Sunday, December 12, 2010

Washingtonian Comments on Minneapolis Blizzard

From the Capital Weather Gang in Washington comes this interesting comment regarding the blizzard:

I happen to be in Minneapolis this weekend. I never want to hear anyone criticize DC for not being able to handle snow. These people have completely freaked out. The neighbors are all up in arms over the amazing amount of snow...all of 17".

Airport? Closed
Busses? Cancelled
Public events? Cancelled
Snowplows? Pulled off the roads during the height of the storm
Our street? Unplowed ( although they did plow the alley already?
lots of cars, SUVs, and trucks stuck in the snow and abandoned.

They had already postponed the Vikings game, even before the Metrodome collapsed...

That was yesterday. They get lots of credit...today, the airport and busses are back running and the plows are doing their work and people are shoveling their walks despite the -20 wind chill. But let's not pretend that they handled this any better than Washingtonians.

3 comments:

  1. Puff up your plumery about this? DC must have a serious inferiority complex. hey, DC you still bite, so just shut it.

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  2. Oh really? Panicy, maybe if you live in the cities and your a yuppy. People who live out in the sticks with little tree coverage are used to this stuff. The people who live in the Cities are not a good example for how most Minnesotans react... Out in the county we were out doing our normal stuff on a Sat in December with just a little bit more clothing.
    Lets see how you DC people do when the temp drops to -5 and you get 17 inches of snow at the same time. I bet you have more panic, more accidents, more deaths.... etc.

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  3. One big difference is that any snow that falls in Minnesota stays on the ground for 3-4 months - it doesn't rapidly melt off like it would in a city like DC or Philly or NYC where they regularly go above freezing. So while we got 17-22 inches of snow, that is on top of the additional 12-20 inches that was already on the ground, and it just keeps piling up with nowhere to put it. And it is a heck of a lot colder and windier here too, which adds to the stress it creates in dealing with it. The NWS post at Central Region Headquarters talked about this - where to put it all - 'cause it isn't going anywhere anytime soon, that's for sure.

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