Is the news from the south serious? Are they really that weak to snow?

[Church185]

I'm originally from Massachusetts (go Pats!), but I live in Kentucky now and its really fun to see people down here try to drive in snow. It's like they put something in the water right before snow hits, because there is a general stupidity that permeates throughout my city. Any time there is an inch of snow on the forecast all of the schools close down and all of the local shops are sold out of milk, eggs, and bread. For a state that is full of giant offroad pickup trucks, you would think that people would do fine in snow. However, it never fails to amuse me when I pass one of these behemoths in a ditch while I'm driving my little front wheel drive car.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Hell some of our buildings don't even have proper heating because hell, we don't get cold enough to warrant it on a large scale. Strange yeah, but even if we have the preparations the people who're supposed to be trained to use it aren't going to be quick to the punch. Its a clusterfuck, most definitely and I'm glad I'm not in that area. I'd hate to see what happens here if we get icy roads and snow (middle Florida). I mean we already have some of the country's worst drivers...

 

[antidonkey]

Yes......we can't handle snow. This type of weather is rare. As others have pointed out, it's not so much snow but ice and freezing rain that screws us. I live in west Texas and can vouch that we react poorly to this stuff as we're not used to it and not prepared for it. Where I live, the best we have are sand trucks for overpasses and bridges. What happens a lot is folks think...Hey, I have a 4WD pickup, I can handle this no problem......so they drive at fairly normal speeds forgetting that pickup trucks have very light rear ends and lose traction easily.

Hell, a few years ago we had an incident where we got a downpour of several inches of rain followed by a sudden temperature drop that caused it to freeze. It was promptly followed up a 4 inches of snow. This shut the city down for about 4 days because there was nothing that could be done about it. I had a muscle car at the time and with summer tires on it, I couldn't get out of my parking space at my apartment.

Recently, we had two bouts of freezing rain about two weeks apart that hurt us pretty badly. It only crippled us for 2 days each but with the lack of snow it made it very clear that everything was ice. Luckily I had just sold my muscle car and got an AWD car instead. Boy did that ever work in my advantage as I was easily able to get to work. Almost had a wreck when someone in a Cadillac gunned her engine on a bridge and spun out into the guardrail. This tossed up all sorts of mist which instantly froze the second it hit my windshield. Turns out my vent controls weren't working properly so I couldn't defrost worth a flip. Luckily, I keep and ice scrapper handy and fixing the vents was super easy.

So yes....we can't handle winter weather very well down here. However, we can handle weeks of triple digit temps without much of a fuss during the summer.

 

[zane224]

I grew up in Maine, but lived in Florida for 3 years. While in FL I found that temperatures of even 50F would make me shiver, while in Maine thats shorts and t-shirts weather. Humidity works both ways, it makes your hots hotter and your colds colder.

As for the snow; places that regularly experience snow and ice are ready for it. The states, cities and towns all have fleets of trucks ready to plow, salt, and sand the roads. The salt doesnt always just wash away, it dissolves with the water, and some of the water absorbs into the road itself.

The roads themselves are also different. there is a point when heading south that you might notice the road has changed from the tar/asphalt that they use up north, to concrete, or something similar. That is because the tar will melt in the high heat of the south. So why dont they use concrete everywhere? becuase the concrete absorbs more water than the tar, so when it gets cold there, it freezes over faster, creating more ice on the roads. Have you ever noticed signs on a concrete bridge that say "Bridge freezes before road does"? This is why.



2 inches of snow may not be much for people who are ready for it, but for areas that are not, it is very dangerous.

TL;DR: The south have roads that freeze over faster because they are made of concrete, the cities dont have plow and sanding trucks, and the people dont know how to drive in snow.

 

[zane224]

I grew up in Maine, but lived in Florida for 3 years. While in FL I found that temperatures of even 50F would make me shiver, while in Maine thats shorts and t-shirts weather. Humidity works both ways, it makes your hots hotter and your colds colder.

As for the snow; places that regularly experience snow and ice are ready for it. The states, cities and towns all have fleets of trucks ready to plow, salt, and sand the roads. The salt doesnt always just wash away, it dissolves with the water, and some of the water absorbs into the road itself.

