Snow for us down here is a novel thing. Never lived anywhere but here so I don't know how I would handle snow as a regular thing.
After 63 years of winters, snow down here although a novelty is not a welcome one. I dread it even if all I hear is 1 or 2 inches, which btw, in the north is also referred to as "flurries". I get frustrated by the complete lack of knowledge on how to make the roads safer and how to maintain a normal life in spite of a little snow.
We get a forecast of a significant rain, ice and snow event and three days before they go out and spread brine on the roads, like three days from now it's still going to be there. I understand that having a fleet of plows available would mostly be a waste of money, however, they do have dump trucks that can be relatively inexpensively fitted with plowing equipment. On the interstates, instead of having a few trucks, even pickups would do it and lord know there are plenty of pickups down here, loaded with sand or sand/salt they could take care of the road areas that do freeze, bridges and the like. Instead they close the bridge and have traffic take the exit close to the bridge and go back on it on the other side. You can imagine the degree of traffic backup that creates.
If only the public could be educated to the idea that if there is ice or snow on the highway it doesn't mean that you drive faster so you can get home quicker. It seldom works out that way. Or that 4 wheel drive won't mean you are invincible. The schools close for unbelievable amounts of time as well as businesses that close because people can't or won't try to, get to work. The cost on the economy is huge and it seem like investments in equipment and training would be more then worthwhile. However, no self respecting southerner would ever consider listening to a northerner tell them what to do. So, since I'm retired and don't really have to go out in it. I just wait for it to melt, but, it is a big problem for a whole lot of people and for some reason is very frustrating if you come from a place where 24 inches of snow means a two hour delay in opening time.
I remember a huge nor'easter coming into Vermont on Valentines day back in 2008, I think. It started snowing early in the morning and continued all day long and into the evening. We had over three feet of snow in about 12 hours. Being in public transportation (municipal buses) we ran all day, sometimes having a couple of trucks out there to literally push the buses up the many hills in Burlington, Vermont. We finally had to call it quits around 6:30pm, for the first time in the history of the company, and spent the rest of the evening freeing the buses stuck in snow drifts, etc. We also had to find a place for people that were stranded in Burlington from outlying commuter locations that we couldn't get to that night. I personally, had to sleep, what little I could, in my car in the bus barn. I couldn't get home even if I wanted too.
The next morning, in spite of the fact that many streets were still closed and the ones that were open were only one lane wide, the buses were back on the road and by the end of the day were back to full speed and had our commuters running again. Some places did close because people that lived in very rural areas just couldn't get out, but, for the most part it was business as usual within two days. If that happened here it would be sometime in May before we would even get out of our driveway.
