Thanks for the insight, MoBOB. I'm much more confident in the 20-degree sleeping bag I keep in the car.


.

As far as an inexpensive sleeping bag to outfit a carpool, this seems to me a good bet. I keep one rolled up behind my car seat.
N affiliation, just like old and wool.
http://store.colemans.com/cart/us-gi-wwii-era-sleeping-bag-p-2437.html

What I find funny is that no one is blaming the people who can't drive in snow, weren't smart enough to put gas in their cars, weren't prepared with proper clothing in case something happened, and then abandoned their cars in the middle of the road.

Back in 78 New England had a blizzard. My late father was called into work at the Navy Base. I think this was on a Sunday. About Friday he was allowed to come home, 35 miles, one way. He signed out a 5 ton to go down a major highway. Realize, the state was paralyzed and no roads were cleared. RI was effectively closed. When asked about his trip home, one line has stuck with me - "Volkswagens crunch when you go over the top of them."

Maybe I can find a surplus 5 ton around here.

Seattle also gets surprised by snow storms to the extent of folks walking away from their cars, sleeping under desks etc. A few years back we had a storm and the public outcry cost the Mayor his job for an ineffective response - he (and he alone mind you) should have plowed more (without more plows), should have used more deicer (when there wasn't a supply) and for god sakes avoided plowing a priority route right to his home address (the killer in Seattle politics). Granted, folks can always respond more responsibly and make alternate plans and preparations (stay home, ditch bag at work/sleep under desks, hold kids back from school), but face it - most parents won't hold their kids out of school if the schools are open, there are consequences for absences, and if the storm had gone a different direction their kids get dinged. Not staying home to look forward to a day of hot cocoa and watching the snow come down or not taking a ditch bag with you to work is just a lack of considering what might happen outside the realm of normalcy for the typical Atlantan. Even planning a What If 8 hours in the future is really difficult for the average folks when it comes to disruptive events. Walking home? What Atlanta commuter ever considered that?

Back to the Mayor. They are the visible pointy end of the stick, who are supposed to have the know how and wit to prepare his city with snowplows and emergency responses to ensure the city functions tip top during a very rare scenario. Uh huh. Mayors also have city councils who would laugh at emergency allocations in the fiscal budget proposed in May, if it were not for snow storms like this to educate elected and constituents. Mayors also bear the brunt of criticism for alarmism and economic harm when they go Condition Red on the city and the snowstorm misses their cities, and rivals will pounce on them. Believe it. Post Katrina however I think the prevalent expectation is that the mayor or governor or city superintendent can at least communicate reasoned, weather.com if not NOAA based alarm, and as a precaution close city buildings, shut down schools, and rally local commerce to do much the same, taking folks off the streets of Atlanta. Just like the mayors and governors did in the run up to Hurricane Sandy, or the artic chill in Minnesota just a while ago. Power of the pulpit. Did the mayor of Atlanta use his? That's the question.

Well, living in GA, this brought home one important point. DON'T EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP IN A CRISIS!! Sorry for yelling.

What is amazing is that in the 23 county metro Atlanta area, most municipalities cannot sit in the same room and agree on the brand of coffee.. so agreeing to a disaster plan is a joke!

What is also interesting is that the mayor of Atlanta is getting the blame,when much of the problem was outside his jurisdiction..

The mess at I75/285 was actually in Cobb county...

I've never had the opportunity to check the misery index but I have an REI Travel Sack Sleeping Bag in my truck with the idea of using it as a base to prevent too much air movement, then layer over that with the wool and fleece blankets as needed. Nice thing about the REI Travel Sack is that there is no loft to compress so it stays rolled up in its bag and thus packs small. Hopefully I will not need to test this concept in arctic conditions. Being in SOCAL this is a safe bet. Until this winter I would have said that about Atlanta too

Saw one Weather Channel reporter, based in Atlanta, whining about her five hour commute to work. "Five hours to get to the studio!"

I guess she didn't have the gear to walk the one mile from her apartment to the studio.

My sister-in-law lives in Birmingham, AL. Formerly of Michigan and Massachusetts, she just rolls her eyes when it snows in the south. At one point recently there were just two state-owned snowplows in all of Alabama.

Last week around Philly we had 14" of snow with single digit temps on Tuesday. Wednesday morning all the roads were open and traffic was moving just fine.

Not picking on southerners, but it is amusing for us Yankees to watch videos of them slip-sliding away. Just glad that, apparently, no one died.

Pretty sure I read that the number of deaths was 5 with over 1000+ vehicle accidents reported. Many, many more would have probably died unnecessarily, unable to reach hospital in time and those that are suffering from the cold snap unable to heat their homes properly.

For an interesting take on Atlanta's problems see How 2 Inches of Snow Created a Traffic Nightmare in Atlanta WARNING: Read the article at your own risk! It is not possible to get too far into discussing mayors, municipalities, city councils, etc without running into that subject we dare not talk about on this forum, the dreaded word that begins with a "P". So I won't mention what the article says about that. However, even ignoring the article's comments on that forbidden topic, it does make some interesting points:
And as Lono pointed out, Seattle has had similar issues. As I'm sure many other areas do.

The '07 Camry has some ventilation WHEN MOVING unless the HVAC is set to recirculate. It is speed and other ventilation dependent. Cracking the sunroof or a rear window increases the flow coming through the dash vents. I don't know if this is shut off with the engine or not.