Quote of the Day

Yeah, DC is absolutely pathetic about inclement weather. I’ve seen schools close for RAIN in the DC Metro. People are morons when the first snowflake hits the ground.That was one of the biggest culture shocks in moving from DC to Nebraska, how they handled snow and ice. They have the trucks ready to roll in advance and the roads are clear before rush hour, unless it’s a total white-out. Schools stay open until there’s about a foot on the ground, and compared to DC, there’s really no such thing as “traffic” here. I may have been in 2 traffic jams — bumper-to-bumper — in 5 years out here. It took me almost an hour to get 4 miles on Route 66 last time I was in DC.

In the late 60s we moved to Maryland from Minnesota I was in high school and was absolutely amazed and delighted that school would be canceled for an inch of snow or less. People couldn’t drive up very simple grades in the road without sliding all over the place. It was hilarious.

Why do they think that when it snows they don’t have to obey traffic signals or stop at stop signs? Never understood that.

We got 6-8 inches overnight here in Upstate NY, it’s been snowing non stop since midnight, up to at least a foot now… and the kids are still in school. Life is still going on and I’m about to cross country ski to the post office.

welcome to the south! as much as dc can be considered a southern city now.

Just because you have an SUV, you could still slide on the snow and ice….leave earlier and go slower.

I can relate, as a native Chicagoan now living in the Pacific Northwest. Not only do people here go bonkers over snow, traffic totally gets messed up by rain, especially the 1st rains after our summer dry spell.

Thank you, Edward.Here in America’s Armpit (Central PA) everyone with an SUV thinks “Hey, it’s snowing. I should drive even more like an asshole.” It’s like they wait for this day to come then do 75 on rural roads with their McCain/Palin bumper sticker a flutter. (Not even joking.) Let it never be said natural selection isn’t real.

I welcomed the snow god today. She provided me the opportunity to blog endlessly on the GDAB.On brighter note. I am going to slap the cock out of Chuck Todd’s mouth go being an absolute faggot to Robert Gibbs(I don’t mean faggot in the sexual context but in the douchebaggy way).Our government has been so fucking pathetic over the last 8 years that I have no fucking idea what the Interior Secretary does. I am really happy with President Obama and everyone that is working for him.

There are a list of reasons why you can not criticize the denizens of DC for their inability to deal with ice and snow.

• The have almost no snow removal equipment because they don’t get much snow very often. They have salt/sand spreading trucks, but not in the number that PA, NJ, NY, CT and MA have (just to stay on the Northeast corridor).
• The natives have very little experience driving on snow because they don’t get much snow very often.
• The DC area has many newly arrived residents that have absolutely *NO* experience driving on snow. (When was the last time they got snow in San Diego?)

You can’t call people wimps for lacking experience in dealing with conditions that they’ve never encountered before.I lived in SC for 2 years. We had a major snowfall of 1 inch (ha ha) once. Everything closed. (In CT, a one inch snowfall does not close anything unless it’s mixed with freezing rain then schools close.) They have no snow removal equipment. None. No salt/sand trucks, no plows, nothing.I watched people trying to drive like the snow was not present. They slid through stop signs and red lights. I decided not to drive anywhere, not because I couldn’t drive, but because no one else could.In PA and CT I could assume that the other drivers I was sharing the road with would have similar driving experience to mine in ice/snow conditions.That assumption is not valid in DC or anywhere farther south.Lack of experience does not make one a wimp.

Redmond -I have a theory that sitting in the driver’s seat of an SUV causes a 20 to 30 decrease in IQ. In addition, it multiplies assholeness™ by 3.These are based only on my observations. I’m interested in other’s theories.

If you really want to have a laugh, you need to see San Antonio with just a dusting of snow. 20 car pileups until they close the freeways. But then again, here in Minnesota, when the very first snowflake of the year floats down,it appears that everyone has forgotten how to drive from the previous year. Either that, or that particular day, everyone is new to the state.

If it weren’t for the ACTUAL danger involved, watching people without experience drive in snow and ice is fun.

DC people are wintertime wussies.

>>In PA and CT I could assume that the other drivers I was sharing the road with would have similar driving experience to mine in ice/snow conditions.Where I lived in PA, that would be an unwise assumption. While we did get snow & ice every winter, most of them never learned how to drive in it without totally freaking out behind the wheel.Hell, they canceled school based on the weathermen saying there might be snow.And they didn’t use sand – they used cinders, which, IMO, are worse than worthless…

SillyGit:In my neck of the woods (figuratively, because Kansas has no woods), I have observed many more assholes behind the wheels of cars and trucks than I have witnessed in SUVs. I will admit I do tend to get a little asshole-ish when stuck behind/around idiot drivers, but not more than many other people I’ve seen.

I’m in Dallas, we had a major ice “event” and believe me, everything shuts down here when it happens. We don’t really get snow, we get pure ice and our highways/overpasses cannot handle it.

i live in warwick ny. we have had three snow days (for schools) already this year with nothing more threatening than snow warnings. turned out to be media exaggerations and ended up as sunny clear days, but only after school was canceled. i thought we yanks were a tougher breed.

Ahem..just wanted to add that my state, RHODE ISLAND, though just an itty bitty state..is still a part of New England. (Just my pet peeve that we get left out of all the fun!) (Now..Chris.. you be nice!)

yes, he is 100% right about DC. I lived in that area during my high school years (living in Fairfax) and I recall school closing due to a simple “winter storm watch”. And sometimes the weather forecast was just wrong and we would end up getting out of school for no reason. Of course we didn’t complain.I now live in the Chicago area, and not even 8+ inches will get my office to postpone work or cancel the workday. Then again, as was pointed out above, we have good snow removal operations here, and in the DC area it was virtually non-existent. If it snows, those side streets do not get plowed. Ever. They just wait until it melts, which is usually the next day.