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Very true, mostly because we haven't really go the equipment to deal with it because it doesn't snow enough to merit it.

The bad thing about heavy snowfall, besides having to shovel it, is where do you put it? How high can you pile snow on the sidewalk until it's a danger?
*Nevermind. The City of Buffalo has dump trucks dump it into the lake.

Obviously the windows and/or doors blowing inward due to the pressure/weight of the show is a pain... but think of how you would fix it. How many people have sheets of wood, screws, nails, etc to patch the "hole"? You can't go to the local lumber yard for plywood, or a new door etc. No contractor is going to come fix it. You could use a dining room table, or prop a bed mattress up against it with a chest of drawers or such. Even if "you" might have stuff, consider the average little-old-lady home alone and the front door is exploded in. She is not going to be able to nail up a table or move a chest of drawers from a bedroom (upstairs) to the front door.

You've experienced this before, Jim?

No, but I do have relatives up in that area.

IanKennedy wrote:Very true, mostly because we haven't really go the equipment to deal with it because it doesn't snow enough to merit it.

Exactly my point. Question, though: since you don't have equipment or supplies to deal with snowfall because you don't get enough to make it worth the investment, what exactly do you do when it does snow to accumulation? Surely you can't just cower in your homes until it melts?

Mikey wrote:

IanKennedy wrote:Very true, mostly because we haven't really go the equipment to deal with it because it doesn't snow enough to merit it.

Exactly my point. Question, though: since you don't have equipment or supplies to deal with snowfall because you don't get enough to make it worth the investment, what exactly do you do when it does snow to accumulation? Surely you can't just cower in your homes until it melts?

Pretty much. it doesn't really last more than a day or so when we get it. That said a few years ago we did get enough to shut down a major London airport for 3-4 days. That airport has recently invested in more equipment. Cities tend to use ploughs that can be attached to normal trucks they use for other works. I'm 50 next February and over that time I can only remember about 8 times we've had significant snow. Three of those have been in the last five years.

Mikey wrote:

IanKennedy wrote:Very true, mostly because we haven't really go the equipment to deal with it because it doesn't snow enough to merit it.

Exactly my point. Question, though: since you don't have equipment or supplies to deal with snowfall because you don't get enough to make it worth the investment, what exactly do you do when it does snow to accumulation? Surely you can't just cower in your homes until it melts?

I remember that Virginia Beach was shut down for a few days because there was only a few plows in the area. The snow was only a three or four inches thick. It didn't help that since the area is filled with military members from all over the place many which have not seen snow before thought they could drive in it with their big trucks, only to spin into curbs and trees.

Wow. Please forgive me if I sound incredulous, but this is completely alien to me. Around here, while we certainly don't get enough snow to b inured to feet at a time (like upstate New York,) we have both municipal/county personnel and equipment in place, as well as many private contractors employed by shooping-center landlords, parking lots, etc. Nearly every landscaper or property-management contractor has at least one or two plows for their year-round trucks, and selling plows and sand/salt spreaders to such contractors is a huge add-on business in truck sales.

Of course, when we get hit with 2 feet or so at once we tend to shut down for a day too, which no doubt provokes snickers and derision from folks like RK_Striker.

Mikey wrote:Wow. Please forgive me if I sound incredulous, but this is completely alien to me. Around here, while we certainly don't get enough snow to b inured to feet at a time (like upstate New York,) we have both municipal/county personnel and equipment in place, as well as many private contractors employed by shooping-center landlords, parking lots, etc. Nearly every landscaper or property-management contractor has at least one or two plows for their year-round trucks, and selling plows and sand/salt spreaders to such contractors is a huge add-on business in truck sales.

Of course, when we get hit with 2 feet or so at once we tend to shut down for a day too, which no doubt provokes snickers and derision from folks like RK_Striker.

I live in NJ now.

It happened I think in 2009 or 2010. Virginia gets snow but it is very little and melts quickly. So no one really needs a plow. Most of the time it will not be used.

I know when I was still in the Navy we were able to clear the runway and flight line by welding two pieces of metal together to make a plow for our aircraft tractors.

Because major snows are so infrequent we've never seen the real need to invest in the equipment. It'll pretty much shut the country down for a day, mostly because people don't know how to drive/clear/interact with the conditions. Then it'll be alright the day after.

