As a Canadian in New York City

As a Canadian living in Brooklyn, it never ceases to amaze me how frantic the Northeast coast of the US becomes whenever there is the slightest suggestion that there might be weather. The kind of panic I'm talking about is exemplified fantastically as "Winter Storm Juno" (otherwise known in Canada as "a bunch of snow", a "blizzard" or, if that doesn't seem epic enough, a "whiteout") descends on the city. Yesterday, knowing that we were going to get the first serious snowfall of the year, and not caring very much about all the hullabaloo, I innocently went to my local grocery store to grab some bread. I was shocked to find people lined up around the entire inside perimeter (I would guess about 100, maybe more) waiting to purchase groceries. For the life of me, I don't understand this reaction to a blizzard. It's as if people (not all obviously, but many) will take any excuse their given to pretend it's the apocalypse. I just hope that these people are normally really intense preppers, and that this sickness hasn't infected the general population. But I think it has. I was reading reports of grocery stores all around the city sold out of food. And the blizzard is expected to last, wait for it, *two days*. Do people really not have two days worth of food in their homes?

Besides that, I'm also fascinated with America's unrelenting need to brand everything, and in doing so, blow it immensely out of proportion. Even weather reports are now PR spin and marketing. I don't think I've experienced a storm in NYC that hasn't been named, weather it's "Winter Storm Juno" or an "Arctic Vortex" or a "Nor'easter". I can reliably get a huge laugh out of my Canadian friends when I tell them about how New Yorkers freak out about the "Arctic Vortex", and then explain that it resulted in temperatures of about -5C (~23F) and everyone was afraid to go outside.

Not only that, but the city preemptively has started shutting down municipal services. When I was living in Canada, the only way you'd get a snow day is if the bus literally could not make it to your house, and you'd only find out about school being cancelled by listening to the radio at 7AM the day of. To cancel school, or close the parks, *in advance* was unheard of. But here in NYC, they're calling for emergency vehicles to stay off the roads, they're closing the parks, shutting down transit, NYU is shutting down. I guess if the people of NYC want an apocalypse, the mayor's office is doing its best to mimic the situation.

What ends up happening then is a self-fulfilling prophecy: because everyone is so scared and everything is already shut down, no matter how middling the weather, it feels as though the city is under attack. No one goes anywhere, and everyone is stocked up on bottled water and MREs.

If anyone can explain why there's such a discrepancy between how weather is handled in Canada, literally 5 kms from the US border (I could see the US from my house when I was on the roof) and about 80 kms from BUffalo, and how it's handled in NYC, it would be much appreciated. Meanwhile, I'm going to go build some barricades and clean my shotgun.

** Apologies in advance if Juno ends up being a disaster. But frankly, given all the bullshit about weather that I hear when I'm in NYC, it's hard to take any of this stuff seriously.

It seems like the east coast United States is always overreacting to winter weather, but I blame the 24 hour news cycle for selling it so hard. This does remind me of the Hurricane Sandy episode of The Lazlow Show though. The previous media promoted worst storm in history turned out to be a dud so they didn't clear out of Long Beach for Sandy and it actually was a disaster.

We were supposed to get a major storm here in Newfoundland last weekend. It rained and was foggy and the most devastating thing was the pond melted. I just bought some new skates and haven't gotten to try them yet! We also lost power for about 2 seconds, killing my RE4 progress.

You should go to San Francisco some time and see how they deal with weather. The only time you hear about weather in NYC is if there is a blizzard, you won't hear a peep for normal snowfall.

You should also remember a couple years ago there was a DEVASTATING snow storm in NYC right after Hurricane Sandy that left the area ravaged and displaced many people. We are a little more sensitive to it today because of how many people lost things.

@dusker: As a New Yorker that has been through a few blizzards I'll say that what you are seeing is largely a city reaction. There aren't many people in the city who have cars that are equipped for snow and any damage from accidents is magnified by all of the cars on the road in the city. You can really do a lot of damage if your car hits an ice patch and slips in the city. The roads already have little room for error on a good day. On top of that, the city's density makes clearing the snow a really huge undertaking. Also some of the people buying supplies likely don't have 2 days worth of food in their house because they eat out a lot. You would be surprised at how many city people don't cook regularly. The actual damage shouldn't be that bad, but that is because people take the proper precautions.

I agree that the news coverage of the storm is laughable, but this is what local news crews live for. This is the one time of the year when all eyes are on them. It isn't like people regularly tune in for the local high school basketball scores. They even have special graphics packages just for snow storms! I find American sensationalist news to be funny if nothing else.

If you want to see really poor winter preparedness go further south. I lived in Richmond, Virginia when they got about 5 inches of snow and there were about 100 accidents in a day. They just don't have experience driving in bad weather and they lack the salt or the plows to fix the roads in time for the morning commute.

