Ohio Weather

Hookay, it is February 10th. Current temperature outside in Marysville: 54 degrees - WHOO HOO!! I love Ohio winter!!!! :)

I realize I never posted about this, even though I've been an Ohio resident for four weeks already - but the weather here is so much easier than that in Wisconsin! I thought I'd be moving into the infamous snow belt that starts in Ohio, swings through PA and over to Buffalo, NY. Every winter I'd see pictures from a snowy hell on the national news, detailing the latest "storm of the century" that blew through that snow belt. Figuring I was moving into that, I braced myself to get blasted.

Boy hoa boy, did I get a whole new lesson when I actually got here.

Not only do I live too far south of the snowbelt (I know now that it actually stretches through northern OH, near Cleveland), but I am surrounded by folks that CANNOT drive. Correction: they CANNOT drive in the snow. At all. !!!!!

We receive minimal snow here from Mother Nature. Wisconsinites, it is LAUGHABLE how the folks here react to even 2 inches of snow.

Schools are put on 2-hour delays when just a dusting falls overnight. Honda employees leave a half hour earlier for work on mornings when they wake up and see the ground frosted over. (They want more driving time to be safe.) I have the local morning news playing on my TV in the background every morning when I get up and get ready for work, just to catch the day's headlines. One day I listened to a story about the local school districts having logged SIX snow days this winter. SIX! Bay Port readers, do you remember us feeling LUCKY to have TWO snow days in one winter? Anything more than that and we'd have to go later in the school year in June to make it up! Geez! And here they have already racked up six snow days. Really, I am having THE hardest time wrapping my head around this - I cannot get over it!

Oh, but it goes further. Imagine this: my first week of work, I only worked four out of the five days of work because mid-week the area got hit by about 5" of snow and they CLOSED the plant for a SNOW DAY. Over 5" of snow and a little wind!!! Come ON!

There was also a day during my second week of work where it had started snowing towards the end of our work shift - causing us to have to drive out of the plant and to our homes in a dusting of snow. Everyone on the highway was slowing it down, driving 45 MPH....grrrr! If anyone knows me, my dad, and my car - well, you'll know how my dad drives and that I drive JUST like my dad....and the Beetle doesn't like to dog it either. She and I got up and around traffic and blew 75 MPH all the way home. Again I say, come ON, people! :)

(Side note: I have never been pulled over for speeding, but I better watch it out here because, although the road conditions are safe in my book and my Wisconsin standards, the officers out here in Ohio could pull me over for 'driving too fast for conditions.' Bahahaha - I was wannabe EVOC trained when I turned 16!)

The local government has this whole closing-the-city-down system, too. There's this system of levels that rate how severe the weather is. Whenever it snows, the local weathermen have to get on their TV stations and make a special 'we interrupt your currently-scheduled progam' to tell you what the level is. Here's what I've learned:

Level 1: "Snow Alert"
Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads are also icy; drive carefully.

Level 2: "Snow Advisory"
Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Only those who believe it is necessary to drive should be out on the roadways.

Level 3: "Snow Emergency"
All roadways are closed. No one but emergency personnel should be out during these conditions unless it is absolutely necessary to travel. Those traveling on the roadways may be subject to arrest. (What???!?!)

I've already been out here to witness that 3" of snow on the ground lands us at a Level 2. GEEZ! What a bunch of wusses! ;) I have never, ever been anywhere where they close down ALL roads and threaten to arrest you if they see you out on the road - wow. I have heard of officers closing down segments of I-43 when it gets all wind-blown and twilight zone-ish....but never anything along the scales of shutting down a whole town!

I promise to hold on to my Wisconsin winter skills for as long as possible. I miss you, WI - thanks for making me a seasoned hardass. :)