Houston is Closed!

[LSUmiss]

It’s all over my Facebook feed lol

They had a few other ones on NOLA too.

 

[hereyago]

School in central Va is closed again tomorrow. 3 inches of snow, but the roads are iced over.

I'm done with this snow crap,lol. It seems like it is now sticking to the road.

 

[Shanti]

Hmm I wonder if that is why the weather channel has a winter advisory every time there is a mention of snow... for places that aren't used to it... I keep wondering why the weather channel thinks we need to be reminded that its winter and it will snow. (We got a dusting this morning. It just barely stuck to the roads and melted it didn't need an advisory...

It's ice, not snow, that shuts things down in Texas. We get rain in the winter that freezes, forming a thick layer of ice that is extremely dangerous to drive on.

 

[CrankyDad]

As a New Yorker I do shake my head at you folks in the south and inability to handle such small amount of winter weather.

 

[Shanti]

As a New Yorker I do shake my head at you folks in the south and inability to handle such small amount of winter weather.

So in New York, people can drive their cars safely over slick, icy roads? I think not.

Schools shut down on ice days here to keep people safe when the roads turn to ice, which cannot be safely driven on. There is very little public transportation here, and things are fairly spread out. Most people drive themselves to work. It just isn't safe to ask people to cross town when there is so little friction between the tires and the road due to ice.

Driving your car on an ice skating rink isn't safe. That's basically what our highways turn into on ice days.

 

[gillep]

As a New Yorker I do shake my head at you folks in the south and inability to handle such small amount of winter weather.

As someone born and raised in Buffalo, NY, who will still grab a rental car and drive around there in most conditions, I did not drive at all when there was ice/snow when we lived in Houston, it just isn't safe, the infrastructure is not set up for it, and the ice that they get (with no salting or sanding to be had) is no joke.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There were tons of accidents today even though they told everyone to stay off the roads. There’s always some fool who ignores it.

 

[mckennarose]

So in New York, people can drive their cars safely over slick, icy roads? I think not.

Schools shut down on ice days here to keep people safe when the roads turn to ice, which cannot be safely driven on. There is very little public transportation here, and things are fairly spread out. Most people drive themselves to work. It just isn't safe to ask people to cross town when there is so little friction between the tires and the road due to ice.

Driving your car on an ice skating rink isn't safe. That's basically what our highways turn into on ice days.

In not being argumentative or saying our ice is worse than your ice, but we do drive on ice frequently up here because we have to and definitely as safely was we can. Everyone drives to work here and I'm not in NYC, but a medium size town. Unless there's a state of emergency called, we have to go to work. I believe the last time my DH got off work for weather was when we got 32 inches of snow in 24 hours and never for an ice storm. But schools will cancel for bad ice storms and snow storms over a few inches.

Sometimes our snow storms begin as freezing rain, like this past storm, and sometimes it's sleet or it snows when the ground is a little warmer and it makes a slushy-snowy mess that then freezes into ice when the temp drops. Today our side streets are still snow and ice covered but the highways were melted from the sun and traffic enough to be wet. It's now dropped to 11 degrees and those highways are icy. And we do get black ice a lot, which is tricky to drive on and worse to walk on as most of our sidewalks become so slick that people fall. Been in the ER before for that!

I agree that ice is harder to drive on, but we do have to drive on it pretty regularly. We are also so used to it that we prepare differently and stock up on ice melt and our roads do get treated. And a 4 wheel drive vehicle is a must for a lot of us.

No matter where we are, we can agree that winter weather is a pain to deal with.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

As a New Yorker I do shake my head at you folks in the south and inability to handle such small amount of winter weather.

Just look at these southern Yocals. Not even a foot of snow down. Just a couple of inches and Bam!!! Some of their lanes don't even have any!!! Can't handle their snow. Head shake head shake head shake.

Oh wait. that's New York!!!!

My bad.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

In not being argumentative or saying our ice is worse than your ice, but we do drive on ice frequently up here because we have to and definitely as safely was we can. Everyone drives to work here and I'm not in NYC, but a medium size town. Unless there's a state of emergency called, we have to go to work. I believe the last time my DH got off work for weather was when we got 32 inches of snow in 24 hours and never for an ice storm. But schools will cancel for bad ice storms and snow storms over a few inches.

