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

[Reed Spacer]

It's like if Canada was suddenly hit by a sandstorm. I'm sure that people in Dubai would be laughing their asses off at you because you don't know what to do with a sandstorm.

Actually, we do; they're fairly common in the prairies.

So yeah.

 

[DugMachine]

Texas here and we do overreact a bit. I'm from deep south Texas though and we don't get snow (last time was 2004 and not even an inch) but we do get freezes sometimes and the roads do become slick. Most people aren't used to driving on ice, I know I'm not. And they cancel schools (which I think is dumb) So yes we are pretty weak to the cold

But just like you're used to the cold, we're used to blistering summers and hurricanes. At least I am here on the coast

 

[Eggsnham]

While it's easy for me to sit here in Western NY and laugh at how melodramatic the whole situation in the south seems, they really don't typically need to worry about snow in any amount and even a minor fuck-up in preparing for an impending snowfall can result in some huge repercussions.

 

[FoolKiller]

Torontonian here.

We get the best of both worlds. 40C (104F) in the summer and -30C (-22F) in the winter. There is lots of snow and ridiculous wind chill and humidity during the extremes.

I feel for the Atlantans. I don't think its a weakness. It's just unpreparedness for something that they almost never deal with. Most Canadians will either have winter tires or all-season radials. I'm pretty sure Atlantans have summer tires as they would degrade slower in the hotter climate. Now I've driven in snow in summer tires and its fucking useless. Even the slightest amount of snow (1cm or less) can cause a lot of traction issues. 2 inches would be a nightmare.

You add all that to the cities terrible response to the snow and chaos was bound to break out. I just hope that everyone ends up safe and sound down there.

 

[j0frenzy]

As someone from Atlanta, I feel the need to emphasize we don't get snow every year and when it does it sticks around for a day. The last time we had any sort of snowfall worth talking about was 2011. It's not something we need to regularly prefer and if Atlanta were paying for the snowy conditions like more northern cities, most years you'd be ridiculing the Atlanta government for owning snow plows that they don't use most years. And we put up with other weather conditions that other places don't. DC shuts down entirely and goes crazy anytime a hurricane gets anywhere near them whereas we call that late summer.

 

[rasputin0009]

I laughed when I saw pictures of the aftermath because it initially looked absurd. Cars and trucks all piled up in the ditches with one picture showing a car burning in the middle of the street. But ya, I can see the southern states having trouble with ice. I'm assuming most people down there drive with summer tires or let their tires go extremely bald before changing because every road down there is paved. Trying to drive on ice with shitty tires is near impossible no matter how experienced you are. And I doubt many of those same people have heard the phrase "If it's icy as fuck, slow down!". You can imagine how many people in the first world need to be spoon-fed how to survive rather than using common sense. I still have to pull experienced Canadians out of Saskatchewan and Alberta ditches every now and then because they made a few mistakes. It was only 2 days ago that I had to drag my friend's little car out of our back-alley because she thought she could drive through eight inch ruts made of pure ice (we had a warm front that melted everything and froze it back fucking hard). She baked me brownies for that one.

Look, it would be like you guys deaing with a 40°C summer. Not unheard of, but it still may cause problems.

But Canada does often get 40 Degree summers. I know I do in Ontario. Hot as balls summers, and balls shrivelingly cold winters.

36 C is the hottest I've experienced in a mid-Saskatchewan summer. Lower parts of the province can get over 40 C. Fun fact: Alberta has a small desert. It's where we find all the dinosaur bones everybody knows and loves.

 

[Guffe]

It's been a strange winter in southern Finland this year, not many inches of snow and between -2 to - 15 degrees, Celcius. Last year at this time, there had been several meters of snow and we were on a daily basis below -20C, never warmer than -15 from November to March. It's been like that 3 or 4 winters in a row now, so a mild winter is pretty strange.

But I can guess that people who aren't accustomed to snow/cold will have trouble understanding everything it means when, for example, driving.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It's like if Canada was suddenly hit by a sandstorm. I'm sure that people in Dubai would be laughing their asses off at you because you don't know what to do with a sandstorm.

Actually, we do; they're fairly common in the prairies.

So yeah.

Funny how when you google "Sandstorm Dubai" you get pictures like this:

Spoiler

and when you google "sandstorm Canada" you don't get any pictures of sandstorms actually in Canada.

 

[DarthSka]

As someone who lives in Mississippi, I can confirm what other people are saying. We just almost never see snow, so an actual storm like Leon completely screws us up. We don't have experience driving on icy roads, we don't use chains for tires, and we don't have equipment used for dealing with the ice and snow. Why? Well because for most of people's lives down here, we never see this type of weather. This scenario is just so incredibly rare for us. It reminds a bit of when I went up to Wasington state for the first time. On the day we got there, it was apparently an unusually hot day. I saw a lot of people sitting outside with fans and whatnot trying to keep cool. As someone who lives in a very hot and humid environment, I had no problem dealing with that weather. It's just that heat isn't as likely to make you crash on the road if you're not used to it.

 

[FalloutJack]

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?

Think of those living in Northern US as people in Stark territory and everyone down south as those in Lannister/Barethian territory. Ya got people who are acclimated to bad weather like we in Pittsburgh, no sweat...mostly. Down in Florida, they've got their binoculars out, wondering if this is the prelude to an invisible hurricane 'cause that's what it usually takes.

It's elemental, my dear Watson. Those who live in the warmth are simply not suited to the cold until they acclimate to it.