When we moved down to the South, one of our favorite topics during the winter was how wimpy Southerners were. "They only predicted snow, and they closed school!" "It's only an inch of snow, and they can't drive!" "Don't they know that you are supposed to plow while it's still snowing, not wait until you have 6 inches?" Oh, those crazy Southerners. We were also implying that they gave up easily, were unintelligent and didn't plan well. They could learn a lot from us Northerners.
We've been down here for over 20 years, and while I am not a Southerner, I have tried to overcome my attitude problem. Sure, there are some things that Southerners could learn about dealing with snow from Northerners. They have actually learned many of these things. A prediction of snow doesn't close school here nearly so often, for example. The other week it actually snowed and melted without school being closed. But the South faces many challenges of which the North has no inkling. Here are a few.
My point here is that recently arrived northerners shouldn't offer advice until they are sure they understand the complexity of the problem. Sure, we deal with this stuff all the time in the north, and through practice, we have gotten good at it. But it is different down here, and a little patience, listening and commiseration will go a lot farther than an attitude of superiority.
We've been down here for over 20 years, and while I am not a Southerner, I have tried to overcome my attitude problem. Sure, there are some things that Southerners could learn about dealing with snow from Northerners. They have actually learned many of these things. A prediction of snow doesn't close school here nearly so often, for example. The other week it actually snowed and melted without school being closed. But the South faces many challenges of which the North has no inkling. Here are a few.
- An inch of ice is qualitatively different from an inch of snow. Anyone who has shoveled a driveway with an inch of ice on it knows this (me!). So when school shuts down because of an inch of precipitation, and it just looks like an inch of snow, check it out. If it's ice, there's a reason everything is shut down.
- Also, an inch of ice falling on trees makes the branches fall off, unlike an inch of snow.
- And if you ask, "Why don't these Southerners just bury the power lines like we do in Minnesota?" you haven't been paying attention to the color and texture of the earth down here. Burying cable in clay takes a lot more work than burying it in dirt.
- Yes, Southerners don't know how to drive in the snow. There are two reasons for this. First, they haven't been doing it for years. When I was 16, my dad took me out to an icy parking lot and taught me to recover from a skid. Around here, there are no icy parking lots to practice on. My husband went out onto a Wisconsin lake to practice driving on ice. When I was talking to a Floridian about this, she couldn't even imagine a lake covered in ice, or ice that you could walk on, much less one that you could drive on. One of the things Michael did after the 2000 2-foot snow was to drive people's cars out of snowbanks. He had training and the correct instincts---they did not.
- The second reason Southerners don't drive in the snow is that the tires they have are not built for it. There is a reason snow tires exist: they actually make a difference for driving in snow. There is no reason for a Southerner to have those tires sitting around in his garage, waiting for the one time per year that they are needed.
- It does make sense to plow while the snow event is going on. But I'm pretty sure that plowing freezing rain is ineffective. And while Minneapolis has over 120 snowplows, Cary has 44. In 2004, when Charlotte got 12 inches of snow, the county had 2 plows. I am pretty sure they have more now, but it doesn't make sense to buy lots of plows for snow 1-2 times per year.
- In past years NC has gotten much better about putting down salt and sand before the snow. But if the rain comes first and then it snows the salt gets washed off the roads. This is not usually a Minnesota problem.
- "Wait until it melts" seems like a dumb snow removal technique, but in most cases, it works. It is much cheaper than getting lots of plows you don't need. The problem is mostly on the shady rural roads which don't get plowed, get salted, or melt in good time.
- On the other hand, every once in a while you will have a cold snap where the snow doesn't melt after a day. This is why we flood the grocery stores before an event---you might not be getting out for a week if the weather is cold.
- One of the reasons kids don't have school in the snow and cold is that they don't have clothes for it. We have been part of the problem in this---Luke doesn't have boots or snowpants right now, so if he went to school in the snow he'd be wet and cold all day. I know there are organizations in MN that try to make sure people have winter gear. Our family could buy things, but it doesn't make sense to spend lots of money on equipment that is only needed once before it gets outgrown. And we can't really get things used, because no one else has the equipment either...
- Even Minneapolis gets shut down completely every once in a while due to cold. If Minneapolis can get shut down every other year without people complaining about how incompetent they are at dealing with snow, so should Raleigh.
- Two more things: Wintry Mix and Thundersnow. These are not things that happen (often) in the North, as far as I know.
My point here is that recently arrived northerners shouldn't offer advice until they are sure they understand the complexity of the problem. Sure, we deal with this stuff all the time in the north, and through practice, we have gotten good at it. But it is different down here, and a little patience, listening and commiseration will go a lot farther than an attitude of superiority.
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