We’ve had 3″ or so in Chicago today. It’s always interesting to see how the response to snow is in my two “homes”. In Lowville, snow’s just a fact of life in the winter…we get it every couple days…sometimes an inch or two, sometimes a foot or two. We shovel out, get to work on time, and life pretty much goes on. In Chicago, traffic backs up for hours (2.5 hours from downtown to O’Hare today – in light traffic, a 20-25 minute drive), people don’t bother even trying to come into work, etc.
Of course, if you built a big city in northern New York, I’m sure it would have ridiculous traffic too. Chicago’s just at a disadvantage due to its size. There aren’t that many miles of roads to plow around Lowville, and the relative proportion of snowplows clearing them is much higher.