Since I retired two years ago my wife and I have moved south for 4 months or so each winter. Last winter was typical for southern Virginia, with some cold weather (down here anything below 20F is considered frigid) but many pleasant days. On Christmas Day 2008 the temperature was in the 70s and we spent the day in the yard in shorts and teeshirts. However, this year ever since we arrived it seems that it’s either rained or snowed. The November-December period set an all-time record for precipitation, and now it appears we’ll set records for the number of “significant” snow storms.
Last year we only had one snow, about 5″ but that was all it took to close schools for several days. Municipalities simply aren’t equipped to handle snow, and days can go by before residential streets are plowed. We had a snowstorm last weekend that dumped 12″ of snow on us in about a day, and the region went into full-fledged panic, with schools closed until mid-day Thursday. Now we’re in the midst of another winter storm consisting of snow, sleet, and rain, with more snow expected tomorrow. Today (Friday) we got a total of about an inch of slush but schools were closed (yet again!), professional offices cancelled all appointments, state legislators fled the capital like rats deserting a sinking ship, and Richmond International Airport all but shut down operations for today and early tomorrow.
After a snow event it’s smart to stay off the roads, not only because many of them aren’t plowed but because so many Southern drivers simply have no idea how to operate a motor vehicle on snowy roads. My son was raised in the North Country and spent about 10 years during and after college in Buffalo, so he knows snow. But he avoids driving on snowy roads down here because of “the other guy”. Or gal.
To a life-long Northerner it’s amusing to see how the locals react–make that over-react–to the mere expectation of snow. They make a run on supermarkets, stripping the shelves of dairy products, beer, toilet paper and other “essentials”. My daughter-in-law tried to do some food shopping the other day but couldn’t find a single parking space in the huge parking lot. I watched one of our neighbors try to clear snow from his front porch–with a garden rake.
We were hoping that “Virginia winter” was an oxymoron, but such has not been the case.