not to travel. We are still seeing folks out in these dangerous conditions. And look at this.
00:53Doug is behind the camera. The metal fence itself here coated in ice. Now, again, we're just below
01:00the freezing mark. So most of the road surfaces that we have walked over are just wet. Metal surfaces
01:07like those greats. They are a sheet of ice. We walked five blocks just to get here. I could tell
01:13you it was a treacherous and dangerous walk. I would not want to be on the roads, especially on the
01:19highways here in Atlanta. Take a look at the video back into Accuweather early this morning. The
01:23freezing rain really started to pick up in the overnight early morning hours. You could see
01:29the ice starting to form on the metal signs, especially the trees. And we are seeing those
01:35icy coated spots on the sidewalks here as well. We spoke with several people out getting those last
01:40minute supplies and groceries at the store late yesterday. They tell us as locals here in Atlanta,
01:47when you're talking about ice in downtown Atlanta, take it seriously. They tell us they're hunkering
01:52down and staying home. Don't. Even if you think you can, still don't because it's not really about
01:58how you drive. It's about how other people drive. You can be confident in the way you drive,
02:04but somebody else can slide it to you or, you know, whatever. Just if you don't have to go out,
02:09don't for no reason. Like it's a state of emergency. Like stay at home. Stay at home.
02:14And you can see some of the store shelves left bare in Atlanta. A lot of people taking the
02:22warning seriously and staying home. Back out here live this morning in downtown Atlanta.
02:26Again, the ice coated on the tree branches that are snapping. Bernie and Anna just seeing the cars
02:32out here on the highway. Not a whole lot of traffic. We were hoping to see no vehicles because
02:36all it takes, you know, just a few miles up the road. A little bit of difference in elevation
02:41can be a completely different story. So very dangerous, treacherous conditions here in Atlanta.
02:46Officials urging people, please, if you can, stay home today. And Bill, again, it looks behind you
02:52that the roads are mostly wet, but you were talking about the sidewalks. How about the side streets?
02:58Big difference with that? Can you give any information pertaining to that?
03:02Yeah. Yeah. Again, where we are in this spot, we only did the five-minute walk, five-block walk
03:09about here, Bernie, just because it took a while with such slippery spots on some of the sidewalks.
03:13So, yes, that is the situation when you have freezing rain coming down in Atlanta. People just
03:18see these wet spots. They just assume that the highway is going to be safe. Yes, it was pre-treated.
03:22We saw the brine on there and cars are moving through here. The freezing rain actually picking up
03:27this hour. So really, the next few hours are going to be critical here in Atlanta, watching the
03:31temperatures, seeing which additional spots freeze. And we are already hearing and seeing the reports
03:36not that far north of downtown Atlanta, much more icy conditions. Thanks, Bill. I'm glad you showed that
03:43tree branch because, Bernie, that's what's going to end up leading to the power outages later with the
03:47freezing rain accumulating. Bill Waddell, live in Atlanta. We'll be in touch with Bill throughout the day.
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