the north = cold/snow

[Nohbody]

Brings to mind this old sprite-comic I made once...

Retales #5: Strange White Fallout

Working in a supermarket in the south, this was all too familiar for me. Even the mention of "snow" in the forecast, and the world seemed to come down around my ears.

(Past tense because now I work 3rd shift, when the store is closed to customers, but I used to be a daywalker.)

Anyway, I'm now in SC, like it says in the location thingy, but I was born and raised in northern Illinois (the "raised" part being about a 30min drive south of Chicago), so snow isn't a big thing for me (well, okay, I still like to play in it ).

I moved down here with my family in the fall of 1989... a few months before that big snowstorm that pretty much shut down the entire east coast. I was like "damn, they're trying to make me feel at home here, aren't they...".

(Also moved just in time for Hurricane Hugo. I'm far enough inland, though, that it just meant a lot of rain.)

It was really amusing when I joined the Navy, in February a few years later. Me and the dozen or so other people coming from SC were dressed in what's about mid-fall wear up north. We get to O'Hare at like 2am, and the temp is somewhere just below 32F/0C while we're waiting for the van to take our group to Great Mistakes Lakes. They're all shivering, teeth chattering, and all that, while I'm sitting there in a denim jacket like "Ah, home".

[Skrae]

Oh, I love seeing people freak out about snow. No, really, I do, because I'm a heartless bastard.

Lived in the Denver metro area all my life. I realize it's not that bad compared to other places, but quite a few of the tales told here have sounded all too familiar.

I come from western NY state ... I spent more halloweens with a dusting of snow on the ground as we wandered around extorting candy

Such as this one, though for 8 years in a row, it was much more than a simple dusting.

At least it eventually melts...

Technically true, but not necessarily in a timely manner. Couple years ago, started getting bad snow in December, I didn't see grass until mid February.

As for snow days, I can count all the snow days I had on one hand, and it was always because we got three feet overnight, didn't even have to be mid winter, first I remember was in October, second was in March.

That said, I think Colorado has 5 seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and ADD, in which we have random days where we go through all seasons within the course of a few hours.

[Tito]

Snow is the reason I don't mind rain.

You don't have to shovel rain.

B

I agree! I see snow as nothing more than a big inconvenience. I'll take a rainstorm over that anyday!

[Stormraven]

It was really amusing when I joined the Navy, in February a few years later. Me and the dozen or so other people coming from SC were dressed in what's about mid-fall wear up north. We get to O'Hare at like 2am, and the temp is somewhere just below 32F/0C while we're waiting for the van to take our group to Great Mistakes Lakes. They're all shivering, teeth chattering, and all that, while I'm sitting there in a denim jacket like "Ah, home".

I've been there. Back in the stone age, when I was in the USAF, I was stationed in Northern Japan. Winters there could get chilly - around 32-35 F. Folks stationed there could get uniform parkas, and usually wore them in winter.

Meanwhile I (from Kansas) walked around in a light suede jacket, gloves and a cap the only concessions - because it got very windy there. And a friend of mine walked around in a jean jacket without any of that.

[Mikkel]

I agree! I see snow as nothing more than a big inconvenience. I'll take a rainstorm over that anyday!

I won't, it may just be a case of the greener grass on the other side of the fence but I hate the cold weeklong rain we get in Denmark most of the winter. You get much less chilled and wet in snow and it even insulate the roof some.

[Pagan]

I've been to Trinity Site (and have some Trinitite to prove it), but not White Sands per se.

Oh, I've been there a few times. Of course, my dad was an electrical engineer in climatics for about 30 years.

The most memorable time was early April 1982. And I've got pictures of the Columbia to prove it!

Snow is the reason I don't mind rain.

You don't have to shovel rain.

B

Yeah, but there's a nasty flip side to that. 3 years ago El Paso, which usually only gets about 8" a year, got 15" in one week. Caused massive flooding there, and you should have seen Juarez. Hell, the 2006 monsoon season in southern NM/west TX was one of the worst on record.

Or take poor Ruidoso, NM last year. It was flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Dolly.

Flash flooding in the desert is just as destructive and snow can be.

[Jay 2K Winger]

That said, I think Colorado has 5 seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and ADD, in which we have random days where we go through all seasons within the course of a few hours.

I lived in Texas for three years (Plano, outside Dallas), and as far as I can tell, Texas has only three seasons: Summer, Cold, and Football.

[Pagan]

I lived in Texas for three years (Plano, outside Dallas), and as far as I can tell, Texas has only three seasons: Summer, Cold, and Football.

Well, come one over here. We've got 4 seasons: Fall, Winter, Wind, and Fire.

[Midorikawa]

I lived in Texas for three years (Plano, outside Dallas), and as far as I can tell, Texas has only three seasons: Summer, Cold, and Football.

I grew up in Lubbock, by the TX-NM border. We had 4 seasons: dust storm, monsoon, cold, and Football.