Texas Weather ... was RE: [thechat] Error 404: Cannot find...

[Luther, Ron]

Madhu Menon asked:

>>In cities where this icing happens more often, how is the local economy
>>affected when businesses shut down? Anyone care to share their experiences?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi Madhu,

In cities where snow and ice are more common, the infrastructure exists to
plan for it and deal with it. It's not much of an issue to the local economy.
Three inches of snow in late February isn't going to shut Chicago down or even
slow it down much.

I think it's only in areas where this is a rare event that it's a problem.
A city like Houston isn't going to invest in trucks and equipment to handle
something that might only be a problem one or two days every five years.

On the other end of the spectrum, a massive ice/snow storm will disrupt
services and economies the same way any other natural disaster can.


RonL.
(Who did see snow close an entire small town in Utah once ... a state
where you wouldn't think anything less than a _massive_ amount of snow
would close a town.  The odd thing was that it wasn't even snowing *in*
that town!!  Nope - not a flake.  [Well -- I was there --- but that
doesn't count.]

The radio announcer noted that it was snowing in the mountains ... and
within minutes the shop owner kicked me out of his store so he could
close for the day and go skiing.  Standing outside his shop I saw several
other stores closing and locking their doors. The whole town shut down on
account of snow - and it wasn't even snowing there.)