The roads themselves are also different. there is a point when heading south that you might notice the road has changed from the tar/asphalt that they use up north, to concrete, or something similar. That is because the tar will melt in the high heat of the south. So why dont they use concrete everywhere? becuase the concrete absorbs more water than the tar, so when it gets cold there, it freezes over faster, creating more ice on the roads. Have you ever noticed signs on a concrete bridge that say "Bridge freezes before road does"? This is why.



2 inches of snow may not be much for people who are ready for it, but for areas that are not, it is very dangerous.

TL;DR: The south have roads that freeze over faster because they are made of concrete, the cities dont have plow and sanding trucks, and the people dont know how to drive in snow.

 

[Seracen]

Try going to a tropical climate. In the Indian subcontinent, they wear sweaters in 60-70 degree temperatures.

It's all relative to what your body gets used to. As for North Carolina, I think we still have those steam shovels that we bought from Michigan, so it shouldn't be as crippling as other states.

 

[Clowndoe]

Really? In Ontario snow can last like a day or really until whenever what must be the snowplow guy finally gets around to plowing it. I live on a major intersection in a city of about 250,000 people as well.

Well, slight exageration, but a few hours is really the limit before you can see pavement again, and I don't mean just pushed to the side. By the end of those hours it's picked up and shipped off. I have noticed that only the top cities (1 000 000+) get this kind of service.

 

[ccggenius12]

But when college campuses close JUST due to cold, it's absurd to me.

As far as I can tell, it was probably a matter of transportation the one day my college shut down. I have trouble starting my car in -20. The forecast said it would be -50 with the wind chill. That's a bit much.
Also, this is Wisconsin, we've got people that probably would have gone shirtless if there was a Packers game that day.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

As a former Atlantan, let me put it this way: Back when I was a kid, we had a few inches of snow one winter, like one or two. However, since the city's budget obviously wouldn't cover plows or even a machine to spread salt or sand everywhere, people just drove through the inch or so as it's coming down to get where they need. This resulted in the inch of snow to become slush. Wet slush that completely froze overnight. All the roads became a literal skating rink, and to this day, my dad says that he has never had a more dangerous time driving in his life. For context, he grew up in upper state New York and has lived in both Massachusetts and Connecticut respectively (we are currently living in the latter state).

So, it's not the snow itself that freaks them out. It's the aftermath that will result because the roads can't be treated.

 

[Something Amyss]

Is this just the US media blowing it out of proportions or are people really acting like this for less snow then I'd bat an eyelash at?

I don't know why it's strange that people who don't routinely deal with snow might have a problem with 2 inches of snow.

Minnesotan's know how to correct their driving habits and speed to adjust for it; Atlanta people don't.

Really? New England's a touch different. We get snow routinely (except it's getting rarer, THANKS OBAMA!), but you get three flakes and it's freaking Thunder Dome out there.

I'm from PA, and here we have had several inches of snow and the temperature is currently in the single digits (much to my dismay - I hate the cold). I can't help but think people down south are overreacting a bit. Yes, they're not used to it, but a bit of perspective wouldn't hurt.

It's funny hearing about all the cold in the South while I'm sitting here in Vermont in the 40s.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

**SNIP**

Seeing that, it makes me cringe to know that Florida is most likely not prepared for something like that. I can imagine Orlando and Tampa becoming a huge trainwreck due to icy roads. Also hothlanta... thats funny.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I'd like to say that first off, I'm from Canada, and a few inches of snow is what we call a mild fall. There's a 7 month period of the year that snow will not be considered odd, and accumulated snow would be counted in feet if we used that instead of metric. That's just giving a bit of context when I say: What the hell Atlanta? 2 inches? Get that on a random day between January and March and we consider that a mild Tuesday.

Is this just the US media blowing it out of proportions or are people really acting like this for less snow then I'd bat an eyelash at?

In a round about way, it's not a whole lot different from the scores of northerners and people from other fair weather countries I see running around Florida (where I live now) with sunburns, heat exhaustion/dehydrations, and being shocked at how freaking HOT it is down here with the high temps, max UV, and high humidity all the time. I used to work at Disney World, and it was easy to pick out the British people in the crowd as they were always all red and sunburned. It's really that bad. Take sunscreen seriously when you're skin isn't used to it. Even after getting somewhat used to it, I've gotten a sunburn by being outside on a fair day for just 50 minutes or so.

