Exactly the same situation in the UK - snow is common but rarely persistent enough to justify the infrastructure investment to deal with it. Also, having an excuse to combine moaning about the weather with moaning about our inept government is basically enough to trigger a collective national orgasm.
midasuni|4 years ago
A fair number of plows in northern England too, the A66 across the Pennines is often blocked. Further south it’s typically just gritters spreading salt on the roads, but it’s rare to have the type of snow you need to shift.
We had heavy snow in the south east and northern france back in December 2010, my flight to the US was cancelled on the 22nd, I managed to get one from Paris to Newark for the 23rd, and had to drive from Bedfordshire to Paris. Felt like a massive blizzard driving though it, could barely see the tracks of the vehicle 800 yards ahead coming down through france.
Landed in a clear New York on the 23rd, but then went out for dinner opposite the hotel in Tribecca, possibly that night. The snow came down, and kept coming. First time I’d ever seen a snow plow in person, and the drifts the next morning with covering taxis. It was a different world to the 3-6” of heavy snow we were used to.