Shhhhhhh .... its free vacations for those folks , dont ruin it for them :P

@dusker: In the US, "The News" hasn't been news for decades. It's a highly produced work of reality-based fiction that attempts (and sadly often succeeds) to scare people enough that they'll feel the need to keep watching. (hence why I don't watch news on TV anymore).

But besides that, there are some practical reasons for this kind of overreaction. In places where it snows a lot every winter, like many parts of Canada of course, the local governments are inherently better prepared. It's easy to justify a brigade of plows, road salt trucks, and all the rest, when they'll definitely be used. But in the case of a city like NYC, where we might not even get snow that stays for more than two or three days throughout the whole winter, that expense can be hard to justify. It's far more cost effective to shut some shit down for safety's sake, than it is to pay the upkeep all year long (in NYC's case, potentially in the millions of dollars range) for a fleet vehicles and equipment that might never even be used. So because the city is less able to make the winter roads safer, they have to enforce more caution.

The much more important factor, though, is the citizens' ability to stay safe in the snow. It's really simple; a person who lives in a place with slippery conditions every winter is going to be a much better driver in those situations than someone who doesn't. I'm sure folks in the colder parts of Canada can travel their normal route in the winter just as they do in the summer, but that's because they're used to it. A driver in NYC (which is already pretty fucking dangerous) is going to be far less confident, and therefore be far more accident prone.

So yeah, American's (or at least American media's) tragic propensity to ignorantly expect the worst is definitely part of it. But the lack of city utilities and citizen's experience in the snow that arise just because of NYC's normal climate are a bigger factor.

Side note: I live in Philly, and I had a bunch of snow days when I was in college, and even days off from work because of winter weather. (Although I've also had to bike deliver pizzas in a blizzard. Not fun.) Conversely, my sister lives in Iowa City, and is a professor there. They have never had a snow day. Never ever. So it's not at all just a US vs. Canada thing. There's basically just a "snow preparedness gradient" as you move from here up to the great white north.

To be fair, they are calling for over a metre of snow tomorrow alone for the New York area. That would make big news up here, let alone in one of the most populous areas in the world. I'm in Halifax and the radio just said that the wind gusts tomorrow here will be over 110 kph, which technically is a Cat1 hurricane. If they get that bad or worse in NYC, then they have every reason to worry :)

Also, they did just have this in Buffalo, so they might be snow-shy:

Agreed on the whole branding thing though. That was started by The Weather Channel, and the National Weather Service has totally disavowed it.

If it makes you feel better, I have family in Vancouver (Canada-side) and they freak out when they get 5 cm, too ;) Good luck with the storm if you are stuck in NYC!

That's nothing. My brother, who is a senior in high school, got a two hour delay because it was "too cold" several weeks ago. It wasn't even in the negatives, I think it was in the teens, and there was no precipitation whatsoever. I'm in southern North Carolina, in the Piedmont, our winter high temperatures tend to jump between around 30 and 60 degrees fahrenheit and we usually only get snow once or twice per year. And any snow is almost a guaranteed snow day. Government offices closed, schools closed, a lot of businesses closed, grocery stores making a killing on bread, milk, and bottled water, and we get like two inches.

While flipping through channels earlier, I saw CNN going on about this "historic blizzard".

So keep me posted on the dawn of this new ice age, and try to remember everything that happens so you can tell your grandkids about The Great Blizzard of '15.

I lived in various New England states for about 30 years of my life and I just would like to say that the news media reactions to weather do not reflect the mindset of the average Joe. Or at the very least, New Englanders like to complain about the weather even though they arent usually all that bothered by it. For comparisons sake, out here in Indiana they get a dusting and everybody freaks the fuck out. Im out "shoveling" with a house broom in a t-shirt while listening to the sounds of people driving minivans into ditches and telephone poles in the distance.

Currently about an inch of snow, and it is not currently snowing anymore. Historic.

whoah, tough guy here.

lived in toronto, lived in nyc. they kinda both freak out based on my experience.

and uh, fwiw- sandy was kinda a big deal.

see

http://www.macleans.ca/authors/aaron-hutchins/toronto-braces-for-snowmageddon-rest-of-canada-laughs/

Yeah, maybe it's not a US/Canada thing. Maybe it's mostly a big city thing. I don't know for sure.

The problem with large amounts of snow in places that usually don't get that amount of snow is that it makes it extremely difficult to actually clear everything because they don't have enough equipment on hand to do so.

@dusker: The snow is supposed to lull and then pick up through Monday night and then continue all day Tuesday so I wouldn't be calling this storm over just yet.

I'm from Maine and living in Queens, so I pretty much have the same attitude about any weather warning hyperbole. Nine times out of ten it's nothing, but I guess you can never be too careful. Personally, I love this weather.

