Atlanta crushed by 2" of snow

[FreeThinker]

I think everyone becomes desensitized to their particular brand of severe weather. I work in a hotel and every spring, I can tell who is from Oklahoma and who isn't because when the local TV stations come on with their nightly tornado warnings, Okies casually glance at the radar, check where the tornado is,yawn, and go on with their cross-burnings, while the out-of-staters are gathered in panic before the TV's in the lobby.

Then again, a couple of years ago, when the Super Bowl was played in Arlington TX and one of the teams was from Green Bay, we had a caravan of Packer fans stop at my hotel on their way down to Dallas. Unfortunately, that was the week Tulsa was hit with 23 inches of snow, the most in our recorded history. We have snow plows, but nothing to deal with something of that magnitude. Of course, when the cheeseheads had to spend their weekend watching the Super Bowl in our lobby instead of in the stadium in Dallas, they were cursing Oklahoma (which I do on an hourly basis) because they get that sort of storm every other weekend and couldn't understand why we weren't clearing the freeways.

A couple of years ago, we had a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma (yeah, Koch Brothers- fracking doesn't cause earthquakes hardy har har) and we were freaking out while my friends in California say that when that happens, they look around and ask, "Did you just feel something?"

[Cole Parker]

Hey, we do more that that! We're earthquake connoisseurs! We discuss the shape and form of the rolling, the height glasses rose from the table, how long the thing lasted, and whether we actually rolled over before going back to sleep again or not.

C

[EleCivil]

I think everyone becomes desensitized to their particular brand of severe weather. I work in a hotel and every spring, I can tell who is from Oklahoma and who isn't because when the local TV stations come on with their nightly tornado warnings, Okies casually glance at the radar, check where the tornado is,yawn, and go on with their cross-burnings, while the out-of-staters are gathered in panic before the TV's in the lobby.

You're in Tulsa, FT?

The series of zany adventures that is my life has taken me through Tulsa plenty of times. I may have stayed at your hotel at some point.

And yes, my first time in OK, I spent the whole night freaked out by the warning sirens and the flickering lights, paranoid that at any minute, the roof was going to lift right off of my hotel room and I'd be off to see the wizard.

[The Pecman]

A couple of years ago, we had a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma (yeah, Koch Brothers- fracking doesn't cause earthquakes hardy har har) and we were freaking out while my friends in California say that when that happens, they look around and ask, "Did you just feel something?"

No, 5.6 is pretty bad. Those, we go "WHOA! What the hell was that?"

The seismologists said a few months after the January 1994 quake that one of the epicenters was literally within 2 blocks of us, which explains why it felt like a 7+ to us. The official claim was a 6.7, but trust me, the strength goes up exponentially with every bump on the scale. A 4 doesn't sway us much (literally).

I went through a dozen hurricanes in Florida in the 1960s and 1970s, some pretty bad, but at least for those you get some warning. Same with snow. But earthquakes are nasty, plus it takes years to clean them up. The freeway right next to us now was knocked down for 18 months, which was a nightmare since it's the main drag in this part of town. God help us when we get whacked again.

[Cole Parker]

Since that quake, Pec, there has been massive freeway expansion in Orange County to try to reduce the heavy congestion going north and south between LA and Orange Counties. Because of confluences with the 5, 405, 22, 55 and 73 freeways all in the vicinity of the John Wayne Airport, the expansions included areas were freeways pass over each other, and some are way, way up in the air, crossing over even two other freeways. Massive freeways, thousands of tons of concrete loaded with cars, hundreds of feet up in the air.

We see these and immediately think: earthquake! Can't help but. And even though the architects say they're safe, we hope and pray we're no where near these Distasters-'R-Us projects waiting to happen when it does happen.

C