I've spent quite a lot of time over the last few days reading stories such as this, and this, and being simultaneously surprised and relieved. Surprised that I am not in the middle of the travel nightmare that is currently ensuing back home in the UK - for, as anyone who is friends with me on Facebook knows, I am usually suffering a variety of delays and cancellations when snow/ash/mutant slugs hit (and having slept on the floor in both Gatwick and Heathrow, though fortunately not for long periods, everyone who is stranded has my deepest sympathy) - and relieved that 1. I am not having to go to work in that stuff, and 2. I am not being subjected to continuous Daily Mail headlines screaming, unimaginatively, "SNOW CHAOS" or variations thereof.
Here in Florida this week, the news has also been gripped by the weather, because the temperature was forecast to reach a perilous - wait for it - minus 2 celsius. Every evening on the TV, the major networks had a temperature monitor in the bottom of the screen so you could watch the temperature drop degree by degree to a temperature I am sure most of my fellow countrymen currently suffering -9c or below would consider toasty by comparison.
Meanwhile, the American midwest was experiencing snow storms that would make the gritters back home run away screaming. The roof of the Minnesota Vikings stadium collapsed under the weight of 17 inches of snow, and yet planes were still taking off. Ohio-born Jason's reaction when I showed him photos of the snow in London that has caused Heathrow to be closed for 2 days was "I wouldn't have even got a day off school for that."
It's just made me realise that 'severe weather' is definitely relative. Florida has an obsession with weather that I would argue exceeds the British - all the local news stations boast about who has the biggest 'severe weather centre' and who's technology gives the most accurate rate of lightning strikes per minute - but their idea of a severe weather warning during the winter is a 'hard freeze' or 'wind chill' warning. In other words, wear a coat. See, isn't that easier?
In fairness, there is an financial reason why Floridians fly into a blind panic at the first sign of frost, and that is the citrus crop which accounts for a significant proportion of the state economy. Oranges start to die just under the freezing point, so we had live continual broadcasts from the orange fields of Florida about what the farmers are doing to protect their produce.
And there is also a financial reason why planes continue to fly in Minnesota, yet Heathrow has so many passengers sleeping on the floor that the airport is at capacity - cost. Cost-benefit analysis dictates that this weather is such a freak event in Europe that it's not worth investing in the snow clearing technology.
But then, I've got stuck in it 3 years in a row - not so freak any more is it?
(By the way, I'm aware this isn't really about life in Florida - but unemployment means I have a lot of time to dwell on these things :))
In fairness, there is an financial reason why Floridians fly into a blind panic at the first sign of frost, and that is the citrus crop which accounts for a significant proportion of the state economy. Oranges start to die just under the freezing point, so we had live continual broadcasts from the orange fields of Florida about what the farmers are doing to protect their produce.
And there is also a financial reason why planes continue to fly in Minnesota, yet Heathrow has so many passengers sleeping on the floor that the airport is at capacity - cost. Cost-benefit analysis dictates that this weather is such a freak event in Europe that it's not worth investing in the snow clearing technology.
But then, I've got stuck in it 3 years in a row - not so freak any more is it?
(By the way, I'm aware this isn't really about life in Florida - but unemployment means I have a lot of time to dwell on these things :))
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