One of our biggest concerns about moving here has been what the winter is like. I was born and raised on Eastern Long Island which turns into a Siberian landscape on occasion. We've had blizzards, Nor'easters, temperatures below freezing - we know winter. Then I spent over 20 years in WV and southwest PA which you get an alarming mix at time of springlike weather which can quickly turn to ice storms and snow. Living in the mountains is much different of course, different elevations get different degrees of weather. As a visit nurse I would sometimes leave Morgantown which didn't even have a light dusting and drive an hour to Terra Alta where I found myself slogging through a foot of the white stuff . When I lived in the Poconos and I worked at the hospital I was required to keep a fully packed overnight bag in my car at all times as the hospital would occasionally get so snowed in the staff could not get in or out - they kept rooms across the road to stay at if you got stuck there. But you figure it out - in WV if traffic is crawling it means black ice, when they say it's going to be a white out you know to pay attention and stay home.....but we have not reached that point yet.
I've asked a lot of people but have found that I needed to follow that up with asking WHAT they consider bad weather, because it does depend on what you're used to. They're version of a Very Bad Snowstorm here is 3 to 5 inches and temperatures in the 30's. Hmm. So up to this week the weather has been very rainy - every day all day rain. Rain. Rain. The mud is slippery like it is in WV so I have gone shooting across on occasion but nothing new. Then we got snow - and I've come to realize why even an inch or two can paralyze the place. They got AN INCH of snow here and all the schools were cancelled - I thought that was hilarious until I ventured out myself. Because here's the problem - they don't do much in the way of treating or plowing the roads around here - including the main road that winds up and down with deep ditches on the sides.
I left on Monday morning early, my road is a gravel road so not a problem. Town - not a problem. The main road I take to work - problem. They had not plowed and since we had freezing rain prior to the snow I could feel the car slipping a little on the road and discovered quickly I had no brakes - the one thing about places where it frequently snows is they also keep the roads clear In PA the snow plows and trucks would run all night so when you headed out in the morning the roads were safe - they don't do that here. There are no street lights so the route is pitch dark, my car is slipping.......and just to add to the fun I have a tail gater about 4 inches from my bumper. I was not crawling along - I was actually going about 40 but apparently that was not fast enough for the asshat behind me, they were so close I couldn't even pull over to let them by. It was harrowing. The most infuriating thing was when we got to the passing zone she did not pass - that always drives me crazy. Why do tailgaters hang on your bumper but will not pass you because THAT they think is dangerous?? Anyhow as you can tell I did make it to work, as soon as I came near town the roads were much better and that was really the only day it was bad. We were supposed to have a week of snow......but we only got one day and we are now back to
Rain.
I'm fine with that.
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