It's just a preparedness thing. I live in south Texas and nobody here has tire chains/snow plows/salt for the road, so if we get even a little bit of snow or ice everything has to shut down, not because people are 'scared,' but for sheer safety reasons, and because nobody has any experience dealing with any of that weather.

I live in Northern New York about 20 min. from the Alex Bay bridge to Canada. We get a few feet a day sometimes because of lake effect snow and it always annoys me to see my more southern New York comrades freak out about a little snow. It was like -20F here last night and no one in my town gave a shit.

I'm guessing you've never lived in a giant city after a big storm? Take it from one long time NYC resident: it can in fact make things really shitty.

That amount of snow in a congested city like New York where they aren't equipped or use to that weather can be catastrophic.

@hobozero said:

To be fair, they are calling for over a metre of snow tomorrow alone for the New York area. That would make big news up here, let alone in one of the most populous areas in the world. I'm in Halifax and the radio just said that the wind gusts tomorrow here will be over 110 kph, which technically is a Cat1 hurricane. If they get that bad or worse in NYC, then they have every reason to worry :)

Also, they did just have this in Buffalo, so they might be snow-shy:

Agreed on the whole branding thing though. That was started by The Weather Channel, and the National Weather Service has totally disavowed it.

If it makes you feel better, I have family in Vancouver (Canada-side) and they freak out when they get 5 cm, too ;) Good luck with the storm if you are stuck in NYC!

I live in Canada just across the border from Buffalo. I got caught in that shit and got stuck in Buffalo for a week. It was awful.

To answer the OP's question, I don't blame anyone from Western NY to over reacting. That storm they had was insane and I was right in the middle of it. People died in their cars, buildings caved in, people were stranded for days.

In a large city like that, I imagine multiple feet of snow with nowhere to put it would cause some issues...not to mention all the streets with cars parked on them, I BET THAT MAKES PLOWING FUN.

@dusker: People in the city over react to everything, it's just how they are. I live on Long Island and everyone I've talked to about this "storm", friends, family, co-workers all share a common sentiment: "so". The reaction you are seeing from those in the city are really just city people reactions. I can assure you that the rest of NY (or at least us islanders) aren't really worrying much about the coming "storm," but if you want to really see some jaded people go to Buffalo, this stuff happens all the time up there and no one living there will even bat an eye at this.

@dudeglove: I'm hoping to go outside and roleplaying The Day After Tomorrow.

@grilledcheez: If you are a plow, I think you eventually just say "fuck it" and dump that shit all over those parked cars.

As a Canadian living 45 mins away from Toronto I can tell you they don't get a ton of snow either, but as TO is the 5th largest city in NA and having been in it after its snowed a bunch I don't see how things are that bad. There's really high and narrow snow drifts, you drive slowly because few people have all wheel drive cars, and everything's fine. My sisters go to school in London (ON) and that place gets a shit tonne of snow.

Like a lot of people said it's more about city safety. During the 2010 blizzard cars and buses were abandoned all over city streets and highways, making it a pain for plows to clear snow and for emergency vehicles to get around. Considering we're expected to get 1' to 2', with the heaviest snow and wind at night, the shutdown makes sense. Besides only non-essential vehicles are under the driving ban, so emergency services are still available.

@dusker: A cool little known factoid about New York City is that each New Years as the ball descends it also erases all memories of winter from everyone in the town. It is always very humorous and often very inconvenient when the entire city suddenly wakes up and realizes that it's winter again, and oh my god that means there's going to be snow - wait do we even have trucks and snow plows ready for this? Oh shit it's too late, it started snowing and we haven't mobilized anything! Then the obligatory NYC snow day occurs when no one can get to work because no plows have been running because no one remembered that this happens every single year.

It's truly a mesmerizing phenomenon. One year when I worked night shifts I had to come home at 3am and was wearing a suit with formal leather half-shoes. It started raining halfway throughout the day and by night time the snow had amassed to literally about 3 feet - still no plows in sight. Taxis are of course not running, so after getting out of the subway I had to wade through 15 blocks of knee high snow in my formal attire. It was pretty annoying.

I am not sure where you are from OP but lots of Canada does not get storms like the one about to hit New York. When you get it all at once like that, it is a huge difference.

Also, weather is relative and people have the right to complain about when their local weather is in extreme for their area.

As far as I know, New York has been written off as a frozen waste. American is now 49 States and I'm waiting for a new flag.

@katimanic: I'm from Niagara Falls. I've also lived in T.O., Kingston, Boston, and NYC. I've seen my fair share of blizzards. Boston also does a lot of freaking out, but NYC is worse.

