"That's not a snow storm" Topic

We were watching elementary. And in this episode New York was hit with a "snow storm" But no it is wasn't. What they showed was just snow. No stom at all.

Not only that. But when they showed up in a snow plow. A guard says. Isn't to early to plow. It's still snowing. that's not how it works.

Is the show only made for people in southern California? That don't know how snow and snow plows work.

the White Death(tm) is tricksy!
1/2 inch can strangle all human activity in a matter of a few hours.
I causes a desire to create French Toast so all eggs, milk and bread vanish from the shelves instantly.
That's how snow works.

Gunfreak, when they don't anticipate FEET/METERS of
snow, such as you experience, the strategy is to
wait until it stops, especially in a major urban
environment such as NY city.

I have LEO relatives in the NYPD and that is exactly
why they wait. Not that the cops like it, BTW….

But iy was a "snow storm" how can you not anticipate feet/meters of snow.

In Norway the snow plows come out as soon as a tiny flake shows up and don't stop until the snow does. We don't expect meters of snow each time it snows. But they start to plow the second it starts.

here we wait till there is enough snow so the cars cant get out after the plow goes by; it lessens the traffic as everyone rushed to get their french toast supplies.'.

In western NY a significant chunk of the local government's budget is for plowing and salting.
We won't have a snow day unless around 10" is expected early in the day. Even then if an extreme event like Buffalo's 70" (just under 2 meters) in a day or two, it will take a long time to dig out.

Thats my point, The North Eastern US does get snow alot of it. Even a None norwegian would see thats not a snow storm.
Hence the whole series is made for people living in southern California(they probebly their pants when they saw all that snow)

In the Salt Lake Valley, it can drop over a foot in under ten hours, and that brings the snow plows out before it is done. The main job is salting, even if there is only an inch, which is far more common than a foot all at once. It layers up over time. A little today, tomorrow, the next day, throughout the week. And if you haven't been keeping up, you go outside at the end of it and say, "Holy Hannah! Where did all the snow come from?" So shoveling your walks and driveway (if you do it right) is a daily, even twice daily thing, to keep on top of it. Of course, windy conditions drive people indoors to wait it out. That is a real storm; driving snow, i.e. a blizzard. Then you wait it out, and dig yourself out. The worst I ever saw in a half century of living here was in the early 90s, the year we wound up with over two feet on our lawns, and after a couple days of digging, the piles were over four feet high. The parking lot of the local mall had mountains of snow pushed together c. twelve and fifteen feet high. It didn't melt off till late spring….

Living in another area where we're used to snow every winter, a lot depends on the amount of snow anticipated 1" (1-1.5cm) will not be ploughed, although the roads (especially bridges) will salted. 2-3" (5cm-8cm) it will be ploughed, but not until after the storm as ended. Over 3" the ploughs will be out during the storm especially on the freeways (interstate motorways, dual carriage ways, and major arterial roads). We live in a cul-de-sec and are ploughed out after a 2" storm by 6:30 next day. Weekends with a major storm can be lead to a delay in ploughing until mid-mornings. In 17 years, we've been snowed in twice on a weekend because the only entrance is a low but reasonably steep slope. I'm lucky living in a suburb, the core cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) have a convoluted system of snow clearing of streets that can last three to four days with parking restrictions and impounded vehicles because you get the parking rules wrong.

Growing up in southern England the question would be "what's a snow plough?"