I've lived through five D.C. winters now. Every year it's the same... November and December are deceptively warm, leading me to believe that I really do live in the south and that balmy winter weather makes up for the horrible summers. Then January hits, and that down coat I bought last year on after-Christmas clearance, and wear for one month of the year, comes in reeeeally handy. Everyone else can shiver and whine and complain, I'm toasty warm in my stay-puft marshmallow downy hermetically sealed goodness.
However, the advent of January always brings the most puzzling, and yes, most laughable D.C. tradition: the canceling of school over non-existent snow. I remember my very very first snow day in D.C. five years ago; people were threatening extreme weather and so, out of caution, they canceled all the schools the night before, and I believe they canceled work too. I was excited to see my first D.C. snowfall, and what kind of horrible blizzard would predicate such extreme measures. The next morning I hopped out of bed and peered out the window... nothing!! Not even one drop of frozen precipitation was falling from the sky!! What kind of city IS this??
In upstate New York, school was NEVER canceled, and especially not in my little town. In fact, one morning we awoke to two feet of heavily falling powder, turned on the radio and listened with quivering anticipation as they announced closing after closing... "Fairport, closed. Pittsford, closed. Irondequoit, closed. Penfield, closed. Actually... every school district in Rochester is closed except Brighton. Brighton, you still have to go to school." The agony. Another time the snow fell so heavily that they were forced to dismiss classes early, but since the snowplows hadn't actually gotten around yet to clearing the sidewalks, and I lived too close to school to justify a bus route by my house (but still about a mile away), I literally had to wade through thigh-high snowdrifts to find my way home. I will have my story to scold my children in the future!
But what I don't understand the most, what flummoxes me, is this particular D.C. quirk:
I don't get it...?? I mean, I guess I understand the principle behind it; it's easier to clear off your windows if your wipers aren't frozen to the shield. But I've never seen anyone in New York do it, where snow falls in droves. I've never seen anyone in Utah do it, where they boast the best snow on earth. So why D.C.? Are they really SO paranoid about snow that even a dusting on their wipers will render the entire city completely incapacitated?
Anyone? Anyone help me out with this please??
15 comments:
Word up... they definitely don't do this in the Midwest either. It's kind of a good idea, but I think I'll remain stubborn to my roots and let everything get nice and icy.
Nice pic by the way... it almost looks like the cars themselves are praying to the snow gods to halt their icy wrath. Even the Ford Expedition is reduced to shallow pleas. Mwa ha ha...
I can validate the harshness of Midwestern winters. Honestly, they would laugh - indeed, I do - at the ridiculousness of DC's overly cautious reaction to the slightest precipitation. And you're right. Never, in any of the other frozen tundras where I have lived (Milwaukee, WI, Rexburg, ID, Latvia or Utah), have I seen this odd automotive behavior. I mean, I realize that they get a bit more ice here than maybe in other locales where I have lived, but still. No excuse.
I like the image of them praying to the snow gods, though. I think that's rather fitting. Pathetic, pampered, politician-carrying cars! Grow a pair, already!
All that aside, I really DO love getting out of work/school when the area freaks out due to the weather. ;)
I enjoy DC's weather wussiness. It was the cause of many a snow day back in the high school days. I think everyone just knows it's an excuse to get out of school, possibly work, and most everyone is on that same bandwagon. I approve...
I can vouch for what sissies people are here, as compared to Idaho winters. We would only get school cancelled if there were at least a few feet of snow, AND ice, AND wind was blowing so there were snow drifts everywhere, AND it was a Monday. Any other day of the week it wouldn't happen because snow plows wouldn't be coming out of their Sunday hibernation.
One time when snow was falling, one of my roommates wanted to go around to people's cars in our neighborhood and lift up all their wipers for them. Yep, she's a local.
The ice here does irritate me, though. When it snowed last week I got up the next day, all ready and excited to make a snowman out of the fresh snow...only to discover a nice, thick layer of ice on top, holding the snowman-making snow captive beneath. I'm bitter.
Who says sissies can't be smart though? It's true, no one puts up their windshield wipers in Wisconsin where one feels the various harsh shades of cold most acutely, but that doesn't mean it isn't good common sense. I have adopted this practice and it makes my life MUCH easier, and I see some of the largest snowfalls anywhere.
