Oh no it's snow...

[luckylou]

Any UK people currently suffering from the snow? It always amazes me that on the rare occasions (for the Midlands downwards anyway) it snows and it settles the whole country comes to a grinding halt. Trains aren't running, schools are closed and roads are gridlocked.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7864395.stm

Do you have that problem in the US? Does New York fall apart after a light dusting of snow?

Sorry, rant over!

 

[katharina]

Do you have that problem in the US? Does New York fall apart after a light dusting of snow?

Sorry, rant over!

I can't say that New York falls apart after a snowfall, no. But we've sure had a lot of it this season, and mostly ice. I'm not too very far from New York and schools/businesses close down if traveling is difficult, yes.

I've noticed it more with places that don't generally get a lot of snow like we do. If it's an area that's usually a lot warmer, an inch or less can close everything down when it takes more like half a foot here.

 

[Kitten]

We certainly don't fall apart from a light dusting in the US (unless it's a freak occurrence in the south where they aren't really prepped for snow). We did recently get about 2 inches of ice, then 8 inches of snow, and then another layer of ice, though, and 'that' shut down the area schools for a few days....mostly because it knocked out so many power lines, though.

 

[heretoday]

We live on the central Oregon coast and we get a light snowfall about every other year. The snow isn't that large a problem, but since the wind buffets the trees so much they can't really take a lot of snow weight on them, consequently they fall after we get snow.

 

[katharina]

We did recently get about 2 inches of ice, then 8 inches of snow, and then another layer of ice, though, and 'that' shut down the area schools for a few days....mostly because it knocked out so many power lines, though.

That's the way it's been here all winter from about mid December on and it just won't go away. I guess in about another month I can start thinking about spring... but I *do* remember a blizzard in mid March so maybe not.

 

[heretoday]

I know that Southern Californians have an absolute tizzy when snow falls and starts to build up. I once worked for a Pakistani doctor who had lived in New Jersey for a time.
One day it began snowing at an alarming rate. The staff all got up, grabbed their purses and coats, getting ready to leave before THE BLIZZARD really hit. The doc was mystified, as he had lived through many snows. That didn't stop us though, we went home.

 

[Taggart]

Here in Toronto, Canada we had a bad snow storm about 10 years ago, and the mayor at the time called in the army to help with the snow removal.

I guess it was a call that made sense, but that became a huge joke for many other parts of Canada, which think Toronto's too self-absorbed to begin with.

 

[heretoday]

Taggart, those curmudgeons are probably the same folks who thought that the people in New Orleans were over-reacting to a bit of water in the basement. When the roof is collapsing or the levee is breaking, I think self-absorption is more properly called survival.

 

[heretoday]

Now the southern US has been hit by a humungous blizzard; what's up with this weather? On the news this morning, they had a report on the weather, and this guy was standing not far from the Capitol. He said that a few hours ago there'd been a white-out and you couldn't have seen the Dome at all. Also, the Obama Girls have a snow-day. There's the skinny from Washington DC.