The "North Carolina" winter is something that takes a while to get accustomed to, but it's very easy to forget northern winters. Most anyone who's been in the south a couple years will say the same thing.
I grew up in Detroit and Denver, and was 18 when we moved to Charlotte. As a kid I walked every morning to school in Michigan when the temp was in the single digits and we had a foot of crusty snow on the ground that was so strong it would hold me up, without breaking through (sometimes). I often skiied in Colorado where the strong sunshine would warm and sunburn (fry) my face while I got potential frostbite on my toes. There is something about an NC winter that is different, not bad, just different.
I was here less than one year and a freshman in college when I felt this insanely raw breeze ripping through me as I changed classes. I was wearing my ski jacket if I recall. "Why in the world is this so cold!?" I asked more than once. The answer is the humidity, which is higher here than in Detroit and most certainly higher than the almost non-existent humidity in a Denver dry winter day. The moisture turns wind and air into little blowing razors, even when the temp is in the 30s.
This past week we had temperatures that were in the single digits in Charlotte. The Y where I workout has a competition sized pool and waterpark outside, immediately to the left of our workout building. Per standard practice in the south, the pools are left full all winter. The frozen vapor from that pool, coupled with the gym property being somewhat "sunken" made for an absolutely bitter cold walk to my truck with the temp at 24 degrees and 20 mph winds.
Much of the problem for drivers here comes from lack of preparedness and their associated fear, which the news media strokes to the utmost. Snow in the forecast makes milk and bread dissappear off shelves as if the packages contained the Willie Wonka Golden Ticket. People think they need a two week supply when two days after the snow the forecast is for 50 degrees and full sun.
Once or if the snow comes, we have timid, inexperienced southern snow drivers combined with overly confident, 4wd SUV and truck owners, often recent northern transplants, who think they can drive through anything, and often say exactly that. As police have often said to the media, "It's the overconfident drivers who rush around and cause accidents".
So, with this in mind, people flip out when snow is forecasted here. I received about 4 inches at my house in South Charlotte yesterday, while SW Charlotte got only a dusting, and it's only about 12 miles away. That's how it goes here. School was closed everywhere, but the roads were slushy only near my house, even my 2wd Ranger made it around (It's like Mikey - it hates everything except dry pavement).
The real problem we have here, that we didn't experience so much in Detroit and Denver, is black ice. We get a lot of melting during the day, or rain, which freezes at night and looks like a wet road when it is actually ice-skateable. No amount of driving skill, or winter preparedness can help a driver deal with four wheels on sheer ice, especially when it comes with no warning. That is what truly scares people and rightly so.
Everyone, including me, who has lived a northern winter laughs and the joke that can be a southern southern snow storm, but its easy to forget the daily snow grind when you don't have it. It isn't so easy to try to get around on roads that are iffy (we don't have many plows and road prep is not up to northern standards) when there are terrified drivers out there along with the Joe-macho crowd. We don't have chains or snow tires here either, and many are driving year-round on summer performance tires. Northern cities just deal with winter storms - we don't. I guess that's part of being in the south.
LOL!