Sometimes our snow storms begin as freezing rain, like this past storm, and sometimes it's sleet or it snows when the ground is a little warmer and it makes a slushy-snowy mess that then freezes into ice when the temp drops. Today our side streets are still snow and ice covered but the highways were melted from the sun and traffic enough to be wet. It's now dropped to 11 degrees and those highways are icy. And we do get black ice a lot, which is tricky to drive on and worse to walk on as most of our sidewalks become so slick that people fall. Been in the ER before for that!

I agree that ice is harder to drive on, but we do have to drive on it pretty regularly. We are also so used to it that we prepare differently and stock up on ice melt and our roads do get treated. And a 4 wheel drive vehicle is a must for a lot of us.

No matter where we are, we can agree that winter weather is a pain to deal with.

Oh yes,northerners drive ice all the time without incident. Just look at these experts in Chicago. Not like the south where there would be dozens of crashes for such a minor event.

Oh wait. There were.

My bad.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I really don't understand people that think weather is some weird competition between regions @@. Every region handles some weather patterns on a regular basis and others very rarely. It's common sense that an odd weather issue is going to cause issues in that region. And NOBODY can drive well on icy roads.

 

[mckennarose]

Oh yes,northerners drive ice all the time without incident. Just look at these experts in Chicago. Not like the south where there would be dozens of crashes for such a minor event.

Oh wait. There were.

My bad.

Not sure how you got "northerners drive ice all the time without incident" by my explanation of the fact that we HAVE TO drive on ice (and snow) regularly. That is a fact that we deal with by living here and we have become accustomed to. My point was that we do get ice too and we do find ways to navigate it as safely as we can. We have to go to work on time and schools and other businesses may only have a 2 hour delay. But we also have more resources to deal with it since it can be a weekly occurrence here during winter. Of course there are accidents, either because of human error or just the fact that roads are so dangerous. But most people who drive in it regularly don't overestimate their abilities and are cautious.

No, it's not a competition about whose weather is worse, but it can be confusing to northerners as to how so many things can close when the south gets a small amount of snow and ice. Any extreme weather event can be dangerous. The torrential downpours while driving in Florida make me nervous because we don't get rain like that, but Floridians seem to drive in heavy downpours regularly.

 

[mckennarose]

Being a long time PA native, I hear ya. Here in Georgia, it's downright silly. We got 1/2" of snow...yes, a half inch, and school was closed today. The sun has been out all day and therefore the roads are 100% dry. Yet, they felt the need to cancel school tomorrow too, because it's cold outside (it's about 18 today). Really? Seriously? Listen, I hate the cold, that's why we moved here to GA, but no need to close school.

Every one of my family and friends who have moved south have said the same thing.
Today, for instance, we got about 8 inches total by yesterday. The roads are plowed to drive but are still snow covered and the temp was 9 degrees this morning. The schools were put on a two hour delay. It's now 14 degrees and school is starting.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This was something like 5 or 6 years ago but the insurance company I worked for had 3 main call center offices: 1 in Seattle, 1 in Austin and 1 in Kansas City (where I'm at). Austin shut down completely for a few tenths of an inch of ice a couple of times if I remember correctly and Seattle closed down for winter weather but I can't remember if it was ice or snow like 2 times. Kansas City refused to shut down when the worst blizzard in 50 years hit until the police came to the building and forced them to let us go. They were more careful after that and had closed when it got really bad but if the roads were clear it was only good if the parking lots were salted and cleared too.

There was 1 time I had to call in and use PTO because while my husband and I had gone out three times and the last time being something like 3 or 4 am to shovel the driveway the streets hadn't gotten cleared quite yet in the neighborhood where our rental house was at when it was time to leave for work and I couldn't safely get out;I had actually gotten stuck in the middle of the street and burned rubber getting back onto the driveway.

Still though our area has an army of salt trucks and snow plows and there's a sizeable budget for buying salt and brine solution, etc. But as with other places we have limits too.

That being said ice is no joke. While we can handle ice better because of pre-treatment and ongoing treatment it doesn't stop accidents from happening. There are winter tires you can get but that only helps so much and is really for snow. Studded tires and chains can be used for snow and ice but only if your state allows chains and studded tires to be used (as they are very hard on the pavement). We used to get more ice storms growing up but we haven't really had that as much. Ice can weigh down powerlines causing power outages, Ice can be black ice and ice can be in one spot of your lane causing you to lose traction while the rest of your lane was fine.

Hope eveyone stays safe out there!

 

[firefly_ris]

I don't see the need for the region-to-region peeing contest... I think each region of the United States is cool in its own unique way. Each region has its pros and cons, and set of challenges. Couple of things...

