Surface coal mines have shut down.

[Roland]

I guess the northeast gets worse winters than I get.  Winters for me are never as hard to deal with as summers when it gets really hot and humid.
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Lord almighty, if we get a strong Nor'Easter that actually HITS (plenty of them go right by us, thankfully), we get shut down, sometimes for a week at a time. I remember the Blizzard of '94. People my age still talk about that one, cause we were in school then. April 1st, 4 feet of snow dumped OVERNIGHT. Shut the entirety of MA down for about a week, some places longer, some places a little less. How's that for an April Fools joke?

Or how about this? Boston had depleted their entire plowing budget for the season in the course of a few storms, and the winter wasn't even half over. Worse, they actually went OVER budget in just those few storms. Imagine having to shell out $20 million or more just to move snow every year, just so you can continue living? Those poor plow people don't even get paid sometimes because the debt just piles up too fast, let alone get paid on time (a miracle that almost never occurs). Imagine how that affects not just people's daily lives, but emergency response times, etc. Downed limbs from snow and ice, likewise for power lines, telephone poles, etc. Fire trucks and ambulances don't exactly handle like fox in the snow, either, let alone when there's obstructions.

And then there's the idiots who INSIST on going out in the storm, only to get stuck in their cars on the highways (blocking already clogged roads, completely shutting them down because the plows can't plow, and the haulers can't haul), and end up either freezing to death or suffocating due to the snow clogging their exhaust pipes. People in the city have it real bad, too, because often times their cars will literally be unavailable because of snow - 6 - 10 foot piles are not that uncommon, even with only 3 - 4 feet of snow, due to drift and plows piling it all up. And God help you if you're homeless. I don't even want to think about it, being stuck out in those storms. They get NASTY. High winds + giant snow flakes? Or worse, freezing rain, which makes the roads turn to ice INSTANTLY I might add.

New England is beautiful in the fall and winter, but it's also the worst time to be here. It's no wonder everyone moves to Florida. :P