Hurricane vs. Blizzards: Which Is Worse?

By Elaine Viets of the Femmes Fatales.

Everyone in my supermarket was shivering. We were bundled up in boots, scarves and heavy coats. All we could talk about at the deli counter was how cold it was.

"How are you?" asked the white-coated man behind the counter.

"Freezing," I said. He was slicing turkey breast for my dinner. "It's 55 degrees out."

He nodded. "The wind's brutal." He expertly wrapped the thick slices and said. "I'm not used to this in March."

"Me, neither."

Quit laughing. I'm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We're weather wimps. If you're one of the thousands in the Midwest and Northeast who got slammed by the March blizzard, you're not going to spare any sympathy for South Floridians. But dang, it's cold here. We don't have your character and fortitude. We've got lizard blood.

"At least it's not as bad as up north," I said piously.

The man behind the counter nodded and dished a hearty helping of mac and cheese into a container. "Now that's bad," he said. "Those poor people. Roofs collapsing, avalanches on the highway, roads closed, electricity off, winds blowing seventy miles an hour."

"Seventy! They were more than a hundred miles on Mount Washington, with gusts of 138."

"We have hurricanes," he said, "and they do damage. But man, the north has been blasted this spring."

We gave our fellow Americans a moment of silent sympathy.

Then he said, "I wonder which is worse – a hurricane or a blizzard?"

"I can answer that," I said. "I've been in both. A blizzard is far worse. Definitely. I was trapped in a blizzard for four days. FOUR DAYS! My husband and I were completely snowed in. Couldn't get down the steps. Couldn't get the car out of the garage, and if we did, we could be arrested for driving. Only emergency personnel were allowed on the streets. And cold? Our big old brick house was impossible to keep warm, and the electricity kept going on and off."

"Sounds terrible," he said, shaking his head and adding up my order.

"I've never been so cold. The wind was whistling through the windows and snow blew under the doors. The weather kept getting worse, day after day. We played Scrabble until we ran out of words. Next we ran out of chocolate. And then we ran out of booze."

His eyes widened. "No booze? That's dire."

"Now a hurricane is bad," I said. "But the last hurricane, we evacuated to a nice hotel inland before it hit. It had a terrific bar."

"So you had booze." He looked relieved.

"Lots. Good food, too. We were lucky and never lost power, so we had air-conditioning. We settled in and watched the storm on TV. Wrangling the two cats was a pain, but the only thing we ran out of was large bath towels."

"I don't think I could stand a storm without booze," he said, still horrified by my suffering during the blizzard. "You gotta drink through a hurricane."

"You know the best part about the hurricane?"

He shook his head.

"You don't have to shovel anything."

Which would you choose: a hurricane or a blizzard?

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Stay safe and warm, readers. And happy St. Patrick's Day. Win SHOP TILL YOU DROP, the novel that started the Dead-End Job mysteries. Click Contests at www.elaineviets.com

 

Comments

[Mark]

Personally, I will take my earthquakes over either. But I think I would take a hurricane over a blizzard. I can't stand the cold either. Heck, 55 is freezing cold for me as well.

[Elaine Viets]

You're my kinda man, Mark. Give me heat over cold any day.

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

Wood stove makes it toasty warm during a blizzard and we cook on it, too. Snowblower saves shoveling. You can keep your hurricanes. We know how to weather blizzards here in Maine, plus they rarely cause lasting damage.

[Storyteller Mary]

I managed ten Minnesota winters, just hunker down and read . . . hurricanes scare me a bit. Stay safe, folks! <3

[Maria Kight]

Having experienced both, I'll admit the howling winds of both storms give me the shivers. They sound so evil. Overall I think the hurricane is the worst since the recovery takes so much longer. We have a house on the Gulf of Mexico and the storm surges deposit so much sand under our house on stilts...sand doesn't melt and we've paid $$$$ to have sand put back on the beach. Hurricanes have mandatory evacuations. Blizzards have you hunkering down with supplies like you're going to stay and fight. Which makes me understand snowbirds a little better. LOL

[Elaine Viets]

You are made of sturdier stuff than I am, Kathy Lynn. We didn't have the wood stove for cooking and keeping warm. In Maine, you really have to love winter.

[Elaine Viets]

The good side of hurricanes is you get enough warning you can evacuate, Mary. If you live near the beach, evacuation is mandatory.

[Elaine Viets]

Was your place on the Gulf hit by Katrina, Mary? That was a bad one, made worse by the fact that many people were unable to evacuate. New Orleans is still recovering. Florida got sideswiped by Katrina but our damage was nothing compared to what that hurricane did to the Gulf.

[Maria Kight]

Elaine, our house is 4 miles from Ft. Morgan (mouth of Mobile Bay) We bought it in 2000. 02 Isadore deposited 2 feet of sand underneath the house and on the driveway. 04 Ivan struck-direct hit and he was terrible. Everyone told me those big storms are only every 25-30 years...well Katrina came to us and we were on the wrong side and it was less than a year since Ivan & all our repairs were undone plus extra. Issac/Gustav brought sand as did Rita which hit Texas (how far away???) The worst of all were the insurance adjusters. Heartless folks that acted like it was their personal money they needed to hang on to. LOL I've done ice storms in St. Louis with power outages. Less drama than the tropical stuff. Post Katrina gas was $5/gal if any was available. I think the aftermath of the hurricane is so much worse than the blizzard. I lived in Rockford Illinois and my boss was on his roof knocking snow off and he fell off the roof. He wasn't the most popular boss so lots of us said we would have paid to see that happen.(He wasn't hurt)

[Elaine Viets]

Oh, Maria, you have really been through it with the hurricanes. Like your colleagues, I would have paid money to see your boss fall off the roof. My friends in NY state have to pay someone to SHOVEL THEIR ROOF, which I find amazing. As far as permanent and lasting blizzard damage, I had a hip replacement after I fell on the ice. Down here, the only ice is in the drinks.

[Alan P.]

I have done a few blizzards. No Hurricanes.

When I worked in K12 we got a new Superintendent from Norfolk, VA. He thought he was hot, er, something.

He had lived in the Midwest for about a month when a tornado removed several buildings from the Greenville school district. For a tornado they had a lot of warning...five minutes. Mr. Supe was used to the week warning a hurricane gives. We called it a lucky day and moved on. I think he slept in the basement for a month.

[Elaine Viets]

Tornados are a whole 'nother category, Alan. I grew in St. Louis and spent most of every spring sprinting for the basement. Our house was never hit, but the tornado skipped our place, bounced two blocks and wiped out a house directly in line with ours.

[Deb Romano]

I've experienced both, and I prefer hurricanes to blizzards. With a hurricane you can at least get out of the house shortly after it's over- as long as you keep an eye out for falling wires or branches. Blizzards are too confining. If the electricity goes out and you don't have a fireplace or a wood stove it'll be days before you're warm again, and the roads may not be safe, so you can't necessarily go somewhere to warm up. After one of our hurricanes we didn't have power for close to two weeks but it was a warm September so we didn't freeze.

I thought it rather funny the day of the storm earlier this week that a public building was going to be open as a "warming center" for people without power- but people were told to stay off the roads!

[Elaine Viets]

I'm with you, Deb. But a warming center no one could reach? That's strange.

[hank Phillippi Ryan]

AH, I've been in both. Covered both. I guess..blizzard. It's all about the power, right? If the power is on, it's interesting and fabulous. If it's off..it's miserable.

[Elaine Viets]

Agree with you about the power, Hank, but I'd still opt for hurricanes. Furnaces are wonderful but the air is so dry.