- Yes, ice is a difficult PITA. Most of the time here in Buffalo we have the utter crap salted out of the roads so ice doesn't form quite so often. Yes I have driven on unsalted icy roads, not fun and if I didn't have to, I'd choose not to, but sometimes you just have to get to work or school. We did have a large amount of icy roads last week because the morning started out at 58 degrees, a lot of rain, and then by 5pm the temperature had plummeted into the teens (can't say I've ever experienced such a massive temperature change in 8 hours). Even if the roads had been salted, the rain had washed it away and then promptly froze. My husband did drive home from work on that. It took him an extra 15 minutes but he arrived safely. Would we have chosen to then go back out for dinner? Probably not. Would we have if it was actively snowing several inches per hour? Yes. Snow > ice.

- We get a lot of snow which yes does require some level of knowledge to drive on even if the road has been salted. We have pretty good plowing services but yes there are plenty of times when I am traveling on un-plowed roads or roads that haven't been plowed in a while, during lengthy snowfalls. The other problem out in the more rural areas where I am are snow drifts -- when you have large farm fields lining the roads and breezy conditions, the road can quickly look like it was untouched by a plow. I'm an 11 year transplant from Maryland but I do just fine, in my front wheel drive minivan (that I keep all-season radials on all year, no snow tires... maybe if I was driving a really light or RWD vehicle). I've very rarely thought to myself "I wish I was in a 4x4 right now". Try to stay in the ruts people ahead of you have created, and a lot of control is about knowing when to let go of your pedals (people tend to panic and brake) and work on guiding the vehicle instead, and knowing how far ahead of time to apply brake pressure, how much brake pressure, how much of an angle to turn your steering wheel at, etc. My mother is heavy-handed on the accelerator and brake and doesn't really take the weather into account so when she comes up to visit at Christmas I don't allow her to drive because I'm just certain she would slide into someone or a parked car. If she lived here 24/7 she would eventually get used to it though, but she isn't here enough to change her driving habits.

- Yes, accidents can and do happen anywhere. This most especially happens during heavy or high-winded snowfall where visibility can be less than a few feet in front of your vehicle -- how a lot of "pile ups" occur.... however it doesn't happen all so frequently considering it's 4 months of snowy weather and things like that happen once or less per season. I wouldn't call it common by any stretch. But of course people anywhere can make poor judgments and experience loss of control and it's worse in ice....

- I don't fault people in the south at all for staying home with ice coated roads. I admit I sometimes have a slight chuckle at my mid-Atlantic Marylanders who will delay or cancel school at the mere threat of a flurry and tend to exaggerate the treachery of a road with 1/8 inch of fresh, soft powder laying on it.... but mostly because I grew up there and have many memories of "snow days" that were actually just regular sunny days with nothing. It'd be different if they were closing based on icy road conditions.... because yes, they don't have the infrastructure set up for salting ahead of time.

Anyway, stuff happens everywhere, can't we all just get along!

 

[soccerdad72]

I really don't understand people that think weather is some weird competition between regions @@. Every region handles some weather patterns on a regular basis and others very rarely. It's common sense that an odd weather issue is going to cause issues in that region. And NOBODY can drive well on icy roads.

ITA - it's a pretty common occurrence whenever weather related topics come up around here.

 

[jsmla]

We're from south Louisiana and were headed to Austin for the birth of our first grandchild on Wednesday. When I saw the forecast we decided to head out after work on Monday to try to at least beat the ice to Houston. (BTW-if anyone with a pet ever finds themselves in need of an overnight en passant through Houston I cannot recommend the La Quinta Houston/Cypress highly enough-new, clean and a very nice staff.)

On Tuesday (AKA Inga day) we drove from west Houston to Austin and the usually two hour trip took over 4 1/2. I've never seen so many jackknifed 18 wheelers! There were wrecked cars everywhere. I was sooooo glad we decided to get to the other side of Houston before it hit.

 

[LSUmiss]

Not sure how you got "northerners drive ice all the time without incident" by my explanation of the fact that we HAVE TO drive on ice (and snow) regularly. That is a fact that we deal with by living here and we have become accustomed to. My point was that we do get ice too and we do find ways to navigate it as safely as we can. We have to go to work on time and schools and other businesses may only have a 2 hour delay. But we also have more resources to deal with it since it can be a weekly occurrence here during winter. Of course there are accidents, either because of human error or just the fact that roads are so dangerous. But most people who drive in it regularly don't overestimate their abilities and are cautious.

