Panic on the streets of Birmingham

The whole texting while driving thing really isn't such a good idea. Even if it's just to text "War Eagle".

 

In fairness, I laugh every summer when some city up North declares a "heat emergency" at 90 degrees.

 

Look, for a city with maybe three snowplows, six inches of snow is a goddamn emergency. For a city with a lot of old people living in ancient apartment buildings with no air conditioning and little ventilation, a few 90 degree days in a row is also an emergency.

 

Toronto's snow removal budget is around $75 million and for the most part, major city streets and expressways are ploughed immediately and streets and sidewalks are cleared usually within 24 hours. You can't expect that in a city who might get 7 inches of snow a year.

And a lot of people who live in the north, I'll take minus 10C than 32 C any day (that's around 15F & 90F respectively

 

I'm in the south and they cancel stuff around here before anything ever happens. And then nothing happens and all the shit is cancelled for nothing! On Friday afternoon they cancelled all the prep basketball games for Friday night because they were calling for an inch of snow (I am not kidding. An inch.) Then, not a single snowflake fell so now they have to reschedule all those games over nothing.

They will even cancel school before anything ever happens and then you wake up the next day, look outside and see nothing but green grass in every direction. Then the parents who both work are left scrambling to find a babysitter or forking over money for day care or calling off work to stay home with the kid because he won't have school that day. I once asked a family friend who has kids in school why the schools freaked out so much and this is what she told me:

"Well they don't want the kids to have to wait at the bus stop when it's so cold outside."

*Head slap*

I grew up in the north and I remember being expected to make it to school on time with several inches of snow outside -- on a regular basis. I know they claim that it's because of the plow situation and how it doesn't make sense to work it into their budget if they will only need it a few times (tops) per year. But does it make sense to then have to send teachers and students to school on Saturdays to make up for those cancelled days (which is what they do here)? And how much money is lost because people's office buildings close for the day when there's a threat of snow? What's so wrong about splurging for some plows and creating a few jobs? Of course, we are talking about government spending here I guess.

When I was a kid, they would wait until the morning to cancel school (aka -- wait until something actually happens) and then we'd all listen to the radio or watch the news to see if our school came up. I don't know why they don't do that here. They are just so quick to panic before anything ever falls from the sky (and half the time nothing ever does. I'm convinced that the meteorologists who finish at the bottom of their class get sent to the south to work).

And then everyone runs to the store to buy all the milk, as if the threat of snow causes some sort of calcium deficiency in people or something.

 

Expecting from 2-12 inches in Georgia. Metro Atlanta, last I heard from Channel 2, was 2-3" and 1/4" of ice from the sleet that's following the snow.

Snow supposed to last about 10 hours, sleet for up to 24.

 

Untrue, and typical stupidity from uninformed parents.

In many parts of the Southeast that receive icy or snowy conditions, there are older roads and bridges in rural and hilly areas that can ice over. Cancellations or postponements often are preventative -- that "planning ahead" as was noted by Mark2010 -- but when they plan ahead and nothing happens, people bitch.

 

Brilliant thread title.

 

North or South, the prevalence of two-working parent families means that there's NOTHING schools can do when bad weather is in the forecast that won't piss parents off. Cancel, they're stuck for child care. Don't cancel, their kids can wind up coming home at 9 p.m. due to five hour bus rides, and then, boy are the parents mad. Both of these things happened right here in Lexington in the past five years.

 

The planning ahead that Mark was alluding to was having insulated pipes and plows in stock. The "planning ahead" that I was alluding to was jumping the gun and making cancellations before anything ever happens.

Last winter they made an announcement on a Sunday afternoon to cancel schools for Monday because there was supposed to be this big storm on Sunday night. Do you know how much snow fell?

You guessed it.

That's what leaves me scratching my head. I'm all for saving taxpayer money by not having plows if it doesn't fit the bottom line. But how about at least waiting until something actually falls from the sky before hitting the panic button.

 

You mean like in Philadelphia when they cancelled a football game because of forecast snow?

Things shutting down because of predicitions happens on both sides of the Mason-Dixon.

It isn't the snow, it is the ice. So many bridges, so many overpasses. The weather warms up for a little snow to melt, then it freezes into ice when the temps drop.

That's what causes people to panic, that and the ice knocking power out.

 

It totally makes sense. Honestly, I think us Northerners are too willing to drive in snow.

But it still makes me snicker a little.