Neighborhood

The Atlantic: Buffalonians ‘freak out’ over snow

blog by S.J. Velasquez • January 23, 2012 @ 10:24am

According to The Atlantic, “People in Buffalo freak out when there are two feet” of snow on the ground.

Yeah, that’s because there are multiple feet of snow on the ground. Like, you can’t even let your Pomeranian out to use the bathroom without first shoveling pathways in the backyard. Your toddler could potentially drown in snow in the process of making a snow angel. Give us a break, Atlantic. We occasionally get hit with more snow that you and your momma have seen in your combined lifetimes.

And we’re not actually “freaking out.” Far from it. According to the very article accusing Buffalonians of freaking out, “Zen and the Art of Snow Plow Maintenance,” Buffalo is the snowiest North American city included in a recent bit of research conducted by Atlantic staffers. And while we can expect almost 100 inches of snowfall in a given year, we employ far fewer snowplows per square mile than, say, Cleveland—a city that sees about half the amount of snowfall as we do.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but The Atlantic is headquartered in D.C., which experiences a measly 16 inches of snow each year. But, as the article above points out, “once every seven years or so, something really wild happens” in D.C. Oh, so that justifies your 3.6 plows employed per mile—three times the number of plows operating per mile in Buffalo, which has approximately 5.5 times the amount of snow D.C. gets annually?

Ah, Buffalo can’t win. We’re either getting dumped on for our snow or backhandedly insulted for our preparedness, which in this case isn’t even as drastic as less snowy cities.

I, for one, want more snow this season. This warm winter is making me gag.

Photo courtesy of Flickr / hman2

TAGGED: dc, snow, snowstorms, the atlantic, the atlantic cities, us cities, washington, wimps

Comments

Rachel January 23, 2012 @ 2:24pm

I must say, we might not want to brag about the fact that we use less plows. Snowfall may have been at a minimum so far this winter, but last week when we finally got some, the streets in the city were absolutely horrendous. Even bus routes were in really rough shape. Were any plows out at all?! I work in the burbs and as soon as I entered city limits after work it was like night and day.
S.J. Velasquez January 23, 2012 @ 2:52pm

Yeah, seems to me like we do the opposite of “freak out” over snow. We could stand to have a few more plows at the ready for big snowfall.
Brendon January 24, 2012 @ 2:05pm

You took the quote completely out of context.

The Atlantic is not implying that we “freak out” over snow; they are stating that it takes a lot to drive us into a panic.
S.J. Velasquez January 25, 2012 @ 11:54am

Brendon, I get what you’re saying, and what the Atlantic was trying to say, but they chose a really weird way of describing our city’s reaction to snow. They could have chosen to word it like you just did: “... takes a lot to drive ... into a panic.” Instead, they used the phrase “freak out,” followed by a bogus attempt at defending DC’s occasional snowstorms as justification for that city’s plows/mile.

Out of context, it does seem more like the Atlantic was Buffalo bashing. You’re right. But in context, right before the whole justification of an excessive number DC snow plows, it is hilarious.