However, it does puzzle me that with even the most hollow threat of snow, people stampede to the grocery store and amidst of a pack of carnivorous shoppers only talking Elmo can coax out of hiding proceed to throw elbows in the most vicious manner to get to the paper goods and bottled water aisle of the store and carry so much to the check-out stand that you'd think they just won a one minute shopping spree at Toys 'R' Us on Fun House circa 1988. That is what puzzles me the most. It snows everywhere, but only in DC are we ever in danger of running out of Deer Park water and Angel Soft.
Duct Tape... that stuff always runs out too. It's like getting ready for a biological/chemical attack =P
(There we go honey! The house is all taped down! We're ready for anything...)
(this horsing around almost makes me miss Rummy.... almost)
Having moved from the craziness that is D.C. winter, I miss it. I miss those blessed, ridiculous snow days! As for the windshield wiper business, Coloradans do it as well... the craziness is apparently spreading west. Hopefully the snow days will follow shortly. :)
Yes, What is this? Doesn't ice just form on your windshield anyway, thus causing your wipers to be pretty much useless unless you scrap your windshield first? I would fear that my wipers would get frozen like that, and then I would really be in trouble.
Also, in Utah, School only ever closed once in all my years, and that is because we got 3 feet of snow.
My confusion to winter weather is why Logan, Utah residents think its socially acceptable to no shovel their walks. In Salt Lake there are city ordinances that you have to shovel withing 24 hours. However, I guess I have acquired a new skill because of it: I can now walk all the way home from school without falling.
Aha, I figured people would have opinions to share. The best part is I went to a meeting with my coworkers, looked around and realized every one was a local, and presented the same question: "why do you guys lift up your wipers?" They all responded with varying shades of indignation, local pride, and supposedly superior intelligence that it was due to the 'more humid' weather conditions that made it more icy out here with the freezing rain. One coworker complained that she had forgotten to lift up her wipers and consequently had to get her husband to come chip them off. Wah wah, put your key in the ignition, turn on your engine, warm up your car, then scrape your freakin ice off with the rest of the world! :P
My heart does also go out to my balmy West Coast and Southern D.C. transplants who come here without any hats and gloves, and who think those little ice chippers are sufficient winter weather ware. Man, growing up, my dad had a BROOM attached to the end of his ice scraper. That thing dominated blizzard snowfall.
I can see one person doing this thinking it was a good idea, and then everyone copied because they think it's a good idea and want to look smart even if it doesn't do anything.
It seems to me like it would make your windshield wipers more vulnerable to morons. All it takes is some jerk to come along and pull on 'em the wrong way. Paranoid? Maybe, but at least my windshield wipers won't be bent outta shape during wintry weather...
I don't have much to say about wipers or windshields, as I bike to work - rain, shine, or snow.
Whether the snow and ice are *actually* more intense than anywhere else is less important, I think, than the intensity of the reaction. I laughed out loud at the angel soft comment - but in all seriousness, the reactions are what makes the storms here truly hazardous. Before heading out this AM I listened to the radio news, and there were 14 cars in accidents along the beltway - and out on the roads this AM, cars were definitely less predictable than they are in drier weather. The good news? They go slower and give me a lot more space - it's kind of nice to get some elbow room on the roads!
But speaking of winter weather - I'm from Maine, which has nothing on Colorado, but our 40+ inch base up in Carrabassett Valley is nothing to sneeze at, at least for us cross-country skiers :) - and so from the land of frozen north, here's a post that (1) speaks to hardy northeastern resilience in bad weather and (2) offers proof that while it may be contingent on the weather, stupidity and/or overreaction are not regionally bound ;)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2153406/posts
I will add my voice to the cacophony of the midwest-winters-make-DC-look-pathetic chorus. In the Upper Penninsula of Michigan there were no such things as these snow days of which you speak, there were cold days. Those mystical days in which it was too cold to snow, too cold to go outside without your lungs freezing and pretty much too cold for common sense to survive, hence why people would inhabit such cold climes when there are perfectly good climates that we all could be living in.
As per the wind shield wiper phenomena... come on dc, really? NO! I mean really? Suck it up, I have never once lived through a snow storm which froze my windshield wipers to my car for more than a 10 second period. I am a big fan of our new president for many many reasons but this is just one more thing that I will have to agree with him on. The part I like the most was how his little girl got into the act "my seven-year-old pointed out that you go outside for recess, you wouldn't even stay indoors!" I love it. Who else can remember going outside in a blizzard for recess growing up?
Me! I remember doing that! We'd play King of the Mountain on top of the snow drifts and get busted for starting snowball fights!
How about the soccer game that went on all year long whether we were in shorts and t shirts or snow pants and boots and the ball disappeared into the fresh powdery snow. Ah, those were the days.
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