Why does Asheville constantly, year after year, put up stupid winter storm warnings? After being up north and out west, it seems ridiculous.
Its frickin 42 degrees outside.
Yeah, I hear you Revolu. After being used to schools closing and everything coming to a halt in WNC every time it snowed, living in Michigan gives winter a whole new perspective. My son was just entering kindergarten when I was there, and I remember he had to trudge out in deep snow every morning to catch a school bus that was always equipped with chains. If they closed schools there due to snow, there’d never be any school.
And in southern California they issue storm warnings when it’s getting ready to rain. I’m not kidding.
And in southern California they issue storm warnings when it’s getting ready to rain. I’m not kidding.
guess it could be worse. half of my office was gone today so i can’t really complain when i think about it. i’m enjoying a nice relaxin thursday, even if it is work.
me, i appreciate the warnings. living in the mountains, i wouldn’t let my kids on a bus even if it had chains if i knew there was bad weather coming. the first time a bus full of kids slides off a mountain in bad weather, the whole community will want to crucify the superintendent for not canceling school ... it’s a no win situation for them, so they err on the side of safety and caution. fine by me ...
I agree with you, Lumina. There are no mountains around there in western Michigan by the shore of Lake Michigan. But they sure get lots of snow. I’m not sure what they do about getting the kids to school in the winter up North where they also have mountains. Obviously it’s an issue they have to deal with some way.
My family cracks up every time they cancel school over some *potential* snowflakes falling within 100 miles.
I have lived in a number of truly *mountainous* areas (anyone who has been out west recognizes that these are hills here in Asheville). Out there, kids don’t get out of school for anything- if it is less than 10 below, kids just can’t go out for recess. Even in up-state NY (buffalo, Rochester)- where you can’t even open your door for the snow drifts, kids go to school, no matter what.
I ain’t complaining, though. Its great to get a random day off of everything. Let the snow flurries fly!
Man, it’s a good thing I had a storm warning for the 0.678 inches of snow I got yesterday. I never would have had a good stock of beans and cereal this morning!
My only point was that, in fact, places where they don’t close schools for snow actually DO have mountains. Another poster suggested that they don’t close the schools elsewhere because, unlike this area, they don’t have mountains. Just not true, I was born/raised in Alaska and also spent some of my childhood in WV (also hills). You could be standing neck deep in snow waiting for the school bus. The only occassional exception would be if there was freezing rain, ice fog (you guys can’t even imagine ice fog), or if everything melted during the day and then froze up over night, in which case there would be a delay only.
Heehee…I just knew someone would fly to the defense of the areas (OK, I’ll give it to you) *mountains*- I think that’s cute :0) I just miss those huge *rocks* out there.
Again, I ain’t complaining- I love to wake up to realize I don’t have to do ANYTHING all day!
I go to AMazing Savings religiously, so my cupboards are always stocked up.
well, i guess the biggest difference, then, is that we LOVE our kids ... ! ;)
(altho i’m glad they close for safety reasons, i have also come to cherish the unexpected days home with my daughter ... we have many memories of our traditional cocoa in front of the fireplace, sledding and stomping around with the beasties in the snow ... i’ll cherish those as much as knowing that she’s safe and warm ...)
I don’t know, I always assumed it was such an overblown reaction here for a number of reasons: 1)We don’t get that much snowfall (at least not any more, but even back when we got more regular snows, compared to places that really do get a lot, a big snow is an anomaly here, not a constant) so 2)It’s not feasible to keep the amount of snow-battling equipment and substances on hand to make the occasional blizzard an easily dealt with affair that they would in more snow-susceptible locations and 3)We’ve all been so used to a snowfall being enough of an annual occurrence, yet enough of a rarity, that we are conditioned since childhood to view it with both anticipation and trepidation unlike people in more tropical climes who only rarely are wont to receive the frozen precipitation and also unlike the residents of colder states for whom the falling flakes are such a daily triviality.
Also, I’m sure some resident of the Andes could come and condescendingly scoff at your “mountains” too if they were inclined to be so unnecessarily snide for whatever reason, but whether the landforms meet a certain specification to be appropriately labeled “hills”, “mountain” or “heaps”, the important thing is they are all beautiful and size should not matter so much in every aspect of judging the worth or importance of everything. At least that’s what I tell my wife.
Oh come on, Brebro, I wasn’t intending to be “snide” I was just being playful. I totally respect that you folks take such pride in your mole hills.
Anyhow, I’ve been to the Andes, and their heaps aren’t by any means that much taller than ours in Alaska. And- if any Incan ever scoffed at my mountains, I’d open up a can of good ole Alaska bootie whoopin’ on ‘em.
Ok, so can we all agree that, when it comes to “heaps” (the female kind…LOL), weenies, and mountains, it ain’t the size that counts???
AshaKasha, I am sure you only meant to be playful and did not intend to be snide at all. However, that kind of playfulness only works with people you already know. If you walk into a roomful of strangers and start dismissing something they are proud of and telling them how it is crap compared to the much better one you have back where you come from, their first reaction is not going to be to pat you on the back and go, “oh, you rascal!” They are more likely to take offense and consider such a person to be an obnoxious jerk, at least that’s always been my experience.
You are right though, I should have said the Himalayas instead of the Andes.
