The DU Lounge
In reply to the discussion: This is bad. [View all]wnylib
(21,429 posts)is accustomed to and therefore prepared to handle. We have snow tires, plows, salt and sand trucks, and designated shelters with generators for when power goes off in winter. Also, "blue alerts" for homeless people when temps go below freezing. There are heated shelters for them on those nights. And as long as the power is still on, utilities are not allowed to shut people off for non payment between certain months in winter (I forget which, maybe Nov through March).
We get blizzards occasionally, but not often. I've been through a few. But Minnesota gets much colder temps than we do. Coldest I can remember is 15 below zero with wind chills to 50 below due to blizzard winds.
I wonder where you lived in the Midwest. They are wide open, with a lot of wind. I lived in Toledo, Ohio for a short time in spring and summer. So flat and open that the wind chill in March was brutal. Later lived in Cleveland where I experienced the worst blizzard in my life. The whole northern half of Ohio was shut down for 3 days.