Louisana State Museum, locked up tight
We haven’t been outside this morning so it’s quite possible that the Big Easy is completely overrun by zombies. Considering the way the city basically shut down yesterday and is expected to remain closed today, we think that’s likely.
Jackson Square Park, Closed
The forecast didn’t call for zombies, though. It called for near-freezing temperatures and some rain. So naturally they locked up all the museums and the parks because, well, zombies.
It has to be zombies because no one closes down for cold weather, do they?
Un-Terrifying Update: So we peek out our door this morning ready to beat back the marauding undead hoard and see this . . .
No dead people feasting on the living but just enough ice to require a few minutes of window defrost – oh, and shut down the city.
Everywhere Once 
He he he – do be careful out there.
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Thanks.
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We are in Washington, D.C. for some family events. We took a sunrise walk around Iwa Jima Memorial next to Arlington Cememtary. 15F with a breeze. I got all of two photos before the camera said it was too cold for the battery to hold the charge. Enjoy your brisk N. O. visit.
Oscar
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I guess nothing works in the cold these days. 🙂
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The only thing that shuts down in Washington when there is an inch of snow or a hint of ice is the government. My wife, who worked in the government in the Chicago area, would laugh at this, then get mad at the D.C. people when they expected her to be at her desk no matter how bad the weather got in Chicago.
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Sounds about right.
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Having lived in the Washington, D.C. area for 10 years a decade ago, I would advocate shutting down the government for an inch of snow… too few people around here know how to drive… in snow that is… no in general… 🙂
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Aha! Revealed. The city is shut down because everyone’s handheld electronic devices have gone on the blink. Now it all makes sense.
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Same thing over here in Mississippi. We are not trained to deal with the cold weather! My day was spent watching my dogs play in the snow only to come inside and want to cuddle. It was the best “sick day” yet!
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We chuckled a bit a few days back while at the Shreveport Museum of Art. While we were walking in a few pellets of hail bounced off the ground. Everyone inside was talking about closing the museum.
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These people cannot handle snow and ice. Most places in the south have never heard of a snow plow or seen a truck salting the streets. It is somewhat amusing to watch TV news showing slipping and sliding and gridlock in the south. It looks like New Orleans was prepared and scared people off the streets, which is probably best for those that rarely confront snow and ice.
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I visited my sister in North Carolina once and we were housebound for a week after an ice storm. I live in Syracuse, NY where we can get 2 ft. of snow and be moving 2 hours later and where ice doesn’t stand a chance against salt (but neither do our cars).
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Yeah, I’m left wondering what is more cost effective: investing in mostly unused snowplows and salt spreaders or shutting down your major cities. I have to think that even if it saves you a buck to skimp on cold weather preparedness, shutting down isn’t something First Class cities should embrace lightly.
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Reblogged this on digger666.
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In the south it’s often ice rather than snow, which is a whole different matter. But even when it is snow, if 80% plus of your population doesn’t know how to drive in it, do you really want them on the roads? If you do know how, do you want to share the road with all those people who don’t?
I worked in NC’s Research Triangle area. When we got a new top boss down from NY state, the first time it snowed he wouldn’t close the place until it was too late to do any good. The next time, he would close early.
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It makes it hard when the first thing chopped out of a state’s budget is emergency response materials and labor for weather events! Probably a good thing that New Orleans shut down early for the storm, even though it meant a not so fun visit! At least you got a good story out of your time there?
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Good stories are always welcome. 🙂
And you’re absolutely right that shutting everything down is preferable to leaving people stranded in their cars overnight (ahem, Atlanta.) Of course they could just clear the roads.
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Just caught up with this article about one of my favourite cities (I’m a big fan of Jonathan Cleary’s music). Sounds just like where I live in the UK. Get a little bit of snow and hey presto, it’s batten down the hatches time, no one comes in to work, buses stop running, banks are closed etc. etc.
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