I grew up in Indiana which can get really bad snow, ice, and sub-zero winters. But after living in Florida since 2000 even 50 degrees is beginning to feel pretty cold to me. It's just about what people are accustomed to and prepared for. Sounds like they didn't get a bit of warning from the authorities and they were blindsided.

 

[Irridium]

I'd like to say that first off, I'm from Canada, and a few inches of snow is what we call a mild fall. There's a 7 month period of the year that snow will not be considered odd, and accumulated snow would be counted in feet if we used that instead of metric. That's just giving a bit of context when I say: What the hell Atlanta? 2 inches? Get that on a random day between January and March and we consider that a mild Tuesday.

Is this just the US media blowing it out of proportions or are people really acting like this for less snow then I'd bat an eyelash at?

Yes, they're true. Do you know why they're true? Because in the US South, it tends to be very warm. Warm enough where snow is a very, VERY rare sight. As a result, people there rarely ever have to deal with it. Which means that people have little-to-no experience with it.

Yes it's fun to poke-fun and all, but keep in mind that an are getting hit with something it rarely (if ever) gets hit with is a serious problem. The northern US is prepared for winter, South-eastern is prepared for Hurricanes, and central is prepared for tornadoes. Any of those that hit a part of the country that isn't prepared for 'em WILL cause a massive amount of damage and problems Just no getting around it.

Again, it's fun to poke-fun and all, but remember, not everyone/place is prepared for every disaster. And if that disaster hits, shit gets whack, yo.

 

[Robert Marrs]

If you are referring to atlanta it is entirely the cities fault. Nobody can drive well on ice and snow when the city fails to salt/sand the roads and properly warn the citizens of that fact. Even residential areas got totally screwed by that. The reason people freak out when something like that happens in the south is because they know the government will drop the ball big time. Worst part is same thing happened in 2011. They did not have the proper equipment to handle a situation like that so they GOT the equipment. It happens again and instead of not having the equipment they just failed to use it. Right around the corner from re-election time for the governor too.

 

[Callate]

In fairness, if you don't typically get snow, you're not prepared for it in all kinds of ways that people who live in areas that get even a few inches a year are. You don't have a closet full of scarves and gloves and hats. Your car doesn't have snow tires or chains. Your heating system isn't well maintained, because it's only on for about two weeks a year, so why would you think about it? Your house was quite probably built more with a mind towards ventilation than insulation, possibly up to and including having single-paned windows. And that's even before you get into local infrastructure things like emergency services, electricity, and snow removal.

I grew up in Alaska; stomping around in "moon boots" on a foot of snow in October is just one of those things I did as a child. If I lived in the deep south, such a thing would be more like waking up one day on the actual moon.

 

[Tono Makt]

I'd like to say that first off, I'm from Canada, and a few inches of snow is what we call a mild fall. There's a 7 month period of the year that snow will not be considered odd, and accumulated snow would be counted in feet if we used that instead of metric. That's just giving a bit of context when I say: What the hell Atlanta? 2 inches? Get that on a random day between January and March and we consider that a mild Tuesday.

Is this just the US media blowing it out of proportions or are people really acting like this for less snow then I'd bat an eyelash at?

We northerners are being far too harsh on Atlanta for this.

First off, Atlanta isn't prepared for this sort of snow and ice. They don't have the number of salt trucks and plows that you would expect in a more northern city, so they can't deal with a sudden shift in the weather. Secondly, the drivers have no idea how to drive on snow and ice because they just don't get enough of it to learn. Even up here in the Great White North, our drivers get idiotic when we get more than 5cm of snow on the roads - and forget about it when we have ice.

Criticizing the government and business response, however, is warranted. If you let that many people out to drive on the roads at the same time, you are going to have a massive traffic situation at the very best of times. Not sure what they were thinking, letting people out en masse like that into a snow storm. Stupid.

 

[Catfood220]

Its like Britain, a little bit of snow and the country grinds to a halt.

However, I don't think we're getting snow this year, we are just going to have to grow gills.