Replies

Well, an hour sucks, but 8 hours is downright outrageous. I don't know the distance involved, but if it's his everyday commute, it's probably 20-40 miles or so. I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Snow is in my genes (and sometimes, my jeans). We learned to drive in it, and the local and state governments were equipped to handle the snow (usually, though they tried to take a day off on February 13, 2007, but that's another long story). 2 weeks ago, we had 9 inches here in southeast Tennessee. As you might have guessed, people here don't have any clue about driving in the snow, and the area isn't equipped for this kind of snowfall. I drove to work early that Monday morning and checked traffic cameras around town all day - nobody - I mean nobody was on the road. It was pretty much shut down. Things didn't get back to normal until the end of the week.

My friend's commute is usually less than 30 minutes or about 15 miles. Unlike Obama, he didn't have the SS and local law telling everyone ahead of him to GTF out the way.

I grew up in the U.P. of Michigan, about halfway between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan and am very familiar with snow in the jeans... The worst I ever saw was in Michigan City Indiana in 1979. We had 15 foot high drifts which closed down I94 for a week. The mayor of Chicago ended up loosing his job over the crappy job the city did trying to handle it. Now I live near Raleigh. Two weeks ago they closed the schools at 10am because it was supposed to snow. We finally got some flurries around 6pm...

I grew up in the U.P. of Michigan, about halfway between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan and am very familiar with snow in the jeans...

Oh yeah, you definitely knew snow then!

The worst I ever saw was in Michigan City Indiana in 1979. We had 15 foot high drifts which closed down I94 for a week. The mayor of Chicago ended up loosing his job over the crappy job the city did trying to handle it.

Yikes! I do remember the winters of 78 and 79 - my first two years of driving. Back then, it was big time fun. As soon as the "authorities" warned people to stay home, I was on the road playing. Of course, they didn't plow roads quite as well back then so I had lots of roads to play on.

Now I live near Raleigh. Two weeks ago they closed the schools at 10am because it was supposed to snow. We finally got some flurries around 6pm...

Same thing here - just the mention of the word "snow" in the forecast is followed by an enormous list of school closings. The biggest problem is that they just don't have the equipment handy to deal with it. And they shouldn't - it snows, on average, about 4 inches or so a year around here and it usually melts the next day. The 9-incher we had 2 weeks ago was the worst since the "blizzard" of 1993, according to the locals. I still lived in Ohio in 93, and up there, it was just a typical substantial snowfall.