I feel like they've gotten way worse over the years. I've lived here over 20 years (originally from Poland, this storm is like Tuesday for me), and it feels like thanks to over-sensitive, sensationalist media, where everything is THE WORT THING EVER, even unusual weather events get blown out of proportion. Sure, superstorm Sandy was a real disaster, but that was the first one of its type to ever hit this area, and will likely remain so for a good long time. This is the work of entitled millennials working behind the scenes at news outlets who can't wait for that Pulitzer prize for outstanding coverage during a historically important event. Oh God please let this be it.

I like that they panic. I get time off from work cause of it.

@dusker: I also live in Brooklyn. I never understood people's worries about bad snow. I guess it's moreso just something to talk about? Surely they don't think it's going to cave in houses or anything, right? For me, though, I always hope it snows as much as possible. I fucking love snow.

Annnnnnnd, NYC blows its load early: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/nyregion/new-york-blizzard.html

It turns out Mass is getting hit really bad, but there's almost nothing in NYC. This is why you don't shut down the city based on the imprecise, fearmongering predictions of meteorologists.

@dusker: That seems to happen more often than not when meteorologists predict huge snow storms. I remember when I lived in Kansas, a place that is used to snow during the winter, school would close down if there was a threat of snow, and the next day it would be like 45 degrees and sunny.

It seems that every snow storm has the same predictable events every time. Weather channels warn of huge storm coming and to get prepared blah blah blah, basically overselling it in order to prove that there's a reason 24 hour weather networks exist. Then a few big cities overreact with people buying out the stocks in grocery stores as if they'll be stuck in their house for the next month and a half. Then people from other cities that didn't overreact to this particular storm get on social media to brag about how cool their city is and how lame the other cities are for their handling of the storm.

As someone posted earlier there was an article about how Toronto freaked out about 28cm in 2013, in that article a guy from Halifax did the whole "we're cool, you're not" thing meanwhile last night the grocery store I live closest to in Halifax was all bought out and we maybe got about 10cm today.

Yeah, maybe every city freaks out way too much all the time? I don't know. I've been in the US too long, and I have an idealized view of Canada.

It makes sense for a city like San Francisco to freak out in colder weather, because they aren't really used to it, but I would have thought that New York would be better built to handle some snow. As I type this it's like -15 degrees Celsius, and life is going on as usual, but that's because Canada has the infrastructure to handle this kind of weather. I just thought New Yorkers could handle it too. Odd.

Something I learned when I came to NYC, is that government programs, be it parks, infrastructure, social programs, are severely underfunded. And, they are very fragile. You should see some of the subway stations, subway trains and buses. They are relics. Shit hasn't changed here since the 70s or 80s in a lot of cases. And the subways can be disrupted easily. This past fall I remember the B train was stopped due to rain. The result is that, for something like a blizzard, the city is woefully underprepared, and so they worry a lot about service disruptions (especially for transit). So instead of taking the chance that they won't be able to deal with the weather, they shut everything down.

Best get your guns, and kill any intruders that come your way, and make sure to stock up on rat meat, you'll need it out there. Kidding. I live in WA, a couple hours away from Canada actually. I wish we got snow here, but nothing. It was sunny yesterday, almost summer-like.

There are a few things more obnoxious than this weather elitism mentality that some people seem to have.

to be fair- they totally got it wrong with this one. the head of US National Weather Service admitted they forecasted incorrectly.

and for the record, this is the 3rd time EVER the subway has been completely offline. so it's not as if new yorkers head for the hills at the first sight of flurries.

it's true, the stations are dirty and falling apart. but the tradeoff is, you have one of the largest and most-pervasive subway systems in north america that costs a paltry $2.50 for unlimited distance in one direction.

don't get me wrong, i'd rather live in toronto than nyc. but don't pretend that there's anything close to the MTA (by any metric) operating in canada. have a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems

At the ripe old age of 45 I have lived through a dozen or more New England blizzards that were big enough to recall. I'd say the Blizzard of 2015 is only number 12 or 13 on my list.

The problem in New England is not flat, so the weather 10 miles away can be different. On Nantucket, this 2015 storm was bad enough, but we saw worse last January. I lost power this time for 15 hours, but I was mildly prepared because losing power is typical in coastal New England during blizzards and hurricanes.

My #1 Blizzard is still the Nor'Easter of 1978. (Age 9)
- In Brockton MA, we lost power for a few days. There was 4 feet of snow on the streets and 20ft to 30ft piles of snow on the sides of every street that stay until April. An enforced travel ban for six days in Brockton because the streets were clogged with snow, cars, and people. We missed 20 days of school, all that we had to make up meaning we were still in school until nearly July despite losing all other vacation days and going extra hours to school each day.

I've lived on the East coast my whole life. Our winters aren't always this bad. When I was younger sometimes it wouldn't snow all winter. We're not as prepared as Canada/the Midwest are. In the South, entire cities shut down over a few inches of snow because they aren't prepared.