No, it's not a competition about whose weather is worse, but it can be confusing to northerners as to how so many things can close when the south gets a small amount of snow and ice. Any extreme weather event can be dangerous. The torrential downpours while driving in Florida make me nervous because we don't get rain like that, but Floridians seem to drive in heavy downpours regularly.

B/c you said it yourself...you have the resources to deal with it! It is an extreme weather event here. I can’t remember the last time it was this cold here. Maybe 10 yrs ago or more. It would be incredibly expensive for cities to keep the resources ready to go in case this happens when it’s so rare. It’s cheaper to shut things down. And many ppl do still have to go to work in this. Schools & govt shuts down but many private businesses don’t. You say it’s not a competition & then throw in a last dig about how it’s “confusing...how so little snow & ice...” It’s sounds dismissive & rude. Pps have said many ppl up there go into full on panic when the temp gets above 90. It’s a “heat wave” there where it’s just May here. But, I’ve learned not everyone up there has central a/c b/c, again, it would be a waste of resources to have something that expensive for rare events. On the message boards, I watched ppl have meltdowns about being in WDW for a tropical storm. Then I watched ppl underestimate the power of a serious hurricane. Again it’s what your used to. And most of us probably prefer our own area b/c we are used to it. I hate how cold it is now here that I can’t wait for 95! I’m used to that. I would never live up north. Winter for me is 50s/30s at best.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

B/c you said it yourself...you have the resources to deal with it! It is an extreme weather event here. I can’t remember the last time it was this cold here. Maybe 10 yrs ago or more. It would be incredibly expensive for cities to keep the resources ready to go in case this happens when it’s so rare. It’s cheaper to shut things down. And many ppl do still have to go to work in this. Schools & govt shuts down but many private businesses don’t. You say it’s not a competition & then throw in a last dig about how it’s “confusing...how so little snow & ice...” It’s sounds dismissive & rude. Pps have said many ppl up there go into full on panic when the temp gets above 90. It’s a “heat wave” there where it’s just May here. But, I’ve learned not everyone up there has central a/c b/c, again, it would be a waste of resources to have something that expensive for rare events. On the message boards, I watched ppl have meltdowns about being in WDW for a tropical storm. Then I watched ppl underestimate the power of a serious hurricane. Again it’s what your used to. And most of us probably prefer our own area b/c we are used to it. I hate how cold it is now here that I can’t wait for 95! I’m used to that. I would never live up north. Winter for me is 50s/30s at best.

When I worked at the insurance company I remember talking to agents in NY (which was a new state for us) and chit chat occurs and the weather comes up. Well in the wintertime there would be times where I would say "well it's -6 and feels like -12" (as an example) and in the summertime I would say "well it's 100 but heat index of 110+" (as an example) and they would always be surprised unless they had been to my area. The suprised part was they didn't think the middle of the country got that cold or that hot.

But it was an interesting thing to think about. And it's not that they were from NY at all it's just you sorta get so used to your own area's weather patterns and you may not even be aware of what other places are like. I for one have said for a while that at this point in my life I don't want to live where the weather is more constant. I like having my 4 seasons even if the 4 seasons don't always stay in their respective time period of the year (you know 60/70s for Christmas and 30/40s for May type thing that happens from time to time).

 

[mckennarose]

..... You say it’s not a competition & then throw in a last dig about how it’s “confusing...how so little snow & ice...” It’s sounds dismissive & rude....

You’re reading a dig into it, I was not throwing shade at all. It IS a small amount of snow TO US. That’s not condescending, it’s a fact and my attempt at trying to explain why there are so many northerners commenting about it, some of which were flippant. I was not flippant or mocking those who don’t live or drive regularly in it. I know it’s difficult to deal with especially if it’s not something in the normal day to day life in South. And as an example of understanding the challange of driving in unfamiliar conditions I wrote that I’m not used to driving in torrential rain. Again, no shade.

We don’t have the choice to drive in it or not and nothing closes like it does down there, which is also a fact and not a dig. I acknowledged that you don’t have the resources like we do because it is so common here our state and city government budget accordingly. And yes, we are used to driving in it because we have to do it more often. No shade there either.

And guess what? If I had the opportunity to move south with some of family that already has, I would! I never complain about the heat and a good bit of our summer is 90’s which we love. That’s why we visit Florida in the spring; to get away from the cold for a while.