I lived in Durham during the winter of 2001 when we got over 20" of snow overnight. All of the local channels had round-the-clock coverage, although most of them just kept repeating variations on "That sure is a lot of snow out there."

I believe that NC DOT actually ran out of road salt. School was out for a week; I was home from work for three days. It's still the most snow I've ever seen, by several orders of magnitude.

I, at least, have the good sense to know that I can't drive in the stuff and stay the hell off the roads. I think the grocery stores were out of bread, milk, and toilet paper for several days. We just don't have the experience to deal with it, and personally, I have absolutely no desire to live somewhere that I'd need that experience. I am perfectly happy to leave that to the experts.

They actually get the plows out for three inches of snow where you live? Crazy Americans. Up here in Canada, where the tundra, she is actually frozen, three inches is barely enough to make the salting crews show their pale white faces.

I hate it.

While I do live up here in Seattle, I don't quite share the dread for the snow of lots of the people around here. I spent 10 years in Germany when my dad was in the military, so I saw my share of snow.

Then there was the blizzard that blanketed Oklahoma while we lived out htere. 16 inches of snow overnight. School was out for a week because the city had no road clearing equipment, and the Goodyear plant had rented up all the road graders to clear the roads out to the plant.

It was quite an experience. I was only like 13 at the time, so it was loads of fun for me. Don't think I'd want to repeat it though. I tend to get stir crazy if cooped up too long.

A few years ago, we had about an inch of snow, and my workplace was shut down for a few days. This annoyed a lot of the employees, because we'd just bought a company from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and those guys had just left the land of huge snowdrifts. They literally couldn't see the snow that had been judged to be work-closing.

You know what's even worse? The snow that made headlines had all melted by the next morning. And now it's 37 degrees and no snow is expected in the next two weeks. Heck, next weekend is predicted to get into the *fifties*.

Hah, Monty, it's snowing right now, and in our neighborhood even. Surely they'll declare a state of emergency at any moment.

I moved here from Wisconsin 10 years ago, it never fails to amaze me how freaked out Seattle gets about the merest hint of snow. Of course, that just allows me to stay home from work due to weather my mother would have kicked me out of the house without a hat on.

I agree that it's pretty funny -- until you remember two things:

(1) No one here has snow tires on our cars. If we are smart, we buy tires that are optimized for rain, and they just don't work well in snow.

(2) Many people here can't drive in the stuff. They steer the wrong way when they start to skid -- assuming they don't freak out and fail to try to control the skid at all.

Frankly, I try to stay off the roads when it has snowed, not because I don't know how to drive in it, but because I am terrified of the other drivers. (And because my snow-driving skills are vitiated by having the wrong kind of tires.)

It's Sunday afternoon here outside Seattle, there is about 4" of snow on the ground, and it's snowing some more. Maybe I should get some snow tires....

It's not a putdown. I genuinely find it funny -- it's just a difference in perspective and what you're used to. As stated, it's got a lot to do with what equipment is available, among other things.

And if we ever had twenty inches of snow overnight (good God!), you can believe we'd be complaining and pretty well slowed-down, too.

You want to see something really silly? Watch Texans try and deal with snow. It's funny and scary all at the same time. The tinniest bit of snow closes the whole city down. (Well, in Austin at least - some areas of Texas are a bit more familiar with snow.) It's January 3rd and temps are near 80 during the day. I don't think I'd want to live in a place that has to deal with non-stop freezing weather, but I would like to live in a place that has a passing acquaintance with winter.

I agree with SorchaRei, it's the other drivers that are really scary. Most of them can't drive in the rain either.

The strangest thing though, is to see how many people just abandon their cars on the street once they get stuck or experience a slide. They just lock them up and continue on with their days. Weird.

When I lived in Eugene, it snowed very hard, so we had about 8" on the ground. Then a Canadian air mass came down and sat on top of the Willamette Valley. The news reports said that the temperature would stay below 20F for one week.

The mayor got on TV and said "Well, we are nearly out of money, and if have to get the snowplows out, it will put us over budget. Also, when we have snow here, it always melts in a day or two, so we're not going to plow the streets."

Heh.

Anyway, a bunch of people got out their car chains so they could still get around town (me, I skied everywhere). More than once, I saw someone in an imported car, with chains on the back, sitting at a stop sign with their front wheels rolling uselessly in the snow, the car going nowhere. You could practically *see* the thought balloon over their heads: "Wha? I clearly remember Dad putting the chains on the back wheels, and I did it just like he did. Why isn't it working??"

Funniest damned thing I ever saw.

I had the same sort of reaction when I moved from Buffalo, NY (land of the ten month winter) to Philadelphia. I always just sort of laughed in frustration when the city of brotherly love would totally freak out over a light dusting of snow - round the clock news coverage, warnings, etc. I guess spending four years of college going through the DAILY ritual of cleaning a foot of snow off of my car made me lose some perspective (or gain some).