By David Magee

It's not that we can't manage a little snow, no matter what they say.

Davd Magee

Birmingham survived the blizzard of 1993, after all, when more than a foot fell in the storm of the century.

And even though Birmingham averages just less than 1 inch of snow in January, we have seen our share of 1-inch and 2-inch accumulations over the years, and managed those just fine.

But this storm was different, as more than one million people impacted know by now. For this magical city, it was a spell of bad luck -- a perfect snowstorm, if you will.

Here are five reasons for Birmingham's snow disaster of 2014:

1) Faulty forecast: Upper level disturbances are a weather forecaster's nightmare because they can slip and slide this way or that while on the move. And even the slightest deviance can make a difference.

Forecasters were confident that Tuesday's upper level disturbance traveling along the Gulf Coast would yield Southern snow. Most computer models showed precipitation falling south of Birmingham. Unfortunately, however, the disturbance made a very slight jog north. In forecasting models, the movement was minuscule. The impact, however, was severe, since Birmingham was expecting only a dusting to a half-inch of snow.

We ended up with 2 inches that fell in a few hours.

2) Extreme cold: Typically when 2 inches of snow falls on Birmingham in the daytime, when people are at work and children have been dropped off at school, the temperature is hovering closer to the freezing mark, 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thus, roadways are usually more slushy than slick.

But though the temperature was supposed to reach almost 30 degrees on Tuesday, it was just 19 degrees when the snow began to fall just after 9 a.m. And it never got much warmer as the snow piled up, quickly turning what might have been just a hassle into chaos.

Never mind that the average high temperature for Birmingham in January is 54 degrees, and the average low is 34. On Tuesday, most never saw more than 19 or 20 degrees for a high, with lows slipping to 9 degrees Tuesday night, keeping roadways frozen solid.

3) Simultaneous reaction: Most in the metro area realized at about exactly the same time that the snow event would amount to more than a dusting, and everybody went into action, beginning at about 10 a.m.

Schools dismissed early. Businesses told employees they could leave. And so this metro area of some 1.2 million people hit the roads, all at once. We know how the story unfolded from there, since many vehicles remain stuck along roadways.

4) Lack of city, county help: As much as we might like to blame our city and county services throughout the metro region for inability to help us in a snowstorm, reality tells a different story.

Since the area averages just less than 2 inches of snowfall per year, according to historical records, local governments don't own many snowplows, and they don't specialize in road treatment in snowstorms.

So when it starts falling hard and fast, as it did Tuesday, city and county agencies are overwhelmed by the roads just as we are.

5) Honey, I'm stuck: If being stuck or stranded wasn't enough, we were reminded that even the smartest of phones aren't much good when network capacity is pushed beyond limits.

When everybody hit the roads at the same time on Tuesday, getting collectively stuck, they turned to the most obvious place in their distress - their smartphones.

But with so many phone calls to spouses, schools and the workplace happening at the same time, while so much information was being transmitted - remember those snow photos to social media - systems shut down and anxiety levels rose.

The result, of course, was an event that will leave us adding up the damage for days, if not weeks, to come.

History will be indelibly stamped with the facts: 2 inches of snow fell in Birmingham that day and the city fell into chaos.

But we know there was far more to this story than that.

David Magee is the Statewide Publications Manager for Alabama Media Group.