Where you live, do people panic at the threat of ice and snow?

We just bought a retirement house in the mountains. It will be the first time I have lived where you can be snowed in. Yes, I am a little freaked about it, but also excited.
When we expect snow, we make sure we have milk, bread and eggs.

I have seen this happen just this winter in the DC area. The runs on the grocery stores are amazing!

Yes. In Hawaii, if ice and snow were threatening I think everyone would be freaking out.

Here, the same thing happens if a hurricane is in the general vicinity of the islands. Everyone starts stocking up on water and bags of rice.

The media sure have a field day with hurricane watches and other “disasters” – they like to blow them out of proportion and get everyone worked up. It must be good for ratings.

No. Here in Iowa, it’s just part of life. We know how to cope.

I live in Michigan. People get a little more excited about the idea of a winter day where the windchill is above -10°. ;)

I did live in Raleigh, NC for a winter, though. It dipped down to 40° and people came out with their down coats and hats. They thought I was crazy to go without a jacket when it’s that cold and thought I would surely die.

do they ever… and they stock up on some of the strangest things. Last big storm it was bananas, lettuce, and celery. Since I cook a good bit I’ve always got plenty of basics around (flour, sugar, butter – that kind of stuff) along with a couple shelves of canned and preserved goods. If I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of the house for a week I’ll pick up some extra meat for the freezer but bananas? I still don’t get that.

@wonderingwhy maybe they’re planning on baking banana bread??? LOL

Absolutely. It’s like “War of the Worlds” when any forecast includes even the merest possibility of snow or ice. Of course, it doesn’t make people drive any more carefully!

In Maine it’s a non-issue. We expect this any time between October and April. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are not a luxury here, many have backup generators and almost everyone lays in reserve supplies.

Well, i guess that the people in my city are just “normal”, like everyone else. thanks all for the answers. i really did like the answer by wondering why about bananas. that made me laugh. john

Well, back when I was in AK where I’m going back to I would’ve said no, but being here in PA and living in WI and seeing it, I’d have to say people are nuts! lol, Alaskans don’t worry about the winter like the lower 48. It’s odd.

Nope, it’s a common occurrence here, so no panicking.

The worst hazards here are the yuppies in their brand-new SUVs. These fools think that they can drive at highway speeds on glare ice. The first turn and they’re in a ditch. 4WD and ABS do you no good if there is zero traction.
The natives in old 4WDs and tire chains at 25 mph seldom have accidents.

Horribly…. Everyone needs to rush out to the store and buy eggs bread and milk (does everyone make french toast in a snow storm or something) and at the first sight of even the smallest snowflake everyone suddenly forgets how to drive.

Stranger in a strange land….........i could not agree with you more about the suvs. i answered a crash one time when this woman told me “it was not my fault, the brakes did not work”. under my breath, i laughed. i then said to her, “lady, did it ever occur to you that there is ice on the road and going 65 mph is dangerous? ” she was at-fault in the crash and i issued her a citation for carless driving.

Most don’t,but there are always some that think that the sky is falling….

We have panicky people here. I don’t blame them really because two of the local three stations always exaggerate the weather for ratings. They will say something like ‘Get everything together for when the power goes out!’ and we’re only supposed to get an inch of snow. Powdery snow. Fluffy, airy snow. An inch of that couldn’t take down a piece of paper.

Yes. It’s the stupidest thing ever, seeing as it happens EVERY winter. Somehow they still get all bent out of shape about it anyways.

I do take some kind of sick pleasure in seeing the 4-wheel drive vehicles in ditches at the side of the road as I drive along in my little so-not-made-for-anything-resembling-snow sports car.

Ugh, yes! I’m in Virginia and they all panic.
Personally, I’m from Wisconsin so I love snow and ice and all that good stuff, but the people here are hilarious.

Yes!

I’m not sure..I avoid the stores like the plague, because I cannot stand idiots at the grocery store, let alone when we might get some snow. Dear lord.

I’d say we handle the snow quite well in my area, but people still speed on my street..which means a lot of accidents. I understand they aren’t worried about snow, but you should slow down a little..especially on hills!

