Snowing in hell

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Fred Stiening

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If you were thinking of relocating your business to Charlotte because people say it doesn’t snow here, think again!

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23 Responses to Snowing in hell

  1. kevydm says:
    January 29, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    I live here too and it is hell!! The city closed down yesterday at 4pm for a whole wopping inch of snow!!! WTF?! Hate to think what this place would be like if it actually got some snow!! This yankee misses home and sane people!

  2. Art Stone says:
    January 30, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    At least Atlanta knows how to handle snow!

    http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303519404579352702929287242?mg=reno64-wsj

    Back in the 1970s, Charlotte was struggling with its future. Everyone understood the city had no equipment to clear snow from the streets and there was strong opposition to using salt – which is why it isn’t unusual to see 30 year old cars.

    But the idea that a city just shuts down and waits for the snow to melt (which usually happens by noon the next day) is just unacceptable to Yankees who would never shut down a city (other than to catch one guy who makes exploding pressure cookers)

    So Mayor john Belk (of the Belk retail chain) convinced the powers that be to fund a truck to be used to clear Independence Boulevard, the only seriously big road at that time.

    So with lots of fanfare, the new truck was made ready for the once or twice a year half inch of snowfall. The opportunity arrived, the media arrived for the tangible evidence that Charlotte was ready to be a real city and not just a large town.

    The truck pulled out onto Independence Blvd to prove that we were ready for prime time. The dump truck raised its back to begin spreading salt to save humanity – and promptly dumped all the salt in a big pile in the middle of the road. Being inexperienced, they forgot to secure the tailgate.

    That’s my favorite Charlotte story.

  3. kevydm says:
    January 31, 2014 at 2:02 am

    Hmm….that’s why they don’t even sell snowshovels at the local Walmart! Just wait for the snow to melt….brilliant!

    • Art Stone says:
      January 31, 2014 at 3:03 am

      Pretty much 😉 you probably won’t find windshield scrapers and certainly no snow blowers.

      • CC1s121LrBGT says:
        January 31, 2014 at 11:52 am

        After I moved from upstate NY to Florida I was prepared for the first freeze with my windshield scraper in the trunk. Once it came, I was the the apartment parking lot scraping the frost and ice off my car when a Florida native came out.

        She dumped a bucket of water onto her windshield and drove away leaving me open-mouth with my scraper in hand and my windshield only half done.

        • Art Stone says:
          January 31, 2014 at 5:01 pm

          I had an Aunt who lived in Saint Petersburg, Florida. When I was maybe eight or nine, we rode there on the Greyhound bus during Christmas break.

          She felt a need to profusely apologize that the temperature at night might go into the 60s and she wasn’t sure if her furnace was going to keep us warm.

        • TheChairman says:
          January 31, 2014 at 5:08 pm

          Sounds like a sure-fire method to crack the windshield … depending on the temperature differential of glass/H2O.

          • Art Stone says:
            January 31, 2014 at 5:21 pm

            No problem! Just call the windshield repair service advertised on radio!

          • Art Stone says:
            January 31, 2014 at 6:03 pm

            It probably was just room temperature water.

            I remember trying this as a younger person, probably in Michigan. I quickly realized that throwing water on a windshield when it is significantly cold outside only creates more ice 😉 Cold is infinitely big and fast.

            This is why God made windshield washer fluid (if your wipers can move). I had a garage in Connecticut so it was only an issue at work.

            Garages are pretty rare here – you have a storage barn beside your mobile home for your lawn mower and kudzu weed whacker and garden tiller. If you have a garage, it’s probably to store your boat in winter or your ATV.

          • CC1s121LrBGT says:
            January 31, 2014 at 8:18 pm

            It was about 30 degrees… and the water out of the facets in Florida is 72 degrees – the temperature of the ground that the water pipes are in.

            Windshields are designed to be durable. Turn on your car heater and you have 100 degrees on one side of the glass and the outdoor temperature on the other.

            So 72 degree water will melt a thin layer of 30 degree ice and the wiper will push the water away long before it can freeze. Don’t try that in upstate NY or you will quickly find a much thicker layer of ice to scrape off. 🙂

  4. Art Stone says:
    February 5, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    Good thing I’m not in Chicago or New England today. Of course, the Summer is the tradeoff – we didn’t have air conditioning in the 1970s in NC, but somehow survived.

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