When Nashville Gets Ice[d]

Last week I mentioned I was in Nashville, Tennessee for the National Young Farmers & Ranchers Conference with Farm Bureau. The conference as a whole was great. The discussion meet went well, our delegation met new agriculturalists from across the country and the breakout sessions allowed us to learn more about what's going on in different parts of the agriculture world.

The only downside to the conference was Monday. On Monday, conference attendees were supposed to go on tours in different parts of the state to either look at specific farming operations in TN or aspects of history pertinent to the area. A couple of students from NDSU and I were supposed to go on a Civil War tour in the area.

However, even the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry. Starting Monday morning the city was pounded by a heavy ice storm. Inside the confines of our hotel we watched heavy rain beat down onto the plants and roads outside and then freeze into a slushy mess.

Thick slush outside the hotel; check out the water fountain icicles!

The heavy rain caused thick ice and Nashville was paralyzed. There were to be no tours on Monday and no trips to visit Civil War historic sites. Luckily for our group, a friend from Illinois brought The Farming Game with him so we stayed inside all day and experience the unpredictability of farming and agriculture with the help of a board game.

Arrivals and Departures at Nashville International Airport February 17th, 2015

Our group was lucky the next day as well; many of the flights going in and out of Nashville were cancelled. Attendees from New Mexico had to rent vans to drive back to New Mexico because flights wouldn't be going out that way until Thursday.

I'll never forget the ice storm that hit Nashville. I've often poked fun of how sensitive Southerners are to a little bit of snow. However, when storms happen in the South, like they did this past Monday, they get ice, not snow. I've seen first hand how dangerous those conditions can be and am thankful to have gained the experience of a southern ice storm.