Is 12" a lot of snow?

[hedgehog]

I walked the dogs out back on our old farm lot and then brushed the snow off my car. The snow was almost knee deep (although I am pretty short) and measured out at 12" on the car hood and roof. This is pretty normal, nothing to write home about for me. It did occur to me that thinking "Eh" about 12" of snow might be strange, so I though t I'd ask.

BTW - just got back from driving 40 miles to Syracuse and back - wet clean pavement the entire way. New York State snow plow drivers RULE!

[skygazer]

1. No, but a foot sure is!

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

2. Of everything 12" long and people can only think of feet?

:wow:

:hide:

[lost-in-nj]

3. Well you know what they say

about the size of a mans foot...

don't you???


:evilgrin: :evilgrin:


lost

[Deja Q]

6. I've heard it's a myth, but Snopes isn't always right either...

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

8. I should thunk of that earlier! Gonna go buy me a set of clown shoes right now!

:woohoo:

[hedgehog]

4. And here I was hoping to impress people with my casual reference to a foot of snow.....nt

[sarge43]

12. Sorry hedgehog, but some of us have dealt with three feet

of the stuff in one el dumpo. "Honey! I can't get the door open."

[racaulk]

5. In one way, it could be way too much Snow!!!

:puke:

[struggle4progress]

7. Depends on where. A half inch is a disaster in DC.

A foot would be a lot in central NC: we got two feet a few years back and it shut us down for a week.

I once took an overnight road trip through a small blizzard with a dear friend headed towards the shores of the Great Lakes: at dawn, when I could finally assess the situation, we were driving across a lovely farm community landscape, and although I could see things like buildings here and there, the foot or so of pristine snowfall left me absolutely no visual clue where the pavement was. Don't worry (says my friend) I've driven this a thousand times and I know where the road is, even if we can't see it! She was telling the truth ...

[TZ]

10. "A half inch is a disaster in DC...."

You are SOOOOO right on with that!!!:rofl:

BTW..12 inches of snow (which happens here every 5 or 6 years or so) shuts down DC for a good 3 or 4 days if not longer....

[Gormy Cuss]

14. DC, the biggest snow wimps on the East Coast.

:rofl:
A small snowstorm does shut it down even though nearly every winter it snows. You'd think they'd figure it out eventually.

[struggle4progress]

20. I wouldn't dare drive in DC on a snowy day: there are too many fools from elsewhere in town

Of course, anybody that grew up in that part of the country knows what to do.

But the city is full of maniacs who grew up somewhere else. The invariable reaction of a Texan, for example, to frozen roads is: If I drive 75, it'll take me less than a hour to get home

[tjwmason]

9. It would certainly cause South East England to shut down

Anything over half an inch does that.

[Tab]

11. Yes and no

growing up in New England, 12" is a PITA, but not "a lot".

People in the cities (DC, whatever) are thrown off guard by even a half inch, but most of the time they don't have snow tires and don't know how to drive in the snow. A half inch of snow can shut a whole city down, whereas up here we don't even blnik at anything under 5 inches.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

13. It's a pain, but we have close to it here.

It's a lot of snow, but "a lot of snow" isn't too special around here. Farther south there'd be hell to pay for even an inch of snow. :D

[hedgehog]

15. My sister called from Maryland this morning- they had 5" overnight

so the schools are closed. We had 5" and just brushed off the cars and got going. The big difference is that we plow the daylights out of our roads because we admit that it does actually snow in the winter. I am convinced that people in Southern states have bought the propaganda that it never snows south of the Mason-Dixon! It's a shock every year when it snows.

Driving on unplowed roads is easy; it's the stopping that gets interesting. I think that if our roads weren't plowed, we in the snow belt would have problems with a half inch of snow, too.


Three foot over night does mean a snow day around here (Emphasis "A" snow day; expect to go to school the next day!) Otherwise, as long as you can see, you drive. I just find my self rather bemused at having to wade through the snow to walk the dogs and accepting it as a matter of course.

[Deep13]

16. Only one foot? Nah.

Back in MA growing up, nothing less than a foot was a lot and nothing above zero was especially cold.

Around here (near Cleveland) they close school for a few inches.

[TZ]

18. what?

Doesn't Cleveland get a ton of snow? I figured from my mom's stories of growing up in Shaker Heights that the schools almost never closed for snow.....

[Deep13]

19. towns on Cleveland's east side are in the so-called lake effect area

Otherwise, serious accumulation is not that common. There are a few days every year when we get hit hard, but not like back east where >12" was pretty routine.

[TZ]

21. okay

Now I remeber her saying that it was common for East Cleveland to have a foot of snow and the other side of town to only get a couple of inches.....All my relatives live on the east side so to me thats "Cleveland":)

[semillama]

22. Another factor is population growth and sprawl outpacing the city's

ability to keep up with plowing.

You can't plow during rush hours, and if people park on side streets, that ends up being a mess.

Now, I'm originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where it's common to get 36 inches over night, and it's common for that to occur several times a winter. But since the population density is so low, plowing is more efficient.

The yearly amount of snow also means that counties are well prepared for it as well, of course.

But I'm convinced it's just the sheer size of cities with urban sprawl that prevents municipalities from dealing effectively with snow fall.

[TZ]

23. Good theory

Thats probably half the reason right there why DC is soooo bad with snow despite getting snow just about every year. That and the people from places like Texas who think that their gas guzzling monsters can go 70 even in icy conditions. Next time I see a crashed SUV in the snow (very common here) I am gonna peek and see if it has a W sticker on it....
:rofl:

[CatholicEdHead]

17. No, not at all

12in is still not that much snow.

[Flatline]

24. In Michigan you wait about a week for snow truckd ARG... n/t