Southern snow: A study in panic

Five inches of snow at our house on January 7, 2017 in the Southern Mountains of North Carolina

It’s snowing outside in Sylva, North Carolina. This is our first snow of the year so this is a big deal.  I am a typical Southerner so I am so excited: I have been checking the Weather Channel, Facebook, and Twitter for updates. I loaded up at the grocery store yesterday but decided I had to stop again today as the snow began to fall just to be sure we had enough.  I also made sure my gas tank was full. No snow had fallen but schools closed at noon. My Favorite Yankee and I had gone out to lunch and were stuck in traffic when the snow started. I felt we had to get home. Southerners admittedly do not know how to drive in the snow, even those of us with four wheel drive or all wheel drive.

My Favorite Yankee who grew up on the streets of New Jersey finds all of this amusing. Schools did not close in Jersey City and life went on despite the snow.  Stuck in traffic, he just shook his head and cursed under his breath.

As a child in South Carolina, snow was an even rarer occasion. My best memory was making snow angels and snow cream. Snow cream was delicious until my health conscious mother decided that there was radiation in the air falling with the snow and stopped making it. What actually happens in the South rather than snow is ice which can be treacherous. The worse job to have during ice and snow in the South is that of the school superintendent.  A superintendent told the story of getting up  at 4:00 in the morning to begin the decision making process of whether or not to cancel school. First, he had the transportation director get out and actually “ride the roads.” Then he talked to the Highway Patrol. Then he called local fellow superintendents to see what they would be doing. This is a “damned it you do, damned if you don’t decision.” If you cancel, you might have to make up the days and disrupt family summer vacations. There are also child care issues. If you don’t cancel, and a bus wrecks, the press and lawyers show up.

Darren Knight, aka Southern Momma sums the situation up best in his recent video: https://youtu.be/d_KJoYD6Mnk