No snow down here in The Swamp yet, but believe me, the morons here would panic at even the threat of snow. We saw a little flurry in early December '08. I was already at work, and it didn't foul things up at all, but people at work were walking out to look at it in sheer wonder. I told them in a Christopher-Reeve-as-Superman voice, "Don't fear, citizens, this occasionally happens on Planet Earth."
When I lived in Denver, people didn't panic anywhere near as much. In four winters there, I was only unable to get to work once (my company closed for the day anyway), and only got sent home early once. The real problem was the "I'm invulnerable, I got four-wheel-drive" morons driving their SUVs like the roads were dry, and winding up in ditches.
It's snow, folks. It's cold, yes, but it doesn't come inside your car and ruin the electronics like floodwaters do.
As for closing school, I never had a snow day, but more than once in January we saw below freezing temps. Civilization didn't end; school didn't close. The girls complained about having to wear skirts (we had dress codes in those days), and they even petitioned the School Board to let 'em wear slacks. By the time the School Board said okay, the cold weather was over. (Nobody sued, either. Ah, to have a sane society again.)