Mikey wrote:Wow. Please forgive me if I sound incredulous, but this is completely alien to me. Around here, while we certainly don't get enough snow to b inured to feet at a time (like upstate New York,) we have both municipal/county personnel and equipment in place, as well as many private contractors employed by shooping-center landlords, parking lots, etc. Nearly every landscaper or property-management contractor has at least one or two plows for their year-round trucks, and selling plows and sand/salt spreaders to such contractors is a huge add-on business in truck sales.

Of course, when we get hit with 2 feet or so at once we tend to shut down for a day too, which no doubt provokes snickers and derision from folks like RK_Striker.

Local authorities are required to keep salt, but, that's a tricky business. Spread it too soon and it blows away, too late and it doesn't work. Still they do it often. We have the same latitude as New York but we have the gulf stream to keep us warm even in winter. We've never been hit with more than about a foot and that took a few days.

Believe me, I understand your point about not investing in preparations for an all-too-rare occurrence. It just boggles my mind - that mind having grown up inthe northeastern U.S. - that a community of people could be alright with a very minor weather event keeping you from going to work, school, governance, etc.

That said, I was right smack in the middle of one of the top 5 weather events of all time, so...

My rule of thumb is that if it affects driving or walking conditions, it's going to risk shutting a lot of things down. We have absolutely no training, formal or informal, on how to drive in ice or snow. Quite a lot of us don't have proper winter shoes or boots to A) be comfortable in the cold and B) be able to walk without falling on our backsides ever minute. Gritting helps the main roads around here but there is virtually none on our smaller roads where everyone lives in suburban areas making whole estates ice rinks. Last year a lot of people I know who live in the town down the road abandoned their cars as they couldn't deal with the icy, snowy steep inclines of the hills near where I live over the pond from Portsmouth. I managed to get to my old job by riding my old Yamaha exceptionally carefully along very flat country roads that were fortunately well travelled enough by farm vehicles to have the snow and ice mostly cleared. Public transport in the UK is appalling and barely worth considering where I live at the best of times, let alone with dodgy weather.

Mikey wrote:Wow. Please forgive me if I sound incredulous, but this is completely alien to me. Around here, while we certainly don't get enough snow to b inured to feet at a time (like upstate New York,) we have both municipal/county personnel and equipment in place, as well as many private contractors employed by shooping-center landlords, parking lots, etc. Nearly every landscaper or property-management contractor has at least one or two plows for their year-round trucks, and selling plows and sand/salt spreaders to such contractors is a huge add-on business in truck sales.

Not so much of that here. Bear in mind, a typical snowfall in the UK is maybe 2-3 inches. Main roads are generally kept clear just by cars driving on them, or the gov. will send trucks out to grit the road - actual snow ploughing is quite rare. If you live in some quiet side street you just have to slip-sliding your way out as best you can. There are grit bins on some streets that are prone to difficulties when it snows. I live on a pretty steep hill, with no exits for cars at the bottom - you have to drive up the hill. So there's a grit bin on my road, and people can use it to grit the road and make it easier to drive up it. But honestly most don't even bother, they just stay home if it's too bad.

It's almost unknown for a person to own snow tires or tire chains. One of my neighbours has tire chains, he's literally the only person I've ever met who has them. This is because you're not actually allowed to drive around with them on your car - the road surfaces aren't designed for it, and you've be chewing the road up as you drove. So he puts his chains on, drives to the top of the hill, then takes them off again before carrying on!

A really heavy snow might dump 6+ inches. That amount will typically start disrupting public transport - buses and trains not running, or running late. In which place you either get in to work as best you can, for example walk to a main road that's clear and try your luck on public transport or with a cab. Or you just ring in to work, say you're stuck, and stay home. But falls like that usually don't last long - it's rare that such disruption will go more than 3 or 4 days in a row. A few years ago some parts of the country got 16 inches, and that was the heaviest snowfall recorded in the last 50 years.

All in all it's what Ian said - we're comically unprepared for snow, and people do always rail about how snow disrupts things. But it's just not worth spending the money to be prepared, because typically you only get disruption every few years, and it only lasts a few days.