Down here, it takes an angel dropping a snow-cone to shut us down. They shut down schools today because last night's forecast was kinda bad. It didn't start sleeting until this afternoon. I feel bad watching everybody up North shoveling their cars out to go to work
When I lived in Atlanta, the answer was a paltry amount. "Black Ice" days in Atlanta would probably seem laughable to folks from more northerly climes, but it would collapse commerce in Atlanta even though it was gone come 3:00 pm. As for where I currently live, the answer is any at all. I live in the tropics.
I come from Canada. It takes a lot of freeze to stop Canadians. When I was a teenager living with my family north of Toronto, my father was hosting a business associate from Brazil. At the dinner table, the talk turned to climate. We mentioned having to plow and shovel snow in the winter. The Brazilian said, "You mean that snow just ... falls in the streets here?" "Sure." "Snow, like the white stuff we see on the mountaintops?" "Yes." He leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes. "I don't see how it would be possible to conduct business where snow is in the streets."
People here in the NE seem to be well prepared for heavy snowfall. Anything more than about 3 inches of snow means campus is closed or it's a late start at the very least. Anything less than that and it's business as usual. I'm not used to all this snow. Back in Portland a single snowflake was enough to shut down the city.
Back in PEI, we mostly only shutdown our little corner of the world because we thought it was going to be worse than it was. Generally, we shut down after the "it's no so bad" becomes the "Yeah... we better go"... Very proactive half hour school days.
Omg... Someone who knew what it WAS! Funnily enough, even Canadians don't know what I mean when I say PEI.
I'm reading Dan Simmons The Terror. The area in question figures as the setting for this novel. Happy co-inky-dink.
Oh, don't forget our red soil and the world's best potatoes! When I got off the island, I thought it was so damned strange how the soil was black instead of the red rust color I was so used to.
I wonder how much ice it would take to shut down a lobster march. (These are tropical spinies, not Maine lobbies)
It should get into the 20s tomorrow. Whoo hoooo! Thirties on Thursday and next week, into the 40s. I think I'm gonna dance and wear shorts. We have a pile in the backyard, just off the driveway, that's approaching burial mound status and the drifts could act as bunkers in case of war.
I am so sick of all this snow, and here in the Philly area, they don't seem to understand how to plow streets or clear the snow. It is inexcusable. On Sunday, I was about 10 miles from home and needed to take an expressway. A FULL hour after snow started to fall (from a well-predicted and much-discussed storm), this major expressway was not treated or plowed at all. The roads were some of the worst I've ever seen, and this was from a very minor snowstorm that only gave us 2 - 3 inches. It took me an hour to get home. You'd think PA would be better able to deal with it. They're as bad as DC.
Northern Illinois, we do not stop until there is over a foot of snow, pretty much. I envy you southerners who get to not go to work because an inch of fast melting snow may have fallen... This winter just needs to end already...
Here in Philadelphia, we have nowhere else to put the snow. Yet, the only time businesses close, is when it gets too tooooo cold, or when it would be impossible to take public transportation.
I've never seen a city (or a school or any business for that matter) shut down because of ice and snow, and we get pretty bad winters. I wish we could hibernate through the winter, but suppose people adapt after centuries of harsh winters. It looks like people take pride in keeping the businesses and schools open and the public transportation going no matter how cold it gets, no matter how raging the blizzard. And because of this stubborness, especially traffic accidents happen just because you have to get to work or school even though you can't see crap or the roads are icy like skating rinks.
I live in one of the snowiest towns in the US, it takes a lot to shut us down. in 2007, we got 11 feet of snow over a span of like, 12 days. We usually average around 300" of snow every winter.
Here in Kentucky it doesn't take any. Just the forecast of snow the night before, and they close all the schools. Seriously...then there might not be anything but a dusting of snow the next day, yet all the parents have to take off work and stay at home, or pay for baby sitting.
The same thing just happened here in northern Louisiana. When I was in school, they waited for ice to be on the roads before closing schools. Now, it just takes a bad forecast.