Austin, TX. YES.

Ohio, where it snows a shit load. It happens MANY times a year. If you don’t like it, move somewhere that it makes sense to be afraid of snow.

Noboy panics in Missouri, save maybe a snowbird that missed the migration. There are occasionally shortages of salt and shovels, but that’s about it. They know that the main roads will be clear by work the next morning

I live in England and over the past few weeks we have had a lot of snow and ice. Honestly, it at times it felt like the whole country came to a standstill. Many work places and schools shut, public transport came to a halt and people were panic buying accoording to news reports. It makes me laugh when I think of how countries that are used to a lot more snow than we suffered can continue their day to day life and yet here in the UK the whole country goes into panic mode and all the news can talk about is the bloody snow!

It’s 33 degrees today. Everyone is thrilled to see the six-foot icicles melt and the sun shine. I am tempted to put on a bathing suit.

The most popular car here is the Subaru Outback or Forester. 80 percent of our very high real-estate tax goes for the town highway department and their equipment.

Last Dec. we lived through 6 days with no power. The Fire department distributed water and dry ice, but you had to get to town to pick them up. The best thing I own is a gas stove.

I have to say I do consider having a package of bacon and semi-sweet chocolate chips in the house a sine qua non of being snowed in. Not for eating together; the chips are for baking chocolate chip cookies and the bacon is for….bacon.

People here would probably celebrate. Snow is uncommon, to say the least.

@daemonelson: Where is “here”?

@janbb: sine qua non. I swoon

@gailcalled What are you, a Latin lover?

@janbb . Just a Gigolo.

@gailcalled Very cute. When I walk, I gigohigh and I gigolo! (Oy!)

No, I live in Michigan.

It’s snowy half the year here, so it’s not a big panic for us.
some people who haven’t been here ask us if we live in igloos and skate with polar bears…

@gailcalled Here is South Australia. Driest state in the driest country.

It hasn’t snowed for 20 years where I live. We did have ice just recently, but only on bridges and no snow. When its seriously cold, people do freak out because it isn’t at all normal here. Plenty of reason for it.

I live in northern rural PA. We have winter for about 6 months out of the year (or at least it feels that way) When snow and/or ice are hinted at the grocery stores are packed. The following things are taken: canned goods, water, flour, eggs, milk, bread, peanut butter, pop tarts and snack foods. The bank is also always packed. And for whatever reason, everyone calls for take out the night before it’s supposed to hit. Oh, and everyone packs the gas stations too.

I’m sure they would because it just doesn’t happen here. People in the Bay Area panic at 1 inch of rain…we’re a bunch of babies…

I just think about places that get hurricanes and floods and here we get “storm warning” for a small downpour. It’s ridonculous.

Where I live, nobody even notices anything less than a foot of snow. You can always tell when the snow rises to at least three inches because the snowmobile and ATV’s rev up as they pass my house.

Yes, and for good reason….money isn’t budgeted for taking care of the roads…in a recent storm we were stuck in a hotel for 3 nights before we could get home. They didn’t even attempt to do anything to our neighborhood road for 4 days after the inital snow. It was awful, cars stuck everywhere and no help…I mean no help except everyday citizens trying to help each other…

We Canadians are very used to the snowstorms, the ice hazards, and the horrible freezing temperatures. We are a very hardy people, and quite well-prepared to handle such seasonal experiences. In all my 30 plus years living in north central Canada and visiting the Northwest Territories up north in Canada, me and many of my fellow Canadians have never had to “stock up” on food or other supplies because of winter. Whenever we read in the paper about a snowstorm wreaking havoc in Europe or the U.S., we tend to scoff in disbelief. Canada is perhaps the most well-prepared modern Western country in terms of handling winter and its hazards.

The prospect of ice and snow is no cause for panic here. Heavy snow falls of several feet might be reason to prepare for a few days stuck in the house. That is because in a small town, our snow clearing equipment is limited to a truck with a plow and a backhoe.

@DominicX
When my dad (born and raised in Redwood City) was in elementary school, he and his classmates would get so-called “rainy day sessions,” and everybody would go home early. We’re not entirely sure why.